The Ratpure

There are deals afoot, Aaron. The date's gone from late May to June to now August, from what I've heard. But yeah, some majors are not only courting the Rapture but the DFA as a whole, which would obviously be tough. It's hard to see how the DFA's current inconspicuous approach would mesh with the demands of the likes of Iovine, Davis, etc.

And yeah, the Rapture does seem malleable in a good way. We need more bands who don't respect their own sound and style as much as they should (see my Calla thread).

the unwritten law against releasing indie rock records while school's out must be remembered also

Isn't Trevor Jackson just dying to release all this stuff on Output in the UK and get the kudos though?

very true blount. as odd as it sounds, cmj still matters in some worlds!

Weird that they'd want to go that route, Yanc3y. Bet they must be getting some phat deals coming their way though.

The thing that worries me... if Alan McGee taught us anything, it's that once you make your deal with the major, you're gonna sell loads more records but it's basically all over.

It's sort of what Roc-a-fella and No Limit did, brought their own marketing/pr methods to daddy major.

i love Musik

I just checked this thread and apparently nobody has mentioned it, so I will...to my surprise, because I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Thom Yorke as a vocal influence/touchstone here. "Open Up Your Heart" may indeed have the whole Bowie "Five Years" thing going but vocally it reminds me of nothing so much as a variant of "Karma Police"/"Rabbit In Your Headlights"...

Rapture backlash begins... now!

(And "Infatuation" as well...though that one's got enough Cure-circa-The Top all over it to make poor Dan die of delight if he hasn't already. ;-))

can't believe no one's mentioned Screamadelica (well, one guy did but it wasn't in the same way) as a point of reference for this album--it's basically an American version of that album only actually really good beyond a couple of tracks. then again, I don't hear it being the full-on masterwork a lot of you guys do, though I do enjoy it a lot.

He sounds like Buckley (J) to me on Open Up Your Heart.

Frightening thought, Freg. I'll stick with Thom. ;-)

Screamadelica? I dunno, that doesn't actually strike me as a point of comparison...could you spell that out a bit more, M.? I can't put my finger on why that wouldn't be something I'd suggest, so I'd want to know more about why you do.

No I don't see the Screamadelica thing either really, and I don't mind Screamadelica.

I have a third person I think he sounds like on Open Up Your Heart, WILL OLDHAM!

I agree with the Thom York influence on "Open Up Your Heart". And "Heaven" does too remind me of The Pixies circa Surfer Rosa.
He remineds me of Tom Velraine mostly and on the track "Echoes" he sounds like Tom Velraine trieng to imitate John Lydon.

Apparantly, the Rapture will be signed to either EMI or Universal by the end of next week. Echoes is due around September, and they might yet monkey around with the tracklisting. So don't go making any hasty judgements yet.

those fuckers! maybe it'll get some promotional muscle behind it at least

It's Universal

Not exactly a new development. A major-label deal's been in the works for over a year... that's why they've had no proper high-profile releases, save for the limited-edition vinyl that came out on Output.

I heard that EMI were still in the running, and this was from somebody who really should know. But I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Screamadelica comparisons: similar groove-orientation, as Jess noted, that gives the dance/rock crossover a strong grounding; the style-grafting is both very conscious but sounds really natural; "I Need Your Love" seems like the ideal of what Primal Scream were aiming for, indie vox/gtr + dirty house groove, I love it; "Open Up Your Heart" reminds me of "Movin' on Up" drained of euphoria (which is why it's a NOW Screamadelica rather than a '91 one); "HOJL" = "Loaded," the brill fusion "we" didn't quite know we were waiting for but knew immediately upon contact "we" had been.

obv a some of this is fairly tenuous but the mood of the record strikes me as very similar to what PS were aiming for. I like about four or five songs on the PS album a lot but it seems to lose direction a lot, and this doesn't.

(haha typo negative! no, wait, typo positive because I made so goddamned many!)

Mmm...I'm listening to it again now, M., and I'm terribly intrigued by your comparisons but I really can't hear them. They don't sound like, for lack of a better word, natural connections between the songs you describe (and to be fair you say it's tenuous and all). Ultimately I disagree with you in terms of mood. Screamadelica struck me a big messy party with lots of happy drugs but also (whisper it) a greater range and absolutely no angst at all, which I think is crucial. There's no connection between Bobby Gillespie's stoned and zoned celebrations and the Ratpure guy's nervous, wound up fear and release, at least that I can sense.

