BLOG PARTY.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

2011-01-20T15:04:00.012+00:00

With Bloc Party still on hiatus, I must admit that I've abandoned this blog over the last few months. Although Kele's solo career has been ticking over (he's got three gigs coming up in February) and Gordy's Young Legionnaire project are currently preparing for their album release with Wichita Recordings, there has been a distinct lack of Bloc activity.

As a result, this blog has slipped down my to-do list. So, rather than keep it going half-heartedly, I've decided to freeze BLOG PARTY where it is...I'll no longer be updating it with new articles. However, I'll continue to update the main website, and the Always New Depths forum is still very much alive.

So, thanks so much to everyone who's visited this blog over the past 5 years (it's been that long?!), especially those who contributed with articles, covers, mp3s, photos, gossip, etc...there have been over 1 million blog views in total, and nearly 700 posts. I'll leave up all the old posts, as well as all the downloads (radio sessions / covers / bootlegs), so feel free to keep browsing as usual. There's also a HUGE archive of Bloc Party gig bootlegs / remixes / sessions in 'The Banquet' section on Always New Depths.

I'll leave you with the video that started the love affair. God Bless BP!
James

Update (11/05/11): Thanks so much for all the comments :) Although it's nothing to do with Bloc Party, I do have a new blog that some of you may be interested in. It's called The Soft Anonymous and it's mostly about science-y things, plus any random stuff that takes my fancy. I'll still be updating the main BP.net site too, if/when the boys make a return. In the meantime, go and check out the Young Legionnaire album - it's awesome.

Young Legionnaire: an update!

2010-08-15T12:09:00.007+01:00

Tomorrow sees the release of Young Legionnaire's first 7" single, 'Colossus', backed by 'Iron Dream'...available to order / listen to here via Holy Roar Records. Only 500 copies are being pressed, so don't dilly-dally!

As a reminder, Young Legionnaire is the band formed by Gordy and Paul Mullen (ex Yourcodenameis:milo), joined by William Bowerman (Brontide / La Roux) on drums. Keep up to date with their news on the official YL website.

The band had this to say about the two tracks (via their blog)...

"‘Colossus’ and ‘Iron Dream’ both came out of last winter’s intermittent writing sessions, the former being knocked into shape on the same day as our first show back in January. Both songs were recorded at Gun Factory, our rehearsal/demoing space of choice in north-east London, by its resident button-basher, Trevor Heaton. Holy Roar Records gave us a chinese burn and insisted they put out our first piece of vinyl: as a result Trevor polished up ‘Colossus’, while Gordy tinkered on ‘Iron Dream’ at home, spending untold half-hours adding ‘oohs’ and ‘ohs’ of twinkly reverb."

Check out the fantastic video for 'Colossus' below:

Young Legionnaire - 'Colossus'

And here's an interview with Gordy and Paul recorded at the Sonisphere festival last month:

Watch the 'Everything You Wanted' video!

2010-07-21T23:10:00.006+01:00

The video for Kele's second solo single, 'Everything You Wanted', is now available to watch here, courtesy of The Guardian. It's very emotionally charged, and sees him having a Sinéad O'Connor moment on the streets of New York City...

Edit: Watch the vid below via YouTube:

The Creators Project: Kele

2010-07-12T16:04:00.002+01:00

Kele's 'The Boxer'...out now!

2010-06-23T21:12:00.001+01:00

Click here for the tracklisting.

Kele...is everywhere

2010-06-10T10:15:00.006+01:00

The Kele movement is gathering steam...click here to watch three brilliant live videos of 'Tenderoni', 'Everything You Wanted' and 'On The Lam', recorded for a Steve Lamacq session a couple days ago.

He is also featured on the front cover of this week's NME...watch here a video interview he recorded for the magazine!

Edit: The three videos are now on YouTube...watch 'Everything You Wanted' below, and click here to watch the other two tracks!

Kele and his band performing 'Everything You Wanted' at the BBC

'Tenderoni' video: live in Dublin

2010-05-17T22:21:00.003+01:00

Kele: Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick, Ireland, 14.05.10

2010-05-15T22:27:00.004+01:00

Kele played his first gig without the other Bloc Party boys last night in Limerick, performing mostly tracks from his forthcoming album, 'The Boxer', as well as a few Bloc Party oldies. Read NME's report below, followed by a video of 'Walk Tall'!

"Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke played his first ever solo show in Ireland last night (May 14). Mixing new songs from his forthcoming debut 'The Boxer' with a handful of remixed tracks from Bloc Party's back catalogue, the show in Limerick marked the unveiling of his new, dance-orientated musical direction.

Prior to his arrival on stage, everyone in the crowd at Dolan's Warehouse was encouraged to pick up a free shot of Jagermeister in order to share a toast with Kele, who announced. "It’s a special occasion, so I thought I’d buy everyone a drink!" when he arrived shortly after 10.30pm.

