Tuesday 05/09/06 The Rapture @ Islington Academy, London

A few years back the idea of a guitar band playing dance music, as opposed to the idea of dancing to guitar music, would’ve been scoffed at, considered as fantastical an idea as a guy famous for wrestling huge scary crocodiles being killed by a fish. Then 2003’s ‘Echoes’ dropped, and suddenly it was as if people couldn’t remember a time before The Rapture even existed. It was a record that channelled the likes of PiL, Bowie and Fugazi into forty-odd minutes intent on over-turning the notion that disco and punk had to be mutually exclusive, proving that dance could be just as angry, visceral and plain exciting as a garage band playing their first gig. Cue everyone from Radio 4 to LCD Soundsystem to Klaxons changing the very idea of what it means to be alternative.

“This is as good as it gets” says bassist Mattie before a note is played. From a band who recently talked about, maybe hypothetically, getting “20 grand to play in South Africa on a cliff”, the mall-like confines of the Academy, thick with an air of corporate sterility for this radio showcase, is probably far from Mattie’s ideal. But on one point he’s spot-on: The Rapture are sensational live.

There’s an alchemy to them, an almost telepathic understanding of each other and just what it means to dance. As they pull off the trick of managing to sound both slick and restless, without ever descending into tedious ‘muso’ territory, we’re all watching mouths agape and smiles wider than a kid on Christmas Day. The likes of ‘I Need Your Love’, ‘Killing’ and, of course, ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’, where shards of guitar battle with that bass and heaven’s own cowbell, sound as vital as they did three years back. There might well be clones of The Rapture in every art school around the country, but none of them have songs as thrilling and life-affirming as these.

Three years on from ‘Echoes’, and forthcoming new album ‘Pieces Of The People We Love’ can’t possibly hope to have the same impact. Not that The Rapture care. From the material debuted tonight ‘Pieces…’ is the logical step forward for the gang of four from New York; still in are the twisted basslines, the yelps, the saxophone. But now there’s more electronics (possibly an influence of Danger Mouse, one of the record’s two principal producers), some hints of glam, and lyrics that appear so purposely stripped-back that they’re nothing but hooks upon which to hang the most shimmering slabs of post-everything floorfillers this side of Hot Chip. New single ‘Get Myself Into It’ is an early highlight, whose refrain “It’s the chance of a lifetime” is primed to slay indie clubs all winter. The title track meanwhile shares an un-settling, almost downbeat drone with their neighbours TV On The Radio. Whilst not as immediate as the material from ‘Echoes’, Gigwise is convinced that a few days spent in the company of the album when it’s released here in a couple of weeks will be enough for us to realise that they’ve once again set the barometers for this generation to match. 

As tonight’s encore puts it: “1-2-3-4-5-6-7/I’m floating in a constant heaven”