(t5!) Heroes Of The Zeroes Albums: #17: The Rapture – Echoes (2003)

Again with the discopunk. I already went through this in my singles list, but here we go again. It stinks that they never discovered a better word for the genre, because it sounded pretty laughable back then, and it sounds absolutely cringeworthy when we say it now. But what else are we going to call a sound that is a hybrid of disco’s 4/4 propulsion and absence of lyrical theme with punk’s brazen effervescence and unrefined aesthetic. And back in 2003, when it was really about to flourish, that’s was exactly what a lot of kids needed in their musical life. Teenagers who are rooted to rock and indie were closet dancers and were taught by their forefathers to hate disco. But to integrate it with a sound they can relate to, and to actually kind of proclaim as something close to a scene or a culture is a genius move by whomever it is that invented that name. If we called it like “progressive house punk” or “moroder-istic rock”, it would have caught. Alas.

In their debut, Echoes, The Rapture seemed to be inspired by the unmodified power contained in both genres. From what they learned from their punk heroes, they are aware that producing a dance track based completely around the four essential rock instruments (vocals, guitar, bass, drums) could still blow any roof off as one comprised of synths and electronic noises, such as in “House Of Jealous Lovers”. They are aware how awesome a chaotic and inharmonious guitar solo could sound when mixed with a 4/4 house thump, such as the guitar stabs in “Killing”. They are aware that shouting main hooks with Luke Jenner’s jarring yelp could both be intimidating and captivating, such as “Iiiiiii Neeeeeddd Youuurrrr LoooOOOOvvvvveeeee!!!!” and “YOU TOOK ME AWAYYYYYY!!!! YOU TOOK ME AAAAAAWAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!”

From their disco progenitors, they understood the addictiveness of a relentless house beat, whether it be coming from the hyperactive foot of Vito Roccoforte (“Echoes” and “The Coming Of Spring”) or coming off their complicated drum machines (“Olio” and “Sister Saviour”). They also comprehend the power of the genre/scene/movement’s most important tool, the cowbell. In prior decades, the cowbell is seen as a complimentary instrument and a carrier of cheese. And it took an overrated SNL skit to jog someone’s memory that there was a time in the seventies when many of the most paramount rock songs were propelled by the cowbell, however, we all know that it only reverberated effectively in disco. And in songs like the aforementioned “House Of Jealous Lovers” and aforementioned “Echoes”, the cowbell stood out like a shining star, played like a lead instrument from start to finish, with each consecutive hit increasing the song’s vitality.

Of course, discopunk didn’t last, but not from lack of trying. It did accomplish a lot of things: as far as I know, hipster dance clubs weren’t as popular before discopunk became popular (of course, this was according to my own experience and I would need a more seasoned hipster to back me up on this); for better or worse, we see more kids invested in dancing (if you can call losing their shit and awkwardly contorting their bodies dancing) and, as a result, we see more kids approving more left-field dance music; So, discopunk may sound stupid, but it’s inclusion in the zeroes culture was very consequential.