LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Bloc Party: Matt Tong
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Like Bloc Party, Franz fore-grounded rhythm, turning even the guitars into six-stringed versions of a drum as they transformed audiences from chin-stroking observers to madly dancing participants. Okereke and his bandmates could relate, because they'd gone through eight drummers before finally discovering Matt Tong.
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Bloc Party iced a few dates while Tong recovers. The band already cancelled shows tonight (Nov. 10) in Charlotte, N.C., tomorrow's show in Fairfax, Va. and a pair of appearances Monday and Tuesday in New York. Additional dates may have to be scrubbed depending upon Tong's future condition.
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Bloc Party's career is full of such conscious decisions. After Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack met through acquaintances, they began shaping their group before it had a rhythm section (they found bassist Gordon Moakes through a classified ad, and their ninth and current drummer, Matt Tong, through friends).
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The sisters from Smoosh joined the members of Bloc Party during the show’s encore, dancing like maniacs on stage. As the song ended, concertgoers began to exit the packed theater. Stragglers, though, were rewarded when Matt Tong threw the drumsticks used during the performance into the audience—a souvenir which certainly beats the $45 track jackets being sold in the lobby.
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Despite the need to describe Bloc Party by invoking the most commonly referenced bands of the past few years, they remarkably don’t sound like anything else around right now. Like Franz Ferdinand, who they have toured with, and the Strokes, who they should supplant, their sheer pop writing ability supercedes any notion of being derivative. You can deconstruct this music all you want, but when you’re listening to it, it really doesn’t matter.
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Matt Tong