Silent Alarm Remixed

Although most remix albums offer little more than vaguely tweaked novelty, Bloc Party's SILENT ALARM REMIXED transcends that trend with a stunningly diverse set of reworked tracks from the British group's much-lauded debut. Given the consistently high quality of the original songs, the guest artists--which include innovative electronica acts (M83, Four Tet) and like-minded post-punk peers (Engineers, Mogwai)--have a lot to work with here. Keeping SILENT ALARM's running order intact, REMIXED pushes frontman Kele Okereke's vocals up and down in the mix, while adding and subtracting keyboards, guitars, and beats, resulting in reinterpreted tracks that often sound remarkably different from their earlier counterparts. In fact, SILENT ALARM REMIXED is so well executed that it may win Bloc Party a new set of techno-inclined fans, and turn few Britpop aficionados in the direction of their record store's electronica section.