SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS 004: THE RAPTURE

Introducing a 2003 Rapture performance on his show, David Letterman referred to them as a "critically acclaimed rock & roll band." He had the "critically acclaimed" part right, but once the group started playing, the second designation just didn't seem to fit. Luke Jenner's slashing guitar and yelpy vocals grabbed your attention, yet the uptempo, four-on-the-floor drum beat and throbbing funk bass line were what transfixed you. Rock & roll? More like a classic postpunk 12" come to life.

Right from the beginning, founding members Jenner and drummer Vito Roccoforte clearly understood the magic of an infectious rhythm track. The band's 1998 single, "The Chair That Squeaks," was aptly named: The track's glinting synth drone and blasts of ray-gun guitar signaled avant-garde intentions, while the fat half-time groove underneath kept your head nodding. By 2001, the Rapture had joined forces with James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy of the DFA, and while the Strokes were busy revitalizing classic NYC punk, Jenner, Roccoforte & Co. were dusting off the innovations of bands like Liquid Liquid and Public Image Ltd. The Rapture/DFA team-up caught on in a big way, yielding a signature single, "House of Jealous Lovers" (the one they played on Letterman), and sparking an old-fashioned major-label bidding war. Soon, the band would leave the DFA label in a tizzy of hurt feelings, as neo-dance-punk crested into a mid-aughts trend.

But after two full-lengths and the better part of a decade, the Rapture found themselves back in the DFA camp. In the interim, Vampire Weekend had helped bring a softer, more bookish sound into fashion, and James Murphy had steered his LCD Soundsystem enterprise to a heroic conclusion. Fortunately, though, the 2011-model Rapture, heard on the In the Grace of Your Love LP, didn't seem out of place; the band sounded as cohesive as they ever had, with their pop elements and their dance imperative perfectly balanced. If the group—as well as the DFA, and the other architects of the early-to-mid-aughts dance-punk renaissance—once had something to prove, now they're simply writing great songs, demonstrating that they don't need a media-fueled movement to validate their heartfelt mission.