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Cock Bloc’ed: The “Intimacy” Fiasco, Part 1

So I was all set to write up a review for the new Bloc Party album, “Intimacy,” which was released online a month ago, with a physical release date set for October 28th. I held off on purchasing the record through Bloc Party’s website for ten dollars (with an option to spend twenty and receive a physical copy in the mail) and instead downloaded the record from Pirate Bay. I had every intention of purchasing a real copy at the local record store when it was released, but now I’m not so sure. Here’s why:

The “Intimacy” roll-out has been an ill-considered fiasco from the get-go. Bloc Party announced the online release a week in advance, and I expected a much harsher backlash than what has actually transpired - the only website I’ve seen call the band out on their stupidity was the always cantankerous Aversion.com, whom you may recall we tried to boycott with a campaign of guerilla sabotage which was about as fruitful as this whole “Intimacy” endeavor. Bloc Party apparently wanted to emulate Radiohead’s uber-successful “In Rainbows” strategy, but with a key difference: instead of letting us, the diehard fans, choose how much to pay for the download, the price was set at ten dollars. This would’ve been fine if the ten dollars included an eventual physical copy of the record - but it didn’t. For that you would have to shell out an extra ten bucks, essentially paying twice for one record. I haven’t shelled out twenty bucks for a CD since they came in those long cardboard boxes. I believe that was 1992.

But it doesn’t stop there: those who purchased the digital copy for ten dollars didn’t get the full album. Two days ago, Bloc Party released a new “official” tracklist that includes four more songs. So if you paid for the download alone, you don’t get those tracks. And since this wasn’t revealed at the time, it begs the question of whether Bloc Party were actually finished with the record before unleashing it on the net. Early reviews have been less than positive, with Pitchfork most notably complaining that the majority of the songs felt half-baked - a cause that the band didn’t help much by casually stating that they hadn’t toured any of this material. That makes “Intimacy” the diciest of musical propositions - a studio creation that hasn’t been road-tested in any way.

For people like me, who felt the band’s last album “A Weekend In The City” was too mannered by half and a general letdown from the live-wire energy and electric tension of their debut (”Silent Alarm”), this is borderline good news. And the version of “Intimacy” that I downloaded is fun in a way that the previous record wasn’t, with the band going off on several interesting new tangents - the best example being strange and deliciously off-putting first single “Mercury,” which features nothing resembling a guitar or traditional live percussion. I was almost hoping for an entire record of this new style, but “Intimacy” basically splits down the middle between danced-minded experiments and more standard guitar-based Brit-pop bashing. The record lacks truly great songs, but almost makes up for it in pure spectacle; at just over forty minutes, this ten-track version of “Intimacy” is a well-contained riot that rushes by before you have a chance to notice that most of the material needed more time in the oven. The band’s strong point has always been the way they meticulously structure their songs, but this record continues a trend de-emphasizing the careful sculpting that Bloc Party made their name on, opting instead for either too-traditional guitar rock (”Halo”) or over-produced non-songs that rely entirely too much on studio trickery (”Zephyrus”).

But, like I said, this isn’t my real review. I’ll save that until I hear the rest of the record, although I have a feeling that tacking another four songs onto the record isn’t going to improve anyone’s opinion. “Intimacy” works (barely) in this abbreviated state; stretched over fourteen tracks (with an a run-time closer to a full hour), it’ll probably crash. Also, the boys have cooked up a perfect ending with the beautiful “Ion Square,” which is the only one of the new tracks that could stand with the best of the band’s previous output. Now it’s ending with “Flux,” which was released as a single over a year ago and didn’t win the band any points with people who remember “Silent Alarm” ever so fondly (myself included).

I’m reserving my judgement on the final product until October 28th, but the release strategy for this puppy has been a resounding failure. I hope people will start waking up to what a sham and a rip-off these staggered release schedules are; unless you’re coming with a masterpiece, the hype overshadows the art. And “Intimacy,” as it stands, isn’t anything like a masterpiece.

© 2008 Strong Words INC.