The Nextwave Sessions, eprelease date: Aug. 12, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Dan Carey
label: Frenchkiss Records - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: 1. "Ratchet" - 2. "Obscene" - 4. "French Exit" - 4. "Montreal" - 5. "Children of the Future"
5-track ep by Bloc Party and the last release to feature the original line-up as first drummer Matt Tong left the band shortly after this and then in 2015 bassist Gordon Moakes also desided to leave, thus reducing the band to a duo.
Stylistically, this is electroindie, indie pop... something there-about with a certain dance-appeal. First impression had be rejecting this as a bit of a dead end. For me. For quite some time. And then, it turns out that it only adds to the band's repertoire. Not on the level of former great albums, but as a treat, or a stepping stone towards something new. And it's really something else from this fine band! I've always found that I needed time to adjust to the band's new style, and here it really had me hanging before I accepted it as something desent. Without being really great "Ratchet" and "French Exit" are possibly the best tracks on this, and then it doesn't as such contain any bad songs either. Perhaps you could argue that these five tracks show a unit left without truly strong flourishing ideas for the moment being, and then it also adds, that there's still a fire burning.