1 Presets
Photography by Daniella Czuk
The Rapture and the Presets in Chicago, November 5, 2006
Beware of men in stovepipes
By Genie Williamson
Published: November 7th, 2006 | 1:12pm
Doubters of the skinny jean, take heed: it is no myth; it is here; you cannot escape. At Chicago’s Metro on November 5, 2006, the skinny jean was the driving force behind the Rapture-Presets show, serving at once as both ethos and uniform for performers and audience members alike. If the two bands had been in competition for the title of Most Tapered, the Presets would have been the undisputed winner, since the Rapture’s Luke Jenner blew his band’s chances with a pair of straight-leg slacks.
There are only two Presets, both of whose pants end in points detectable only by subatomic microscope. Drummer Kimberly Moyes is the charmer of the pair, not least thanks to his frenetic dancing and impossible hat. Moyes’ jeep hat — short-brimmed, ovular, fluorescent — could have headlined its own show. Moyes should be similarly lauded for his post-ironic use of the cowbell. While it’s true that the Rapture’s Gabriel Andruzzi wails on said bell during songs that don’t require his saxophone, the Rapture’s inception predates the Walken phenomenon, while the Presets formed soon after. Of course, there’s a chance that America’s cries of “More cowbell!” did not reach the Presets’ native Sydney, but this is doubtful.
Singer Julian Hamilton’s voice recalls a perkier Paul Banks (Interpol), his stance at the keyboard any number of new–New Romantic front men. He sings menacingly of girls and fun, punctuating his vocals with self-consciously rigid handclaps and hip-shakes. Hamilton is a looker, but his scruffy blond-guy appeal didn’t stand a chance against Moyes’ hat.
The Presets’ sound is an energetic mix of Pretty Hate Machine–era NIN, Duran Duran, and the Faint. The standout of the set was the titular track from the duo’s debut, I Go Hard, I Go Home. It is their most straightforwardly techno song and also their most engaging, using sampling to tremendous effect and bringing new life to Daft Punk’s “Around the World” and Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song.” The force of this track proves that if the Presets lose the joyless Sturm und Drang, they stand to become a world-class party act.
The losers of the Taper-Off are, quite simply, one of the best live acts in existence. The Rapture has actually improved since their last tour in 2003. If someone had told me back then that the Rapture could sound better, I would have punched him in the face. The combination of Andruzzi’s Liquid Liquid–lite sax and Vito Roccaforte’s epic drumming with Matt Safer’s hypnotic bass and Jenner’s tinny guitar was, in a word, sublime. And yet, the Rapture’s latest, Pieces of the People We Love, is an improvement. It is mercifully devoid of the ponderous noodling that slowed down Mirror and parts of Echoes.
The Rapture’s new songs are light as air. This effervescence sounds a tad slick on record but invigorates when experienced live. The Rapture has made a total conversion from dance punk band to dance dance band, and are the better for it.
The Rapture may have culled all of the heavy tracks from their live set, but the ghost of the charmingly jagged squawk of their second EP lingers. When the band played “Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks,” the song rang out like a gleeful assault, giving me a pang of longing for the way they used to sound.
At times like this, it must be remembered that the Rapture could have been a one-trick pony. The halcyon days of dance punk are in the distant past. The Liars have gone noise and Radio 4 has thankfully gone the way of the fauxhawk, but the Rapture has managed to remain both relevant and danceable. This longevity lent depth to the refrain of their badass rendition of “Olio,” the set’s final encore. “Over and over and over again,” wailed Jenner, suggesting that the Rapture’s reign could last indefinitely, or at least until their fans get too arthritic to shake it.
Photography by Daniella Czuk
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