Wveryone: stop listening to the Killers. Right now. Not because they’re terrible, which they are, but because Bloc Party have out-Killered the Killers in a way that makes the Killers utterly obsolete. Not that being better than the Killers is an amazing feat, mind you: The roster of the “better- than-the-Killers” crowd boasts both talented groups, like Franz Ferdinand and Interpol, and not-so-great groups, like the Futureheads — even Bloc Party. In fact, of all the groups that are better than the Killers, Bloc Party are nigh on the worst, but they sound so much like the Killers that other bands should be compared favorably to them, and the Killers should go the way of Fastball.
Feigning an arena-sized sound and U2’s sense of grandness combined with danceable and urgent rhythms, Bloc Party’s inventiveness lies somewhere between Franz Ferdinand and absolute shit. They are relentlessly catchy, occasionally crappy and always convinced of themselves, thundering through angular guitar lines and thumping bass that suggest they’ve listened to the legendary Gang of Four, but that they would rather get down to “Dancing Queen” than “Damaged Goods.”
Someone has to carry the Brit-pop torch, and unlike the Killers, who dabble in make-believe Britishness, Bloc Party are the real thing.
The real thing is always preferred to the fake.
