eMusic Review 0
Think of a time before the disco-punk revival. A time before sweating on the dance floor to Gang of Four remixes. A time before that emblematic early aughts burner, "House of Jealous Lovers." This is the Rapture's proper debut, the angular, agitated Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks, a masterful six-song set that seems at once astonishingly controlled and on the brink of implosion. The New York quartet (multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Andruzzi had not yet joined the band for this recording) thrash so hard here and with such surprising tunefulness, guided by the sage hands of DFA godheads James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy, that they rarely seem in complete control of their senses.
The band, serious students of '70s post-punk icons like Wire and Mission of Burma, play with a clenched-fist tightness. Safer's punishing, rounded basslines on "The Pop Song" are gorgeous and striving. But there is a twist: Guitarist Luke Jenner and bassist Matt Safer's vocals, along with drummer Vito Roccoforte's cavalcade of 4/4 rhythms (hello, cowbell!) make this a unique experiment in screaming groove rock. Jenner's banshee shriek, in particular, sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis performing with a hot poker in his slacks — his… read more »
