'Party' with the rookies

Bloc Party is starting to make a big splash on the music scene. \nFollowing in the wave of Brit-rock bands taking over a good portion of the music scene, Bloc Party's rookie record, Silent Alarm, is being spun more and more. The boys from the United Kingdom got their big break when Franz Ferdinand heard their demo and invited them to open a concert. From there, lining up record companies for demo and single releases was no problem until they finished Alarm -- released on Vice and distributed by Atlantic.\nTheir sound you ask? Well, the aforementioned Ferdinand is good parallel, but their sound rings of the Cure, too. And throw in a little of the underrated Modest Mouse and some Kings of Leon to the mix. Every song on Silent Alarm is either begging for a sing-along or a slight nodding-to-the-beat. Anything on the album would work as a radio single -- some songs work as airy atmosphere/ambient rock, some work with sparse, heavy drumming and piping lyrics. \nHowever, every song screams of hard work and dedication. Each effect is perfect, each guitar riff is catchy and every lyric is full of angst, attitude, apathy and austerity. Songs regularly drift between each speaker, left to right over Coldplay-meets-the-Killers-esque riffs. \nBloc Party sets themselves apart from contemporaries Interpol and the Kaiser Chiefs with a firm grasp on pop culture. Their upbeat songs hold bass lines that invite dancing and they drop the music just enough to keep you on your feet. With their firm rooting in pop, they rise above the standoffish sound that indie bands can very easily slip into. Instead they move toward what might be our generation's Velvet Underground, though they don't share that much in common. \nThere's little to compare Bloc Party's debut with; Gang of Four and Joy Division are common metaphors, but neither is wholly accurate. They bring something refreshing to the table -- a combination of sounds that even a guy who avoids 80s-esque pretentious indie-rock like the plague can enjoy immensely.