Technical Critique and Musical Aesthetics
Bloc Party
This Modern Love
Instrumentation:
Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, and Synths
Genre:
The genre is often described as indie rock,The song writing is more expressive then most indie rock but you can hear the style represented in the guitars.
Analysis:
For my third blog post covering production techniques and musical aesthetics of a professional production I have chosen to discuss and analyse “This Modern Love” by Bloc Party.
After some careful consideration I chose to write about his song as it covers everything that we discussed in our first class about music that elicits an emotional response to the audience and fulfils all the technical elements, no band better represents this for me then Bloc Party.
“This Modern Love” is the seventh track appearing the on the bands first album “Silent Alarm” released in 2005, the album was recorded in 2004 at Deltalab Studios in Copenhagen with producer Paul Epworth. There were interesting challenges in the studio due to malfunctioning equipment and open power mains. I think this is an interesting thing to note about the production because they still managed to achieve great sound quality in slightly adverse conditions, proving that it is not the gear that makes a good production but the technical ingenuity of those involved in the recording process that make true art.
I find the mixing of this track to be of note, especially in regard to the effectual use of panning, most noticeable in the vocals creating a kind of call and response effect. I also really appraise that the mix is transparent, it doesn’t distract from the music, it doesn’t call attention to itself it lets the deeply emotive music speak for itself. I found that is this a common trait of mix engineer Rich Costey, as he maintains this sense of transparent mixing throughout all of his work.
The song itself is beautifully arranged and every element sits together so nicely creating this elegantly cohesive soundscape that lets the music shine and tell it’s story. That is one of the thing I appreciate most about Bloc Party is that they have this way of arranging simplistic lyrics and complex but also minimalistic arrangements to create these beautiful emotional journeys though sound and music. Which creates a really authentic experience for the listener.
I have spent a lot of time critically analysing the work of Bloc Party and to this day I still am amazed that I am never distracted by any of the technical production elements of the songs, which I believe should be our goal as engineers.
References:
An Interview With Bloc Party. (2005) Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20090422174639/http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/archives/2005/03/an_interview_wi_3.html
Bloc Party. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://moshimoshimusic.com/artists/bloc-party/
DELTA LAB RECORDING STUDIOS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.deltalab.dk
Inglis, S. (2009) Paul Epworth: Producing Almost Everyone. Retrieved from https://www.soundonsound.com/people/paul-epworth
Kevin Murphy. (2009, July 12). Bloc Party - This Modern Love [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oRlpGyI1rg
Perlich, T. (2005). Bloc Party. Retrieved from https://nowtoronto.com/news/bloc-party/
(2004). This Modern Love. [Preformed by K. Okereke, R. Lissack, G. Moakes, M. Tong] Silent Alarm [CD]. London, England: Wichita. (2005).