Are you a hard-core Bloc Party fan? So devoted, in fact, that you can't wait three more months for the band's third LP? Well, you don't have to wait � you butt actually get a written matter of Intimacy, which doesn't hit record stores until October 28, right this second ... so long as you've got a solid Internet connection.
Taking a cue from the likes of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Stars, the British indie rockers are debuting their latest studio arrange online. At BlocParty.com, fans can download the 10 tracks troika months beforehand of the disc's physical release.
According to bassist Gordon Moakes, the online leak of the band's sophomore album, 2007's A Weekend in the City, trey months before its official release was part of the reason why Bloc Party wanted to get Intimacy, to their fans as shortly as humanly possible.
"It wasn't a 'rushed' release," Moakes explained of the album they began working on in February. "It would be a rush if it wasn't ready, I suppose, merely in price of the recording, we finished it in late June, early July. But the way media can be disseminated these years, we figured if it's finished, and then it's ready to be heard. I think, sure as shooting, if we'd decided to go the other route � the CD beingness the number 1 thing people heard � I think we would have had to have a conversation about how we might tackle that this time around. Obviously, the Internet is such a tool for people, so a lot of people don't think twice about exit online to try and find medicine. So why not employment that to your vantage, I suppose."
For Intimacy, Bloc Party enlisted two producers � Paul Epworth (the Futureheads, Babyshambles), who'd helmed their 2005 debut, Silent Alarm, and Garret "Jacknife" Lee (U2, Snow Patrol), who handled production on A Weekend in the City � and split the disc down the middle, giving five tracks to each of them.
"We had unitary foot on each island, as it were, and, in a way, we were trying to remember what's been the mettle of what we do," Moakes said. "If anything, with the second record, there was a piece of a compromise slow it, in that we were trying to marry up the two elements and non quite landing on either sort of level, I suppose. So why not just take on it a bit further in each direction and actually follow it through a bit further?
"I think we just now wanted to revisit some of the ways of working we'd enjoyed and be a bit more choosy roughly where we split the various talents of those two guys and wed it up with the songs we had at that compass point," he continued. "It's a bit more disjointed, in terms of the continuity. It was just a different glide slope, but I'm not certain if it was better or worsened � just a different attack, and one that suited this record."
While Bloc Party have no immediate plans to tour the States, Moakes said they'll likely spend the whole of 2009 on the road. He also said that, when Intimacy hits stores, it will to the highest degree likely feature some fillip material, as an added incentive to those wHO had already purchased it online.
Moakes aforesaid the band had a more pleasurable experience working on Intimacy than they'd had on Weekend, because they didn't face the same pressures heading into the project.
"When making that second disc, we did feel a lot of pressure, and there were lots of expectations, so we had to get through that, to the other incline, so that we could feel like we'd gotten past that hurdle," he said. "That, in itself, was a huge relief for us. It did get a bit hairy, just as a band being on the road for such a long time, trying to create spontaneity night after night. But we got through to the other side of that and had some time out, time to reevaluate. This year, there's been a circle less air pressure for us, really. It's quite dainty to pate that with a new release, because usually, it's quiet nerve-wracking putting together a record."
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