The Ratpure

i showed him an elbow in the back a few times. and his girlfriend showed her grinding backside to my frontside a few times too. i mostly didn't like it.

1-Olio
2-Heaven
3-Open up your heart
4-I need your love
5-The coming of spring
6-House of jealous lovers
7-Echoes
8-Killing
9-Sister saviour
10-Love is all
11-Infatuanition

Both great tunes, it was worth the wait.

Also I'm thinking the boldness of having a 4/4 house tune and such rocky stuff on one album is seriously deserving of praise.

And wow is the guy's voice HIGH. I like it, it manages to be the goth-indie squeal to a Mayfield falsetto (that sounds like overpraise, but I think you get meh) It was pretty shocking, b/c I'd only heard HOJL and the 'rock' vers of Olio that was on gabba.net and those two are like the BOTTOM of his register!

Yes, track 2. Some of it's a bit Minutemen, too.

i would not be surprised, actually, if they never make another record. since they hooked up with dfa almost two years ago they've really been sheltered and coddled by jim & tim -- tons of studio time, lots of off days, etc. -- and once echoes drops (sometime in 2k7, at this rate) they'll be in a spotlight that they've managed to court yet avoid at the same time. i dunno if they'll be able to handle it. i hope they can, though. they're sweet guys and an amazing band...

i dunno if i believe that, but it's interesting to think about. that once the dfa becomes THE DFA they'll effectively cease to exist. i dunno.

They're not too far away from exploding are they? It certanly isn't a scene that will stay in any one incarnation for very long.

But they are doing the whole creating terms like "disco pogo" and using "punkfunk" on every page almost in an effort to make it seem a huge event. I think they're anxious to be more up to speed with this than they were with electroclash.

I think that depends wholly on the quality and fabric of the records they decide to drop, but it's an interesting thought.

I was pretty impressed by how well the Ratpure pulled off the sound of the record when they played live. Obviously, I can see why jim & tim love working with them... they seem pretty malleable, and I don't mean that in a bad sort of way.

The guy at the merch table said late summer for a release date, btw, and even that sounded kind of tentative. I do wonder what the delay is? Seems like it'd be a perfect summer record. Is their international distribution REALLY that hard to sort out?

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 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.