A lot of names have been bandied about by Kele in recent interviews whilst talking about his influences for the second Bloc Party album. Here's a little guide to some of the more obscure references that have cropped up…
1. Philip Glass
Probably the most influential and commercially successful 'classical' composer alive today.
His music is usually described as 'minimalist' and is 'based on the extended repetition of brief, elegant melodic fragments that weave in and out of an aural tapestry.' Glass's repertoire includes music for opera, dance, theatre, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film, such as the 'Einstein on the Beach' opera and soundtracks for 'The Truman Show' and 'The Hours'.
Listen: Philip Glass Ensemble - 'Music in 12 Parts (Part 10)'
Listen: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra - 'Symphony no.2 (3rd movement)'
Find out more: PhilipGlass.com
2. Amerie's '1 Thing'
Booty-shaking, live-drum-sampling, indie-kid-pleasing song by the American R&B singer. 2005's 'Crazy In Love'.
In Kele's words: "One of my favourite songs of the last ten years. I was literally obsessed with that song. The thing about that song, what I find really inspiring about modern R&B, is it really sounds like it was assembled on the computer, the pickings of samples and building the song around that. There's a sense where it seems to be just stuck together, and that's something that I'm hoping we can try to somehow bring out in the record that we're making. Essentially, yeah, we're a live band, but I'd like to get some bricolage going on."
Listen: Amerie - '1 Thing'
3. György Ligeti
Avant-garde Hungarian composer
Best known for his pieces which feature prominently in the Stanley Kubrick films 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. His work has an Eastern European flavour and is 'often expressed in a complex rhythmic style in which conflicting layers of tempos are used to drive the music forward'.
In Kele's words: "I was really impressed by his use of dissonance and space and texture."
Listen: Le Grand Macabre: 'Carhorn Prelude', 'Dialogue of the two ministers', 'Drink, Up!'
Find out more: Gyoergy-ligeti.de
4. Less Than Zero
The first novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1985.
The new Bloc Party tune, 'Song For Clay' is about the main character in this book, a rich young college student who returns to his hometown of Los Angeles for the winter break. Clay subsequently becomes bored and turns to drugs and cheap thrills to keep him occupied, resulting in further boredom. This dizzying spiral of desperation takes him to relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs as he seeks inner direction.Buy the book: Amazon
Find out more: Wikipedia
Throw in the more well known artists cited as influences by Kele (Bjork, Dizzee Rascal, Roxy Music, David Bowie and DJ Shadow) and you have an extremely rich range of musical and literary reference points...hopefully making for a diverse and eclectic second album!
Labels: A_Weekend_In_The_City
¶ 2:24 PM
: June 09, 2006 7:10 PMAnd if anyones interested, I've decoded some more of the lyrics to "England". Some bits are impossible to hear though. Here are the bits I've picked out. The second verse was really hard.
I've been trying
Trying to find my way back to you
On the ...
...
In your soul ...
Why does it always go wrong?
I've read the right books
...
A hungarian Bloc Party fan
: June 11, 2006 9:28 AM
The influences you got for doing this second album, I thing they are pretty clever and interesting... See you guys around!!!!!!! gotta catch up with some of your music!!!
p,d.. I really like the way you write!
: June 21, 2006 3:34 PMThe influences you got for doing this second album, I think they are pretty clever and interesting... See you guys around!!!!!!! gotta catch up with some of your music!!!
p,d.. I really like the way you write!
: June 21, 2006 3:37 PMLinks to this post:
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