What The World Needs Right Now Is THE RAPTURE

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War. Terrorism. Floods. Hurricanes. Poverty and Greed. Religious Wackjobs and Corrupt Politicians. And right there, in the middle of it all, emerged a crew of mop-haired New York punk-funkers who brought it to the dancefloor like there's no tomorrow.

Caught their sold out and so-packed-you-could-barely-shake-it show at the Viper Room in LA tonight, and I'm pleased to report, on top of a solid hour of the established greats, came a fresh salvo of funk bombs- more punky guitars, more sexy sax, more boomin' bass, a fragrant splash of disco(!), and yes- more cowbell.

Buckle up Boppers- this next one is going to be MASSIVE.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

Was that laying it on thick? Yes.

Was it for a good reason? Oh yeah.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:39 (twenty years ago)

money?

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

http://www.natenichols.net/temp/kool-aid_man_200.jpg

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

i like the rapture. but they've really fallen off, havent' they? release some new music, please!

also, please to never use the term 'punk-funk' again.

― one time gaffled 'em up (one time gaffled 'em up), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

XPOST

No money, brother- LOVE.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:48 (twenty years ago)

And let's all do something original and forego the typical ILM sweating of the vernacular and genre classifying, please. Thanks.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

This thread is all about teh ass shakin'....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:51 (twenty years ago)

David Duchovny's ball sack is what we need.

http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/09/da/1037137-movie-resized200.jpg

― latebloomer: The Corridor (Yes, The Corridor) (latebloomer), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:52 (twenty years ago)

Then take them out of your mouth and share.....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

You haters cannot win tonight- I just saw THE RAPTURE. You didn't.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:54 (twenty years ago)

http://duchovny.net/photos9/ddrapturous.jpg

House of jealous lovers
House of jealous lovers
House of jealous lovers
House of jealous lovers

Shakedown

House of jealous lovers
One hand ties the other
House of jealous lovers
House of jealous lovers

Shakedown

House of jealous lovers
One hand ties the other
House of jealous lovers
House of jealous lovers

1,1
2,2
3,3
4,4
5,5
6,6
7,7
8,8

― latebloomer: The Corridor (Yes, The Corridor) (latebloomer), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

Ok, you get a pat on the back just for posting that one.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

i'm not hating, just saying. the were all ready to blow, but they sort of fizzled, as far as the sucess everyone was predicting. i like the band a lot. but they are hardly 'funky.' hey but congrats, you were there! sold out show! viper room!

― one time gaffled 'em up (one time gaffled 'em up), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:00 (twenty years ago)

I really thought this was going to be about the actual Rapture. Especially starting off with "War. Terrorism. Floods. Hurricanes." Does this mean Pitchfork broke the seventh seal, or what?

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 9 December 2005 09:02 (twenty years ago)

No, no, no- there was plenty of funk! Three of the new tracks were (forgive the use of the well-treaded references) less Cure/Gang of Four/A Certain Ratio, and more Gap Band/Lipps, Inc./Sister Sledge....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:08 (twenty years ago)

I am enjoying the logic of a band "falling off" via lack of activity, rather than via activity that doesn't measure up to earlier activity.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:12 (twenty years ago)

I really thought this was going to be about the actual Rapture. Especially starting off with "War. Terrorism. Floods. Hurricanes." Does this mean Pitchfork broke the seventh seal, or what?
-- Doctor Casino (agode...), December 9th, 2005.

Now that Kool-Aid picture suddenly seems......menacing!

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:13 (twenty years ago)

Trust me on the new stuff- dancefloors will be a bouncin'.....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

I was performing with the Gang Wizard tonight so I have no way of verifying your claim. (But alas your language made me more creeped out than intrigued, and I like the Rapture quite a bit!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

Gap Band/Lipps, Inc./Sister Sledge

now that i can get with.

― one time gaffled 'em up (one time gaffled 'em up), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

http://www.smultronstallet.com/pictures/products/8406.jpg

― corey c (shock of daylight), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

Ok, Ned- you got me.

