This is the band Bloc Party, it consists of four band members. They are an indie rock band composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Russell Lissack (lead guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass guitar, synths, backing vocals, glockenspiel), and Matt Tong (drums, backing vocals). Their type of music has been to said to have been drawn from bands such as Radiohead and The Cure. Bloc party was formed in 1999 at reading festival (a popular festival consisting of indie music). The band did not set on the name Bloc Party until 2003.
The band first had their break through when Okereke gave the single 'shes hearing voices' to the lead singer of Franz Ferdinand during a concert, from here the
song was played on Radio 1. The song proved popular and this lead to many more releases of songs. There first song was vital in setting the scene for the type of music genre and target auidence they were aiming for. The indie genre has a huge fan base, and proved popular.
ALBUMS
Bloc Party released their debut album 'Silent Alarms' in Feburary 2005. This album was voted 'album of the year' by NME and reached number 3 in the UK album charts. The band turned out to gain a good reputation and it was dicovered they had positivite reviews from those in the US. Bloc party were now not only a UK band but a global band.
This was Bloc Party's first album cover; as you can see it is simple yet effective. Bloc Party have taken the name of the ablum and portrayed it in the picture. It presents a tranquill setting in a field with the use of whites, grey and black colouring. The band have not used their picture in this cover, this is possibly because the band had only just started out and fans and new audiences may not realise who the band are visually just yet. This however does work in the bands favour as they could put the band name in a large type face in order to stand out on the shelves with the hundreds of other albums. Releasing a first album is always difficult and the sales will decide the success or the failure of a new and upcoming band. This album sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide.
The bands next album was called 'A Weekend in the City' which was released in February 2007. (2 years after their first album), however this ablum was leaked in November 2006 and so was put on itunes for download so that the band did not lose out on sales. It debuted at number 12 in the Billboard 200, with 48,000 copies sold. This ablum reached number 2 in the UK album charts.
This is the art work for the second ablum released by Bloc Party, again the band do not use images of themselves. Having an image as the second cover begins to set a house style for the band and audiences will now notice that this is a Bloc Party album. The name of the album reflects the image on the cover. This picture is taken from a high angle where you can see the roads that you would usally find in the 'city'. Additionally lighting is key here, they use ambient lighting for example using the street lamps. The lighting on the roads has been cleverely edited to show the break and head lights of a car without actually showing the cars in the picture. The bands name and ablum name has been placed in the top left of the album. It has been coloured in white in order to stand out from the rest of the ablum.
The bands third album was named 'Intimacy' and was released in August 2008 one month after the band released their popular single 'Mercury'.
This album cover again does not feature the band but does have an image of two people about to kiss. This reflects the ablum name as kissing is an intmate thing. The lighting is used effectively here with the faces in a pale colour with a dark background in the space between them. The shadowing here helps to define the facial features of both faces.
In 2009 the band did not have a current recording contract and so were under no obligation to produce any more albums. They did release one more single called 'One More Chance' in August 2009 which almost relfects the state were previously in. After this the band decided to go on 'hiatus' and were unsure if they would continue with the band. However in 2011 the band are currently writing their fourth album with 15 new tracks. There has been speculation whether the band are looking for a new lead singer or not.
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