The Rapture - Echoes

Grade: 83.6%
Official Rating: 85.1%

What The Others Think

Pitchfork Rating: 9.0
Tiny Mix Tapes: N/A
Coke Machine Glow Score: 89%/67%




In October of 2003, the skies parted, and finally, FINALLY, the Goddamn Rapture CD was released. After a year of being shelved, postponed, teased ("House of Jealous Lovers" was in the hands of savvy DJs across the country, nay, the world, for at least a year before its official release). And its a good thing it came too, because the album is pretty damn good.

The first track, "Olio", may have confused faithful fans, as it originally saw the light waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1999 on the band's first album, Mirror. But where this song, and the rest of Mirror for that matter, seemed a bit amateurish, this version is completely fleshed out and is a swift reminder of how and why they ended up working with the DFA guys in the first place (nevermind the fact that by the end of it the Rapture were trying to de-emphasize the role the DFA played on the album, that's another story altogether). Its lyrics are a bit, well, to be blunt, lame, but that's the story of most dance music in the first place. You don't need a creative writing degree to appreciate Echoes (and no, this is no slam at you my dear friend Nicole, whom I affectionately listed as Nicolio in my phone several years ago in reference to this song), you just need to like to dance.

Which brings me to "Open Up Your Heart", the album's third track. On another album by a different band, or as a b-side maybe, this song is just fine. On here, however, it interrupts the flow and frenzy that the first two songs work so hard to create. However, placed anywhere else on the album, this song would be even more distracting, and potentially ruin the album's pacing, so getting it out of the way here was not such a bad idea.

The next track, "I Need Your Love," is something out of (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 I'm floating in a constant...) discopunk heaven, and starts one of the best series of songs I've ever heard on any album. What I love about the Rapture is not so much that they are a great dance band, but that they are capable, in their own rudimentary way, of making you shake your ass to different styles of dance music. "I Need Your Love" owes as much to 70's disco as it does to Gang of Four, while "The Coming of Spring" is as hard as anything in the Gang of Four catalog, and combines it with a dash of Talking Heads, most noticeably in the rhythm section (courtesy of bassist Mattie Safer and drummer/human high hat Vito Roccoforte).

Next, of course, is "House of Jealous Lovers", which is probably why many of you came to hear about this album in the first place. There's not much I can say about this song that has not already been said, but I will say this. Luke Jenner could be singing gibberish - he practically does as it is - and the song would still be fucking brilliant. Put this song on in the club, the car, the shower, I don't fucking care. You will dance, period.

From here the album slides a little, but only a little. The title track "Echoes" does its part to keep the body parts flailing, and "Sister Savior" is another discopunk standout, but "Killing" and is a bore, and "Love Is All", as cute and fun as it is (with lyrics like "love is all my crippled soul will ever need" and "I dig love and just having you around"), would still require some work if it were to compete with Echoes' awesome midsection.

The main exception is the album's final track, "Infatuation." The song is slow and not at all dancable, yet it is truly a hidden gem buried beneath the hype and sweat the previous tracks have produced. The song sounds like a forgotten Bowie b-side, a good thing if you ask me, and is arguably the strongest track on the album. It is the perfect comedown track after a fun, flirtatious, night out with the Rapture.

If you like your music poignant and poetic, stay away from this band (unless you consider counting to 8 poetry worthy of Dante or Shakespeare). However, if you like music that makes your feet and your hips move, your music collection would not be complete without this album. Ignore the hype and dance all night.