In my post-show excitement, and then the dreaded realization that any straight-forward posting once home would still invite haters, snide commentators, people who like talking about music more than listening to it, and the really, really, really annoying genre and vernacular arguers, because after all this is ILM, and it's more about the melee than the love, the inner irony in me came out and I decided to dig up the cheeky writing skills from my time working for the Weekly World News and openly invite all you poofters to bring it by penning the ultimate painful concert review, because the end result is the same either way: I still saw THE RAPTURE, and you still DID NOT. And they are still fantastic, NO MATTER WHAT ANY OF YOU SAY.

Guilty. Thank you. Good night.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:02 (twenty years ago)

But I love you all anyway. So does The Rapture. The Rapture loves all of you....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

shake down.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

so, you're saying you love music?

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

A quick Wikipedia scan found this

http://www.orapture.com/

Fucking hilarious.

I am glad the show was so good. I have yet to see them, but I know a few folks who have reported they put on a kickass show.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

I have been waiting to news like this! The pessimist in me didn't think they had anything left [esp. after such a long time with nothing from them], but I was hoping these kids bring it back.

Now if they could stop playing "NYDJ" and put out a record al-fucking-ready.

― Particle Ranger (particle ranger), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

I have heard of this music love. (And jsoulja, just be comfortable with offering praise as ya like! Which includes OTT moves, of course. ;-) )

Only saw them once two and a half years back and they were great, so rah on them being even better.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

The first time I saw them (in DC, shortly after Out of the Races - they'd gone dancey but I didn't know they had) was one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen. I'm definitely looking forward to another album.

― ZR (teenagequiet), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

jsoulja forgets to mention their Go Go song. They play a Go Go song!

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

i am probably behind the curve here but are they *working* on a record? who is producing? (they split w/ DFA right?)

i agree they are really good live

― Renard, Friday, 9 December 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

did the singer leave? someone here said he had, once, in passing

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

Dan, you mean they play a cover of a go-go song, like a Rare Essence track or something? Or they play a go-go style song?

― Mugged Outside the Jabberjaw, 1993 (Bent Over at the Arclight), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Vacation, all I ever wanted.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

the funny thing about the rapture is that i really thought they released echoes too late to cash in on the trend they started. the press had swept up the nyc shit w/ yyys, liars, strokes, etc (all of whom i love), and yet the rapture were w/out a release to get caught up in that wave. and when they finally did release echoes it was in this weird lull here, where the wave had crested and no one was sure what would come next. but, six months later, it was franz ferdinand and the killers and the bravery and all of these other bands that actually GOT PAID off of this stuff. in 2003 the rapture's timing felt terrible -- too late for the party -- and it was, just for the opposite reasons. all of which is to say that the new album will probably drop when, i dunno, psych starts peaking again.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

it's a go-go styled song, yet more proof that matty s is the rapture's secret weapon. (seriously he should be fronting them rather than luke.)

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

They play a go go style song. 2 of them are from DC for what it's worth. They are recording, I can't remember with whom. I believe they were doing it at Sear Sound, which is super-cool. Nobody left the band, however, at the second of their first 2 shows in NYC, someone joined them on keyboards so Matt could come up front and sing. Don't know if they did that again though.

I agree w/ Jams about the timing. I know there were lots of issues that caused the record to be held-up, it was finished a while before it was released. Personally, I think another problem with having House of Jealous Lovers as the "hit" when the record was released. A year or so before House was a huge record in the clubs and with the kids and it worked great live and on the dancefloor. I think it worked less great on TV and as a video though. I remember watching one of the TV appearances and seeing Gabe just playing the cowbell as they did House of Jealous Lovers. I don't think it translated well over TV. I think a few of the other songs may have worked better.

I've also always believe the reason they weren't as popular as some of those other bands is that they weren't as middle of the road as some of those other bands. I know some people here think the killers and the bravery write great songs, but I think they're quite bland in a way that the radio, the TV, and the mass populace seems to love. But we've had that argument before.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

dan i completely agree

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

yeah dan, you're right on most of those fronts. however, the only reason a friend of mine bought that record was because of that cowbell tv performance.

