Critical adulation and commercial success hasn't changed Bloc Party. On A Weekend In The City, they're still rolling with the punches, frustrated by small minds, social inequality, and a world that reduces the life's wonderful possibilities to a grey routine. "East London is a vampire," sings Kele Okereke on the opening "Song For Clay (Disappear Here)", "it sucks the life right out of me." This, unmistakably, is Kele's album. Whereas the group's debut, 2005's Silent … mehrAlarm, felt powered primarily by the sturdy rhythm section of Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong, here the whooshing groove recedes slightly, allowing for more lyrical reflections: see "Waiting For The 7.18", which finds Okereke pondering the quiet hell of the daily commute, or "Where Is Home?" – a thoughtful, bruised song about racism given a special bite by stint of Kele's background as a second-generation Nigerian immigrant. Also notable is a move towards more synthetic, electronic textures, thanks in part to the presence of producer Jacknife Lee. If before, Bloc Party sometimes sounded like they were trying to be machine-like, now they actually do, drums arranged in dense loops, guitars gasping robotic feedback. All in all, it's a less gripping album than Silent Alarm - but it's definitely a growth, and in the long run, it may prove easier to love. --Louis Pattison weniger

1 - Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
2 - Hunting For Witches
3 - Waiting For The 7.18
4 - Prayer
5 - Uniform… mehr
6 - On
7 - Where Is Home
8 - Kreuzberg
9 - I Still Remember
10 - Sunday
11 - SRXT weniger