Dance-Punkers Rule Dancefloors Via Nonsense Syllables

Comments (0) By Jaime Lowe Tuesday, Sep 12 2006

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The Rapture
Pieces of the People We Love
Universal

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Rapture frontman Luke Jenner flings chants and whines as though they were calls to prayer on Pieces of the People We Love, oft backed by equally yearning guitars. Responding to the rapturous Internet hype whipped up by 2003's Echoes, the dance-punk quartet unleashes propulsive, addictive, ego-driven bursts on the follow-up, with lyrics at once introspective ("I been searching so long") and chastising ("Words that cut, slash, rip, and hypnotize/Why'd you say those things?/Why did you lie?"). The Pieces tracklist also boasts slightly less articulate language like "Don Gon Do It" and "Whoo! Alright—Yeah . . . Uh Huh," punctuating the music's guttural insistence with equally percussive nonsense syllables. And though their new one is produced by Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, and Ewan Pearso—rather than Echoes overlord James Murphy—the band won't let go of the dancefloor, castrating hipster immobility with japes like "People don't dance no more/They just stand there like this/They cross their arms and stare you down and drink and moan and piss." Let go and get into it. "Whoo! Alright," indeed.