A Weekend In The City

When A Weekend in the City comes bursting out at you with a gaggle of second-album upgrades-- new tricks, new scope, new arrangements-- the bulk of them sound like good ideas: They've been executed by hard-working professionals.

For an album that strives to articulate the youthful pleasure-rush of love, drugs, and power, this is a worryingly pedestrian effort. [Mar 2007, p.75]

The direction in which Bloc Party has traveled is entirely unsuited to its strengths.

The album's substantial rewards lie in the unorthodox rhythms of drummer Matt Tong. [Mar 2007, p.102]

An album of palatable Radio 1-friendly alt-rock. [Mar 2007, p.110]

The real achievement of 'A Weekend In The City' is its path to this conclusion, pulling hard-won moments of contentment from a maelstrom of anger and confusion.

Though the new bunch [of songs] are sharply executed, they cry out for killer choruses now that they're not just outcries of generational frustration. [8 Feb 2007, p.70]

How good is A Weekend In The City? At times, it's brilliant: bold, forthright and honest.

It's a given that some people will miss the raucous Bloc Party, but there are enough in-your-face moments and hidden gems to keep A Weekend In The City on regular rotation. [#16, p.90]

There's barely a song that isn't kneecapped by one of Okereke's lyrical clangers.

A Weekend In The City is the aural adaptation, a digital manifestation, of what it’s like to be a twenty-something in Britain, today. It’s dirty, dishevelled, unsure and paranoid; fearful, easily distracted, boisterous and ashamed; reckless, wild, nervous and terrified; graceful, thought-provoking, clumsy and contradictory. And it’s very nearly perfect.

It's smart, strange, just different enough from its predecessor, and, eventually, absolutely stunning.

Not since U2 built an Atomic Bomb has one band tried so hard to turn each track into a breahless epic. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Too often, the music on A Weekend in the City is less memorable than the ambitious subject matter.

They play things way too safe... which makes for a rather boring listening experience. [Mar 2007, p.142]

It’s a difficult album to love, or even like. But, for all its faults — and there are many — there is enough here to make one think that maybe, just maybe, Bloc Party are capable of making, with their third LP, the kind of challenging yet highly accessible pop album they think they’ve made here.

Too often Bloc Party aim for an overly expansive epic Coldplay quality that compromises the focus of their songwriting.

A Weekend in the City borders on emo in its wordy self-obsession, so even though the record is actually more sonically adventurous than its predecessor, it seems like a massive step backward.

Claustrophobic with multitracked vocals and baroque effects, the album lacks the wiry catchiness of hits like “Banquet.” [5 Feb 2007]

This young band has something fresh to say, which softens the letdown that their late attempt at post-punk heroism falls short.

At Bloc Party’s best, music and message collide with astounding force.

Okereke now sings instead of barking, and, well, oops on him.

The psychic bruising Okereke has sustained playing the East London fame game during the past 12 months has produced self-pitying lyrics that frequently state the bleeding obvious.

The second half of the album falls into a malaise as tempos slow and arrangements become more orthodox, placing Bloc Party closer to Coldplay than one would have thought possible two years ago.

A post-electronica, post-rave production that jettisons genres and cherishes uncut creativity. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.77]

'A Weekend In The City'... fails because it tells us nothing new.

A Weekend in the City showcases what all the band's initial buzz was about, but twists and filters what might have been expected, leaving them open to praise for different reasons.

Those hoping to be converted are likely still to doubt the 'voice of a generation' tag.