Album review: Bloc Party, The Nextwave Sessions (Frenchkiss)

The Nextwave Sessions is a five-track EP continuing Bloc Party's development from indie guitar band to a more exporatory outfit equally capable of drawing from R&B and electronic dance music. Opener "Ratchet" is the standout, a twitchy indie-funk groove unlike anything they've done before, its teetering guitar riff driven along by a sinuous, elastic bassline. Its infectious urgency gives way to a rapt romantic ballad, "Obscene", borne on slow, tremulous hihat and pulsing keyboard motif, then the hustling, "French Exit". The only failure is the routine indie chugger "Children of the Future".

Download: Ratchet; Obscene; French Exit