I didn't mention the "except all tense and angsty" part upthread, did I? fuck, I meant to. ah well.

(and no, I don't actually expect you to believe that. it's true though)

No, maybe you did! Still, yeah, I don't know. The album sounds so much more obsessively structured and 'clean,' for lack of a better word, than Screamadelica. The song that would most leap to mind is "Don't Fight It, Feel It."

(Er, maybe you did say that upthread rather than expect me to believe it...or something).

I double checked, and I didn't. not a big deal except I could have made my point a lot clearer--probably one of those things I've said alout so much that I figure it'll just make its way into what I type...without my actually having to type it. (kinda like this fucking book!) but I must say, one thing I'm noticing w/a lot of nu-postpunk that I don't think gets remarked on near enough is how close they are in lots of ways to Madchester/indie-dance, only brittler, w/the E-ffect drained out. the Out Hud album is like that a bit, obviously the Rapture strikes me that way...maybe it's just the rock-dance thing that automatically sets those associations off, but I do hear some of it in there.

(don't forget the new !!! single, matos, which is as great as you said...)

fyi, www.therapturemusic.com - semi weblog by Mattie from the band.

was gonna mention that too, yeah...

Anyone else think "Love is All" sounds like Big Star circa Radio City?

man the level of speculation on this thread is reason alone why this record will be huge when it drops. Insane.

it may be the next:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e597/e59764jsz2c.jpg

now gygax! that's not very nice.

in levels of sales i mean.

;-D

(i like both records FWIW)

You're unbelievable!

i need your love

haha. "who is this Tom Velraine?" everybody wonders. well i invented him by mistakly while trieng to type:"Tom Verlaine" from Television.
sorry about that.

And having seen them...very, very good indeed. More later when I'm not so sleepy.

A Rapture story: Not too long ago I was at a warehouse style (huge space but not really a warehouse) party....the party is progressing normally, the dj is playing NYC sleaze electro, various substances are being taken openly, there's a koi pond next to where I'm standing...the crowd is fairly young-ish and fucked up but well behaved. There's a line to get in going down several flights of stairs. Everyone is playing it cool and doing more socializing than dancing. Fuck, the wait for the bathroom is long. It's late. All of a sudden HOJL is dropped by the dj and the place just goes nuts. The floor is literally bouncing. I'm standing there completely awe-struck. It's like the song is the catalyst for this surge of energy, people are jumping up and down. It's some weird synergistic musical experience.

The police showed up soon thereafter kicking everyone out. So that tune both made the party and ended it. I ended up losing my friends and cabbing it home alone, but I must have had a smile on my face the whole way.

Man that EMF comparison is a scary thought.

i want to hear them cover "Unbelievable"

No you don't. You evil man.

Okay, so last night -- them headlining, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (grand as always) and the Modern Units (keep an eye out...their own hype is kicking in and is very well deserved, they might have actually had more people there for them last night!) opening. Very good show, varied, which I liked -- a number of the old songs, about half the new album. "Sister Saviour," "I Need Your Love," "Killing," "Heaven," a couple of other newies and The Two Singles What Made Their Name. "HOJL" closed the main set and was major hysteria and hip action and more, and I like the way the guy sings to the side of the mic (and how the bass feller provides good harmony squeals). The fellow what plays keyboards, sax and cowbell (and damn good cowbell at that in terms of throwing himself bodily into the performance) was kewl too. Encore was a blast in that they started with their cover of the Psych Furs' "Dumb Waiters" (why the hell hasn't some emo band covered "All of this and Nothing" by now, I still have to ask) and THEN...an irony-free fist-pumping rock out cover of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part Two." Dude.

And! Mr. Matos might well have been onto something! The song playing over the PA before the band took the stage: "Higher Than the Sun." CONSPIRACY?

ned, you just described the exact same show, note for note that i saw them play in SF 2-3 days earlier

band with set list shockah!

open yr hrt = 5 yrs by bowie

Those darn setlists!

EMF changed my life. Seriously.

eat my fcu