Bloc Party - One Month Off

Whatever Bloc Party have been putting in their diet these last 12 months, the band could do with eating a lot more. 'One Month Off' is the precise point where the London quartet are at their peak: combining the indie of debut 'Silent Alarm', with the experimentation of 'A Weekend In The City'.

Where we end up is a hybrid of mutant electro-rock: all skuttering warped beats, short sharp blasts of knife-edge guitars, mutilated vocals that hide behind distortion, bubbling electronic effects, a huge hook and an energy that matches tracks like 'Banquet'. For the haters who insist the band should ditch their current sound - get your ears syringed - Bloc Party have never sounded so vibrant.