Rock of Ages: The Rapture - "House of Jealous Lovers" (2003)

My first experience with a lot of bands in the 00's came from an excellent compilation known as Yes New York. The reemerging New York rock scene led to many great bands and a handful of greats appeared on that compilation. The Strokes, Interpol, The Fever, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Secret Machines, The Rogers Sisters and this entries artist The Rapture were all present and representing the goods. My first exposure to The Rapture was their electro track "Olio" which is spacey and eerie and addictive. When Echoes, the bands second album, finally dropped, I picked it up from our college radio station and instantly fell in love. The main reason the album rocks is that it packs in many shifts in sound from the spooky and eerie electro tracks to the piano ballads to the ultra dancey cowbell infused rockers. That's where "House of Jealous Lovers" comes into play. It was made for dancing. The vocals are strained as he screams above the din of the dance floor. The bass is groovy and flourishes over the wildly searing and jangly guitars. The percussion section tears it up, especially the aforementioned cowbell.

"House of Jealous Lovers" has this mid-section countdown that is groovetastic. It finally comes to its long conclusion and explodes back into the beat that is infectious and inescapable. It's hard to imagine a party in this new decade that doesn't coem with hearing The Rapture. Their second record, Pieces of the People We Love is equally as great as Echoes and packs as much dance punk into it's disc as this one. "House of Jealous Lovers" was hard to top, but luckily for us, The Rapture has kept a strong footing enough to equal it's greatness on the follow up. Not many bands that formed in the 00's were able to keep a strong footing. Now let's see if their next disc will be as awesome. I'm going to guess yes.



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