― ZR (teenagequiet), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

i can't see echoes breaking through like those other bands... maybe the rapture could themselves, but that album? i like it a lot but i don't really see it setting the radio on fire no matter when it was released...

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

agreed, they aren't the most groundbreaking or edgy band in the world but they're hardly radio friendly blandness like the Killers or the Bravery. Outside of House of jealous Lovers I can't imagine anything from Echoes getting radio play unless radio got a lot more interesting since I started listening to only classic rock.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

i love hojl but i don't see it burning up any charts besides the dance & indie ones

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

The first time I saw The Rapture was the Coachella before last, and of all the performances from that festival and even this past one (this includes Pixies, Cure, New Order, Radiohead, Kreaftwerk(!), Chemical Brothers, many techno acts/DJs, and plenty of other like bands one would think inspire some sort of dance frenzy), The Rapture's crowd had the most BOUNCE. And this was because as a live band, you give them some room and they tear it up. I hope they and The Bravery and The Killers are on the next festival circuit together so people can SEE WHO DADDY IS....

And they do all this, I might add, without emptying out the Prada boutiques and Mac cosmetic counters.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

Did anyone say 'ratpure' in this thread yet? yes? well here it is again.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

if this http://therapturemusic.co.uk/crashmansion/ is any indication, this new album is going to be fantastic. there's a great classic dance music sound to some of it... the link leads to a video of assembled footage form a show their recent crash mansion show. they've edited 3 of their new songs together. kind of cut copy/french house/classic disco on the last one... and joyous old school on the middle one... and, well, admittedly, i'm a little meh on the first one, but that one seems the most like an incomplete sentence.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 06:30 (twenty years ago)

the new stuff sounds great. the show at tribeca was way better, and i heard the show at bowery w/ cutcopy was a-mazing. looking forward, etc.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 08:57 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, that new stuff sounds great. I'm looking forward to the album. When's it coming out?

― Harpal (harpal), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 10:25 (twenty years ago)

I heard a rumour Ewan Pearson was helping them out. True/False?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 12:52 (twenty years ago)

yes.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 13:33 (twenty years ago)

the bowery show was way better than tribeca. at tribeca, i was mainly happy to be seeing them again. bowery, though, was the best set i'd ever seen from them. and yeah, the new stuff sounded great.

― rajeev (rajeev), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

The tribecca show was one of the most crowded and unbearable shows I've ever experianced. Didn't help to have Illy and Massimo screaming and pushing people around, or DJ Language standing in front of my girlfriend(he's a tall one...).

How come we're not in that Crash Mansion video, Lauren?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 16:44 (twenty years ago)

ewan pearson and phones to direct

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 16:48 (twenty years ago)

the phones thing makes me a little bit nervous, actually. i can only hope that they aren't trying to sound like bloc party or white rose movement or whatever other bands he's recorded that tend to all sound like each other in some way. i'd think they have enough of their own identity/sound to use epworth as a producer more in the traditional sense. ewan pearson sounded a little strange to me too... but in a much more hopeful way.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 16:57 (twenty years ago)

aw man this is exciting. probably something will come out in 2006, huh?

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 17:10 (twenty years ago)

haha! oh, i was all the way in the front like a few people from the stage, so i guess i got a different experience. everyone else seemed to have not as much fun. i remember i got to the tribeca around showtime and the line to get in was all the way up the length of the hotel and around the corner. reminded me of the motherfucker when it was raining..

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

Reserving judgements, of course! But doesn't this stuff strike you guys at all as perhaps being kind of unambitious? When the Rapture first came out, I thought they were kind of a cool band. But years go by and I'm not sure what they're adding to the picture other than "more cowbell," this or that new piece of gear, having so and so mix their tunes, etc.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:00 (twenty years ago)

Much excitement ...

I don't think you can really say the rapture 'failed' with echoes. It's just expectations are ludicrously high now. Would they even want killers levels of success?

― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:01 (twenty years ago)

the line was crazy, that's why it's good to have Dave P. put out your mix CD.

