I am increasingly convinced that Interpol is just Matador making up for passing by the Ropers. If you like Interpol you owe it to yourself to seek out the Roper's releases on Slumberland. What can you expect? Interpol about 10 years earlier.
I think the main connection between the Ropers and Interpol is the vocal delivery. The Ropers' Doug Bailey is one of the best, unheralded non-singers. One day I'll provide a disertation on the non-singer theory developed by one Dan Searing but, here is a brief.
The non-singer is not someone who lacks the ability to sing. The non-singer simply sounds great whether they are trying to sing or not. Often the non-singer will bend the notes and thus the rules a bit in their favor singing in key, out of key and nearly in-key. The point is fans of the non-singer don't mind because the vocal delivery and performance is so captivating. Generally the non-singer picks a range they are comfortable with and sticks to it. Thus they manage to get a lot of milage through inflection and eschew vocal "dynamics". The polar opposite of the non-singer is the vocal acrobatics of Mariah Carrey and her ilk.
Perhaps some examples would help to elucidate my point. Lou Reed is a non-singer. Ian Curtis is a non-singer. Lawrence, of Felt, is in the Reed mold of non-singer. Thom Yorke to some extent is a non-singer in that he does more growling than singing and he certainly likes to linger around a note without every necessarily visiting it spot on. The singing through clenched teeth mode is a distinguishing characteristic of the non-singer best exemplified by Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs. Besides Butler, my favorite non-singer is Mark Dumais of Crash (a band that featured Kurt Ralsky pre-Ultra Vivid Scene). He swoons through the song with complete license to be as out of tune as he wants and his vocal performances are the most endearing element of Crash.
None of this is to say that non-singers cannot sing. I want to be perfectly clear on this. Everyone I mentioned can absolutely sing. The non-singer is merley a description of their singing style. No one in their right mind would try to claim that Radiohead's Thom Yorke can't sing. The inflammatory non-singer moniker was choosen to elicit a response certainly but mainly it helps to differentiate these artists from the machines that generate the glut of mainstream pop. The non-singer puts the emphasis on heart-felt delivery over the desire to hit every note perfectly.
I've left out some obvious non-singers (Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra) because their impact on the indie pop music scene is not as dramatic as the artists I've mentioned above. All of this explanation leads to this point: the comparisions of Interpol lead singer Paul Banks to Joy Division's Ian Curtis are largely due to the non-singer element.
Interpol are certainly not as sparse or as overtly negative as Joy Division. In fact, their mix of minimal post-punk guitar work with interesting interplay, their dynamic song structures and melodies all remind me of . . . well, the Ropers.
Anyway, get on it. Interpol are the new Ropers.