Bloc Party
Bloc Party's Kele Okereke has an accent that's so South London, one fan at the Black Cat Saturday night yelled "Speak English!" Okereke got little response when he would name the next song, yet the audience roared when guitarist Russell Lissack or drummer Matt Tong played an opening lick. This crowd knew every riff and beat.
Such familiarity was useful, since Bloc Party's music was less distinct in concert than on its debut album, "Silent Alarm." That was partially due to the somewhat muffled sound quality but mostly because the group doesn't yet have the musical range of its ambitions. Live, the band's influences seemed raw and barely assimilated: U2, especially in Lissack's epic arpeggios; Gang of Four, notably in the booming rhythm section and the vocal interplay between Okereke and bassist Gordon Moakes; and the Cure, mostly in the modal vocal melodies and Okereke's declamatory delivery.
Yet the drive of the short, spiky tunes ("Like Eating Glass," "Blue Light") largely compensated for their derivativeness and certainly galvanized the audience. One way or another, the listeners did understand one of Okereke's heavily accented remarks -- that, on the last night of Bloc Party's U.S. tour, he wanted people to dance.
The garage-band drone of the Ponys, who preceded Bloc Party, was winningly enthusiastic. The two-guitar sound was reminiscent of the Velvet Underground but with snatches of Byrdsian jangle and some surging passages so thick they suggested an electric organ.
-- Mark Jenkins
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42721-2005Apr10.html