Tim, what's unambitious? I think they're doing the same thing they've always done, drawing from various influences, trying to write love songs and dance songs, maybe trying to sound a little bit different.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:25 (twenty years ago)

I think it's precisely those things ("doing what they've always done," "maybe trying to sound a little bit different") that - in their case, at least - strikes me as being kind of unambitious!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:33 (twenty years ago)

id be totally happy if the album were similar to echoes.

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:41 (twenty years ago)

but yknow - i like room on fire A LOT.

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:43 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, it seems like Echoes was already going in a bunch of different directions and none of them were really fully explored, so I'd definitely like to see them keep going.

It's weird that no one seems to realize how big an influence the Rapture were for a certain set of bands that are breaking through right now, and most of those lack the kind of fidelity the Rapture seem to favor.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:46 (twenty years ago)

i want a full album of "open up your heart"!

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:47 (twenty years ago)

that statement is wrongist

― wangdangsweetpentangle (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Actually I think that's one avenue their followers have explored fairly well...

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Er, the "open up your heart" avenue that is.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:49 (twenty years ago)

What do you mean by "lack the fidelity," Eppy?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

what's ambitious, Tim? Adding a string quartet? A concept album? Their "usual" habits are more varied and filled with more suprises then most of their peers I'd say.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:53 (twenty years ago)

maybe it's just the clips i heard in those songs, but it sounds very ambitious to me in that they seem to be going for a much more straight up dance music thing. for a band that for whatever dumb reason people compare to the killers or whatever, that seems like a really fantastic step to make. moreso than any of their "peers" it seems like they understand what their influences were doing, and are trying to push those ideas forward.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

What are the surprises you see in their records, Dan?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

he probably hears them.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

I heard Green Day on the radio the other day.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:20 (twenty years ago)

I think a lot of Rapture-inspired bands have skewed a lot more indie, taking the aesthetic and putting it behind a bunch of midrange and fuzz and tape. One of the great things about Echoes is that even most of the rock tracks have that hyper-present sharpness that a lot of house tracks do. Moreso, even, since they tend not to engage in the practice of putting one long droning, phasing, filtered noise over a section like dance producers often do.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

Tim...go out and buy Mirror, and the DFA comp with Alabama Sunshine, Out of the Races, the Chair that Squeaks 7"...

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:33 (twenty years ago)

I have Mirror, that seven inch, and Echoes already.

I mean, OK, it's comparable to, say, the PiL aesthetic. I like PiL. The revival of that aesthetic, when it first happened (and, yes, the Rapture were amongst the first), was interesting to me. But when I see a band almost ten years later doing essentially the same thing (but with the new gear, "more of a straight up dance approach," etc.), that doesn't strike me as ambitious IN THE LEAST.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

do you not like echoes, dan?

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

what would be ambtious, tim?

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:45 (twenty years ago)

I do like Echoes (though I think some of the leaning towards dance drained some of the rockingness of a few tracks, comparing live versions of Killing to the studio version, or demo/insound versions of some tracks to the Echoes version), I just didn't mention it because I assumed Tim had at least heard that and was judging them on that.

I assumed, incorrectly, that he hadn't heard Mirror or The Chair that Squeaks and wasn't aware of some of their more varied history.

But yeah, what is ambitious??? They're not saving the world.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

There's lots of artmaking that is ambitious! The Rapture continuing to do the "post-punk revival going in a more straight up dance music direction" doesn't strike me as such!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:00 (twenty years ago)

but what would be different for them to impress you? They like post-punk. They like dance music. They also like classic rock and go-go and hardcore and glam and other things. They're doing whatever they want and we'll have to see what any new stuff sounds like. But you're holding them to some weird standard that I don't understand.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm just saying that, as artmaking, I don't find it inspiring. It's almost silly to pontificate about what they might do instead, though. They are who they are.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

(And of course, I ain't heard much of their new music - this was just my response to seeing that video)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

my favorite part of the video is max fixing his hair

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

How come we're not in that Crash Mansion video

you're in it for a few seconds, mr.selzer, sitting in one of the booths with (i think) jeremy.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 23 February 2006 12:16 (twenty years ago)

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