Bloc Party : Banquet

Multi-racial London funkateers rope in the monks. Result: aceness
Often people use the phrase 'perfectly formed' when they talk about new bands. Those people are lying, because this cliché was invented for London's Bloc Party. Not only do they look like they were put together for a Benetton advert but their second single in as many months is audacious in its aceness. Kele sings like The Cure's Robert Smith, the rhythm section keep a tempo that'd make New Order stroke their double chins approvingly, guitarist Russell is both all over the place and at the heart
of it all. All this while a 14th-century Benedictine monastery goes "AWOOOOOH" throughout. Perfectly formed but appropriately rough around the edges; if you can keep still while listening to it, you're already dead.
Imran Ahmed