With many of the crowd unsure what to expect from the show, during proto-dubstep opener 'Walk Tall' the audience remained relatively still until Kele followed it up with 'On The Lam'. After a handful of new tracks - including 'The Other Side', which was momentarily interrupted after Kele feared a crowd member had stolen his maracas – he indulged his fans with a medley of remixed Bloc Party songs, culminating in a rapturously received 'One More Chance'.

The biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for Kele's debut solo single 'Tenderoni' though, which saw the singer mount a high speaker stack before nearly losing his footing. Only once during the show did the singer perform on guitar, for new song 'Unholy Thoughts', before he played new song 'Rise' and returned for the encore which culminated in Bloc Party's hit single 'Flux', which he referred to as "a song by a band I used to be in""

[Setlist]

Walk Tall / On The Lam / Meet Me In The Middle / The Other Side / Everything You Wanted / Blue Light / The Prayer / One More Chance / Tenderoni / Unholy Thoughts / Rise / All The Things I Could Never Say / Flux

'Walk Tall' in Limerick: Screaming fans, cornrows and grimey beats

Two new Kele tracks...

2010-05-13T22:19:00.005+01:00

Kele has uploaded two new tracks which will feature on his new album, 'The Boxer'. Listen to them below!

Rise by keleokereke

Walk Tall by keleokereke

Young Legionnaire bears fruit!

2010-05-12T23:13:00.004+01:00

Gordy's side project, Young Legionnaire, have finally made available the first fruits of their labour. Ladies and gentlemen....Colossus! Happily, the song delivers everything the title promises...

Kele: tour dates and video

2010-05-05T18:29:00.004+01:00

Kele has just announced a lengthy solo tour, including dates in Europe, USA and Canada. Click here for the full list.

And here's the brand spanking new video for his first solo single, 'Tenderoni'...

What are your first impressions of Kele's solo project? Excited about 'The Boxer', or looking forward more to hearing what Young Legionnaire come up with?

Listen to 'Tenderoni'!

2010-05-01T01:46:00.004+01:00

Kele's debut solo single, 'Tenderoni', got it's first play on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show last night. It's now available to stream over on his MySpace. The single will be released on June 14th, so expect to be hearing this track soundtracking the coming festival season...

'Pin Me Down' album out now!

2010-04-18T23:02:00.002+01:00

Just a reminder that Pin Me Down's debut album is out today! Here's a video of their acoustic set at London's Rough Trade East on Saturday (for Record Store Day)...

'The Boxer'...track-by-track preview #2

2010-04-18T20:04:00.002+01:00

There's also a track-by-track preview of 'The Boxer' in this week's NME. Click the thumbnail below to read it...

Flat cap Kele

'The Boxer'...track-by-track preview

2010-04-15T23:02:00.003+01:00

The Fly have posted up a track-by-track preview of Kele's upcoming solo album, 'The Boxer'. Read it here! No sign yet of any preview clips, but appetites are well and truly whetted...

Kele confirms 'The Boxer'!

2010-04-08T09:59:00.005+01:00

It's been in the pipeline for a while, but Kele this week announced concrete details of his first solo album: 'The Boxer'. Produced mainly in New York with Spank Rock producer, XXXChange, the album will be released on June 21st in the UK and June 22nd in the US. Read the tracklisting below...

Someone's been working out...

01 Walk Tall

02 On the Lam

03 Tenderoni

04 The Other Side

05 Everything You Wanted

06 New Rules

07 Unholy Thoughts

08 Rise

09 All the Things I Could Never Say

10 Yesterday's Gone

'Tenderoni', assumedly not a cover of the Chromeo song, will be the first single released from the album, on June 14th.

No sneak previews of 'The Boxer' have so far been made available, but recent interviews, plus the accompanying press photo of Kele cradling an Akai MPC, suggest that he's been venturing further into electro-pop territory. Here's what Kele said to the NME: "I've been into clubbing for years. I've said from the beginning I'm into dance, it gets me excited and I think this record is going to go some way to prove that to people, hopefully."

With the first solo dates to come next month (see this post), expect to hear the first tasters from the album very soon. In the meantime, Kele has wired himself up to various cyber spots (website, blog, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook) to keep us all informed of his comings and goings.

Bloc Party remix Tunng

2010-03-31T19:07:00.008+01:00

This has been doing the rounds on the interweb for over a month now, but for those who've yet to hear it, here is a download of Bloc Party's remix of the recent Tunng single, 'Hustle', via Stereogum. Electro-Tunng works a lot better than I was expecting...good work chap (this is Russell's handiwork).

[Download] Tunng - Hustle (Bloc Party Remix)

And here's the original version...

'Silent Alarm' vinyl to be re-pressed

2010-03-31T18:24:00.003+01:00

Bloc Party's record label, Wichita Recordings, this year celebrates its tenth birthday and to mark the occasion they'll be specially re-releasing certain albums from their extensive back catalogue.

One of these is Bloc Party's five year old (!) debut album, 'Silent Alarm', which will be re-pressed on vinyl ready for a release on Record Store Day (April 17th). The album will also come with a Little Thoughts / Storm and Stress bonus 7". All re-pressed LPs are limited to 1000 copies and will come in deluxe packaging on heavy-weight vinyl. More information is available here!

