Bloc Party : Intimacy (remixed)
Gone are the days when Bloc Party can bask in the critical glory of “Silent Alarm”. Praise for their work since those days has moved from hot to lukewarm and “Intimacy” divided reviewers like a mathematician. Personally, their foray into more powerful musical performances – brash and heavy guitar with energetic percussion – was a refreshing change to their tinkly indie rock with meaningful lyrics. They had already experimented with synth and new wave techniques in “A Weekend In The City”, as the heavily autotuned “Flux” so they were clearly into experimentation. The original “Intimacy” took this further trading on more dance tropes and nods to hip-hop. This is where they should have drawn the line.
When in 10 years Bloc Party feature in Q magazine’s ‘How to Buy’, “Intimacy Remixed” is likely to be under the ‘for collectors only’ banner. Remix albums are tough to make work and really should only be attempted by those who are used to the fluctuations of the industry, perhaps people who have tested the water already on their seventh or eighth studio album. Not their third. This release smacks of boredom or at the very worst, of a band that has some misconceived sense of its own importance. A little too harsh? I don’t think so, because the record is not that good. The mixing is good, but the songs do not fit the bill for this dabbling. Having already dabbled, it reduces the tunes to disjointed snippets over conventional electronic hooks. It is the equivalent of shearing a sheep, seeing its bare skin and thinking, ‘this could do with some more’! “Mercury”, which proved to be a favourite on the original album now sounds like a vinyl with huge scratches in the grooves.
The ethereal and calypso like openings of “Halo” another stand out track on “Intimacy”, merely create a different song. Occasional breathy interludes of Kele Okereke, which echo into nothingness do not constitute a triumphant remix. The whole power of the original rock guitar is replaced by tinny synthetic beats. It is perhaps an indication of how mixing indie with dance is risky, by the fact that the first decent track on the album, “Biko”, is mixed by Mogwai – indie/post-rockers themselves – who stay true to the indie base of the tune. All they do is place some zany electronic sounds over, which gives it a futuristic and mysterious twang, typical to Mogwai’s very arcane sound. Essentially, they have made an average song better.
As the album unfolds there are more indications of how Bloc Party’s music clashes badly with the artists that have been brought in to alter them. The d’n’b version of “Trojan Horse” sounds like it has been done for a laugh by someone in their back shed. This is no sleight on John B’s talent, more of an inadequacy of the original to make the transition to this genre. Whilst you do get the full sense of “Signs” on the Armand Van Helden interpretation, it is tired and conventional and would not get a club clamouring for more. So we are still asking the question, what is the point?
Having sensed the drift into listlessness and repetition, the next few tracks – “One Month Off”, “Zephyrus” and “Talons” – fade into the ether as quickly as Kele’s voice, and once again a state of perplexity is left. With “Better Than Heaven (No Age Remix)” sounding a lot like “Mercury (Hervé Is In Disarray Remix)”, it appeared we had come full circle. As if recognising this, the bonus track “Letter To My Son” has almost the identical calypso back beat as “Halo”.
If there were questions asked about “Intimacy”, then Bloc Party would do well to give this album less of a fanfare release than a muted aside.
Words: John Elmes
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