So Here We Are

Aside from being a dreadful day at work and a partially frightening commute home (thanks to a rare Utah monsoon), today is a momentous occasion. I finally hooked up a connection to EZ Archive. More details on that later.

For now, humor my fawning over an album I probably should have been blogging about 18 months ago. I'm slow on the uptake. You know this. I know this. Let's proceed accordingly.

I'll cut to the chase. Bloc Party's Silent Alarm (VICE Records) has me floored. I can't get enough. I listen three or four times a week. I listen quietly. Through headphones. I listen loudly. Through headphones. I ignore co-workers even when they're standing directly behind me waving pens and tapping on my cubicle wall (although I'm not sure how much that actually has to do with the music...). The truth is this: If I had to go back and re-rank my Best Albums of 2005, I'd have a hard time keeping Silent Alarm out of the top three.

So what happened? A year ago, had you asked me what I thought about Bloc Party, I probably would have simply said, "Great name. 'This Modern Love' is a fantastic song." And that would've been that. Today, I'd rant for 20 minutes on the brilliance of Kele Okereke's vocal inflections and then proceed to discuss whether or not London Calling is the closest album-ancestor to Silent Alarm.

I've asked around and there's no consensus. In fact, most people just think I was asleep at the wheel when the album originally dropped. But that's not altogether true. I was aware. I listened. I read the buzz on the blogs. I noticed the pie-in-the-sky review from the snottiest of critic-sites. But it just didn't click. I didn't get it. And now... well, I'm skeptical that picking up a mortgage, welcoming kid #2, moving into corporate middle management and becoming the reluctant owner of a Honda Odyssey have all somehow combined to give me sharper musical chops.

I fear this post is more of a waste of time than usual. I have no conclusion, no explanation, no resolution. I suppose I just needed to write it down. All of this shouldn't trouble me. I should simply embrace the album and move on. Why the search for reason?

At any rate, here's a stunning cover of "Pioneers" along with my current standout from the album that was kind enough to wait for me to catch up.

Pioneers - Tunng - mp3
So Here We Are - m4a

NOTE: Let me know how the downloads work out. I'll try and keep things up for as long as I can (until my archive space is maxed), but—if you're tempted—it'd probably be wise to grab 'em while they're warm.