Meanwhile, Kele has been talking about his upcoming solo dates. Here's what he had to say to NME about his spot at the Reading / Leeds Festival:

"I can assure you that this is not going to be a Bloc Party show in any shape or form. I think people will realise this very early on. Is it a full band or one man with a laptop? Hmm, somewhere in between I think. I don't want to give too much away but expect some old as well as new faces. It's going to be a party, that much is for certain..."

Watch this space for the first reports...

Kele lines up solo dates...

2010-03-29T21:27:00.005+01:00

In addition to the Ibiza and Manchester dates announced last week, Kele has confirmed some more solo dates for later this year, including a spot on the NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage at this year's Reading / Leeds festivals! Check out the details below...he'll be performing as 'Kele' (no Okereke). In the meantime, keep up to date with his cultural musings (unfortunately no word on the solo project) here. And I thought I was the only one to remember 'Life Without Buildings'...what a band!

14.05.10 Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick, Ireland

15.05.10 Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland

16.05.10 The Academy, Dublin, Ireland

17.05.10 Spring & Airbrake, Belfast, N. Ireland

20.05.10 Electronic Beats Festival @ E-Werk, Cologne, Germany

21.05.10 Prinzenbar Halle, Hamburg, Germany

22.05.10 Weekend, Berlin, Germany

12.06.10 Parklife Festival, Manchester

28.08.10 Reading Festival (NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage)

29.08.10 Reading Festival (NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage)

31.08.10 Ibiza Rocks (w/ Delphic)

This blog has moved

2010-03-28T10:44:00.001+01:00

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It's been a while...

2010-03-20T22:22:00.009+00:00

...as those Staind boys once cried into their cornflakes. Here's what we've missed in Bloc Party land:

Pin Me Down, Russell's side-project with Milena Mepris, will be releasing their debut album on April 19th. Click here to pre-order the album and preview two of the tracks.

Rather surreally, Russell will also be joining his boyhood heroes Ash on their forthcoming UK tour as an extra guitarist/keyboardist! More info here.
And, not content to let Russell hog the limelight, Kele has announced his first couple solo live appearances: Parklife Festival (Manchester, June 12th 2010) and Ibiza Rocks (with Delphic, August 31st 2010).
Meanwhile, Gordy's Young Legionnaire project are currently holed up somewhere planning their world domination...

In non-band news, Blogger have decided to put an end to ftp publishing, currently used by this blog to upload to the interwebz. This means we have to change our publishing method; a process which doesn't appear overly simple at present. Fingers crossed Blog Party will survive the switch...

Young Legionnaire are...go!

2010-02-01T18:57:00.006+00:00

As if we ever doubted it for a minute...Gordy did indeed surface onstage at the Old Blue Last on Thursday. How did they sound? Very loud, apparently. Here's some photographic evidence...

Yourcodenameis:Moakes

And here's their website.

Meanwhile, Russell and Milena's 'Pin Me Down' project is Spinner's Band of the Week. Nice going.

Solo projects galore...

2010-01-25T19:25:00.007+00:00

Russell's side-project with Milena Mepris, Pin Me Down, is back on the tracks again. Click here to download a brand new track, 'Time Crisis', possibly influenced by Russell's favourite arcade game, and read an interview with him here, where he talks about his work with Milena and the future of the Bloc.

Not a solo project as such, but Kele has launched his own videoblog...I Am Koko. He's a prolific poster as well...the place is chock-full of his cultural ponderings.

And remember, remember...this Thursday sees the first show of Gordy's 'secret' side-project...Young Legionnaire. Send in your gig reports!

Gordy to become a Young Legionnaire...?

2010-01-17T22:06:00.007+00:00

With all the talk of Kele's solo project and Russell's forays into dance-pop, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Gordy is the first Bloc Party member to emerge from the cloud of uncertainty that is the band's hiatus/hibernation.

Mr. Moakes is rumoured to be in a band called Young Legionnaire, who will play their first ever gig on Thursday 28th January at the Old Blue Last in London (see the flyer below). The band is also rumoured to feature Paul Mullen (of Yourcodenameis:milo/The Automatic fame), along with William Bowerman (the drummer of I Was A Cubscout/La Roux).

The evidence: this Facebook event page, various Tweeter posts, and a good bit of detective work.

Check back soon to find out whether Young Legionnaire are reality...

In the meantime, remind yourself of the rather awesome 'Wait A Minute', the fruits of the previous time Gordy and Paul Mullen worked together over three years ago in the League of International Super Best Friends...

The League of International Super Best Friends - 'Wait A Minute'

Bloc Party - Live from Abbey Road

2009-11-11T22:52:00.004+00:00

Bloc Party recently performed at the famous Abbey Road studios as part of a programme which aired last Saturday on Channel 4 (UK). Watch the interview plus live versions of 'Mercury', 'Signs' and 'The Prayer' below...

Kele's in retrograde

I see signs now all the time

The Gord's Prayer