INTIMACY.
August 18, 2008.
On bloc party dot net’s blogparty I read that there’d be an online webchat with the band latter that day, 7 pm GMT. Anyway, I skipped it.
August 19, 20008.
I was rechecking on dotnet to see if there was any blurb of the previously skipped webchat. And BAMM. It was written right on the screen that during the webchat : Bloc Party announced details of their third album, titled ‘Intimacy‘, and that the materials was ready to be released in two days. Which third album??????? I thought I recall a conversation with Dodo mentioning that the album-en-parlant will be released early next year, or end of this year at the sooner.
This isn’t the surprise that I would be thrilled to know. I wasn’t anticipated to hear that bloc party’s releasing any album in a short period after a march of Flux, Mercury, and Idea For A Story. After being spoiled with the perfection of Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City, now I have to give up to the uprising fact that Mercury isn’t just experiment. I, as a fan who intended to be a loyal one, had this wishful thinking that the band was just ‘trying on’ Flux and Mercury, just to see if those sounds fit them, and that they’d finally decide that they don’t.
As is also written in blogparty, they’re doing Intimacy the Radiohead way. What way ? The putting-it-online way. The way that has gotten Radiohead claimed by Time as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
So I quote : “When the British rock band Radiohead announced that In Rainbows would be made available online directly to consumers at whatever price they wanted to pay, many said it signaled the end of the world’s major music labels. (…). The traditional record-label bussiness mode – the one based on controlling access and distribution – is dead.” – Edgar Bronfman Jr for Time. Ach. The article diminished my expectation of Time’s reason putting them on the list. I thought it was because of some music-wised reason, but yet i’s how they did their marketing that ‘The World’ counts.
Anyways. The day after, the first single releases after the album announcement was uploaded to bp’s MySpace. I was unavoidably pesimistic, considering the almost-hideous-and-not-enjoyable-to-listened-to-according-to-me previous singles. But WHEW!! Signs is the bloc party I knew! And Trojan Horse! At last!! Some guitars are involved!! i’ve been anxious and extremely nervous these past couple of days, worried of the possibility that I would not adore bloc party as the way I’ve been adoring them. But no worries now. Suddenly tha perception of having the band’s newest work a few months in advance is intoxicating.
August 22, 2008.
Thanks to my most-brilliant-bestest-friend-ever Dodo, I have in my bare hands the copy of Intimacy, intact ( Hey, no judgment please. I’d get myself the official copy if I lived in the right country ). The heart was pounding, the head was unsure. And..
I LOVE IT PERIODE
Literally speechless. After maybe the zillionth time of unstoppable Intimacy, I even love Mercury. Finally all those noises make sense to my ears. I’ve spent all morning browsing thru dotnet and any of its forum’s threads concerning Intimacy, and nothing else. So, this post will be wrapped up with something that I noticed been done a lot in the mentioned forum. I’m rating Intimacy.
Definitely *****
Major tracks in my playlist would be Halo, Biko, Trojan Horse, Signs, Ion Square. And Ares. And One Month Off. And Mercury. And Zepherus and Better That Heaven. Apparently I just love it extremely much.
I’ve found the highlight of my 2008.
