Rina Sawayama is everything you could pray for in a pop provocateur, circa 2022: rude, audacious, unpredictable, hilarious, blunt, with a mean streak and an omnivorous ear. The Japanese British art rebel made waves with her debut, Sawayama, a pop manifesto with her own queer glam-rock sensibility. In gems like “Stfu,” she managed to combine two totally different strains of Y2K-era radio — Britney-Backstreet teen disco and Korn-esque nu metal — into a new style of head-banging swagger. Anyone could hear it: Sawayama was born to break stuff.
Her long-awaited Hold...
Her long-awaited Hold...
- 9/13/2022
- by Rob Sheffield
- Rollingstone.com
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4 (four; /ˈfɔər/) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5.
There it is then.
Four.
The number.
Just another number. One of an infinite amount in fact. So what’s its significance? Why should Bloc Party use it as the title of their latest release? Their comeback album even. Well, I mean there’s the glaringly obvious fact that this is their fourth album. Though that’s too easy for Bloc Party, too straightforward. I mean there could well be a basis in that simple fact, but it seems more significant than that.
Given the tensions running through the band around the time of their last album, Intimacy, subsequently leading to the hiatus that this album sees them returning from, Four as an album has more of an importance to the band and their career, than just any other fourth album.
4 (four; /ˈfɔər/) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5.
There it is then.
Four.
The number.
Just another number. One of an infinite amount in fact. So what’s its significance? Why should Bloc Party use it as the title of their latest release? Their comeback album even. Well, I mean there’s the glaringly obvious fact that this is their fourth album. Though that’s too easy for Bloc Party, too straightforward. I mean there could well be a basis in that simple fact, but it seems more significant than that.
Given the tensions running through the band around the time of their last album, Intimacy, subsequently leading to the hiatus that this album sees them returning from, Four as an album has more of an importance to the band and their career, than just any other fourth album.
- 8/8/2012
- by Morgan Roberts
- Obsessed with Film
Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has revealed that he is unsure of his future with the band after he spotted them recording without him. The singer explained that he saw guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong outside a studio in New York without inviting him Okereke told NME: "I was actually having lunch about three weeks ago, just here on 8th Avenue and I saw somebody walk past and I recognised the haircut. "It was Russell. I was like, 'Hey!' but he didn't see me and I followed him around the corner and then I saw Matt, Gordon and (more)...
- 9/20/2011
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
Bloc Party's Kele Okereke, along with other acts including The Prodigy, Florence & The Machine and Dizzee Rascal, will perform at this year's Ibiza Rocks series. The Spain based music series is held at the Ibiza Rocks hotel in San Antonio, Ibiza.
Ibiza Rocks, which is a weekly summer series beginning in June, will see front man Okereke take the stage on his own. The Bloc Party singer announced last October that he was taking a hiatus from the band to pursue individual projects.
Speaking to the BBC back in October, drummer Matt Tong said: "Unfortunately that is going to be it for the time being." He added: "We definitely need to have a break and gain a bit of perspective on life outside of the band. Hopefully if we do reconvene at some point in the future we'll be refreshed and have so many ideas to bring to what it is we do.
Ibiza Rocks, which is a weekly summer series beginning in June, will see front man Okereke take the stage on his own. The Bloc Party singer announced last October that he was taking a hiatus from the band to pursue individual projects.
Speaking to the BBC back in October, drummer Matt Tong said: "Unfortunately that is going to be it for the time being." He added: "We definitely need to have a break and gain a bit of perspective on life outside of the band. Hopefully if we do reconvene at some point in the future we'll be refreshed and have so many ideas to bring to what it is we do.
- 3/16/2010
- icelebz.com
Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has cast doubts over his future with the band by hinting that he may soon quit. Frontman Kele Okereke recently announced that the rockers plan to take a lengthy hiatus after their current touring commitments. Speaking to BBC 6 Music, Tong revealed that he is unsure whether he will return to the group. "We definitely need to have a break and gain a bit of perspective on life outside of the band. Hopefully if we do reconvene at some point in the future we'll be refreshed and have so many ideas to bring to what it is we do," Tong said. He (more)...
- 10/16/2009
- by By Oli Simpson
- Digital Spy
Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has claimed that the band will never go back to their early indie rock sound. The group's two albums since 2005's Silent Alarm have veered away from an indie style and towards a dance and electronic sound. "There's every chance we might go back to more orthodox arrangements or things that resemble a traditional band but I don't think we'll ever write songs like we did on Silent Alarm again," Tong said. (more)...
- 1/27/2009
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
After its critically acclaimed sophomore album, A Weekend in the City, climbed to no. 2 on the British sales charts, Bloc Party’s knee-jerk reaction was to dive back into the studio as soon as possible to record a raw counterpoint to the band's previous atmospheric rock and jagged chord play. The result is Intimacy, a record Bloc Party digitally released only three days after announcing it online.
Paste caught up with drummer Matt Tong to discuss the group’s musical evolution, lead singer Kele Okereke’s political reputation and whether the music industry is a progressive and equal environment for a rock band with a black lead singer.
Paste caught up with drummer Matt Tong to discuss the group’s musical evolution, lead singer Kele Okereke’s political reputation and whether the music industry is a progressive and equal environment for a rock band with a black lead singer.
- 10/28/2008
- Pastemagazine.com
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