UK's
Bloc Party, the third point of the great unholy-hipster triumvirate (along with Interpol and Franz Ferdinand, with I guess, The Killers bringing up the rear) of 2002-2005 that essentially bore this post-electro-clash world that we're still mired in (you know they
regret signing to Vice right?) are up to something. A Y2K style counter appeared on their website recently, counting down to...something. Well it was revealed last night (Oz time) to be declaring a new song 'Mercury', which then aired on the BBC's Zane Low show. The first single from their forthcoming record in fact. It's an apocalyptic rave-up; tribal beats, synths and
Foals-esue horn swells. More to the point, they've left the guitars at home. And do i hear an Australian reference in the lyrics?
"John goes to Sydney and he ain't returning"...
Pre-empting a rash of hastily erected YouTube fan tributes of the song playing over a static shot of Kele's soulful stare, the band then released a proper video for the thing. Clever. It features a demonic horse-lobster man being built in a lab, giving birth to a ghoul and then becoming President of the United States and enacting Nuclear War. I think it's about flowers in summer or something. Tulips maybe?