Bloc Party have removed their new release ‘A Weekend In The City: B-Sides’ from streaming as the audio quality was “well below what we expect”.
The collection of non-album tracks from the sessions for their second studio record was released today (November 22), but the band have withdrawn it from streaming platforms after finding that the sound quality was subpar.
In a post on X, the band said: “The audio quality of A Weekend In The City B-Sides was well below what we expect, owing to a number of errors at the record label. We are looking to fix this as soon as possible, but until then we have removed the songs from streaming. We will update you ASAP.”
— Bloc Party (@BlocParty) November 22, 2024
Bloc Party’s management have also issued a statement on the situation, writing on Reddit: “I saw the complaints about sound quality and you’re right – it’s a mess. It transpires that PIAS, the record label with whom the band has partnered to release the catalogue recordings have used rips, rather than taking the time to find the masters and deliver them to DSPs like we were told they were doing.”
“As far as we are concerned, this is totally unacceptable and a bit of an insult to those of you who have been excited to hear these songs properly, particularly the likes of Vision Of Heaven that have been impossible to come by in a lossless format historically.”
“From my side, I can only apologise that this wasn’t caught before these songs went live today,” the statement continued. “I should have insisted on hearing these tracks before they went up, as opposed to assuming the label was doing its job correctly and will 100% be making sure this is the case in the future.”
“As for now, we’ve asked the label to take down all these songs from DSPs and they won’t be replaced until I’ve 100% confirmed we are submitting lossless, original masters from the big box I know is in their office, rather than lazily uploading audio that some of you have better versions of on your own hard drives.”
“Important to note that the band had nothing to do with this debacle, so please don’t dig them out on Instagram,” it added.
‘A Weekend In The City’ was released in 2007, peaking at Number Two on the UK Albums Chart and reaching Number 12 in the US. It saw them moving away from traditional guitar band dynamics, embracing electronic influences, and included the singles ‘The Prayer’, ‘I Still Remember’ and ‘Hunting For Witches’.
The band have been adding “every song missing” from their catalogue onto streaming platforms over the last year, including their 2004 EP ‘Little Thoughts’ and 2005 single ‘Two More Years’.
The ‘A Weekend In The City: B-Sides’ tracklist is:
- ‘Cavaliers And Roundheads’ ‘The Once And Future King’
- ‘Secrets’
- ‘Cain Said To Abel’
- ‘Selfish Son’
- ‘Vision Of Heaven’
- ‘We Were Lovers’
- ‘Rhododendrons’
- ‘Atonement’
- ‘England’
- ‘Emma Kate’s Accident’
- ‘Version 2.0’
Bloc Party will be playing a pair of shows in 2025 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Silent Alarm’, in Manchester and Bristol. Find any remaining tickets here. They will also be appearing at the 2025 edition of Live At Leeds.
Elsewhere, frontman Kele Okereke recently announced a new solo album ‘The Singing Winds Pt. 3’and shared the new single ‘It Wasn’t Meant To Be’.
The record – set for release in January – will be the third in a series called ‘The Elements’, a string of solo albums that originated in lockdown. Before it was announced, he shared ‘Hometown Edge’ as a lead single.