RAPTURE - Echoes LP

Highly recommended.

Fans of Crack Cloud or Nov3l take note!

After a sloppy “mini-LP” and slightly less sloppy EP, The Rapture proved that they could channel the ambience of their fave post-punk bands (The Cure, P.i.L) and make at least one hit. Not as much producers, DFA formed a partnership with them in 2000 that organically led to DFA becoming Echoes’ Godfathers if nothing else.

Between listening to records together and being behind the glass during takes, DFA (aka Tim Goldsworthy + James Murphy, who would later form LCD Soundsystem) played the role of critic, parent and fan. It’s vague how this influenced this outstanding LP, but “vague” is the way toward success in the arts. The lighting and smoke of a rave from 99’ bleeds into the striking red jackets and upper class slime of 80s’ Factory Record parties. Every single sound on this album holds a machine like precision but with a natural, emotional elegance. Even the pure rock numbers incorporate the bottled excitement of 808s in Chicago and Detroit, amongst the riffs that could fit on 70s FM radio.

Echoes is a sign of the times, released Sept 2003 (due to “partying” and lack of funds), that has sadly been painted as a spokesmen for the obnoxious “dance-punk” scene of the time. It’s a shock to the system when you hear a flat out house song, as the album starts up and you are quickly thrown into the best Wire song never recorded. Outside the obvious Bowie ballad (Open Up Your Heart) and epic Who stadium rock (Love is All), the love of classic rock can be heard all over even the flat out dance numbers. Once again, Echoes is a merging of these two periods of early beginnings in sound and spirit. From the obvious (but amazing) Sonic Youth freak-out amongst a bass shuffle (Echoes) and a techno beats with slight guitar noodling (I Need Your Love) to the perfected 80s cheese of “Sister Savoir”, big and small - Echoes knows its love and spirit and is a tour-de-force on any level but is meant to be experienced as a whole.