THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF THE DISCOGRAPHY DEEP DIVE! That's a good sign that I care to continue! Today we spotlight a band that ISN'T gone yet: LCD Soundsystem.
The name of the band sounds like something that costs too much at Best Buy, but rest assured that this is instead an indie electronic dance-punk outfit formed in NEW! YORK! CITY!! by brainchild James Murphy. If "deconstructed club" wasn't already an existing term for something else I'd use it to describe this. Murphy takes the tropes of regular dance club music and adds elements of alternative rock, smartass meta-lyrics about music and the industry, and charisma! The band's four albums are all critically-acclaimed and I'm here to also jerk off all over them with adequate fervor.
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LCD Soundsystem (2005) The band's self-titled debut kicked off 2005 with a January release and it had already become an AOTY contender! Murphy and Co. released a lot of singles as a lead up to this album, most notably "Losing My Edge" which is an eight-minute semi-self aware diatribe surrounding Murphy's ego about playing underground music during his DJ days. I say semi-self aware because I can tell he totally wrote this song and namedropped a bunch of underground bands PRIMARILY for ego-stroking, no matter what he might say about it. My own rant aside, the more common release of LCD Soundsystem is a double album comprising the album proper on Disc 1 and the collection of singles and B-sides on Disc 2. Clocking in at 100 minutes of music, it's a weighty collection of off-kilter, cerebral club dance music with influences drawn from disco, punk, indie rock, and classic rock. It's good, albeit overlong and somewhat unfocused at times. The beats are occasionally sparse, but everything is immensely listenable and some tracks are, dare I say, actually memorable! Murphy wears his Brian Eno influences on his sleeves with the proper closer "Great Release", which is just as long and meandering as a genuine Eno album closer! Ha! The breakout hit "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" is a fantastic opener on the main album and is probably the best song here. For my money, the second disc is a little more interesting and my favorite track is the full version of "Yr City's a Sucker", which runs through a lengthy and sinister urban vamp with a sick bassline reminescent of Fear of Music-era Talking Heads The debut is good, not great. Room to grow for sure and for Murphy to make LCD Soundsystem his own. Rating: 7/10 |
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Sound of Silver (2007) This is pretty good but I don't think it's as good as everyone says. LCD Soundsystem's second album received rave reviews upon release and nearly topped a significant number year-end charts. Personally, this album suffers the same inconsistency that I feel from the debut. This time, though, the overall songwriting quality is skewed upward. The standouts for me are "North American Scum", where Murphy sings like he has a stuffed-up nose and gets defensive about 'Murica, and especially "Someone Great", which is stunningly emotional and beautiful. "Someone Great" is worth the price of admission alone. I also really like the extended bleepy-bloopy electronics in the last half of the title track "Sound of Silver". It's dynamic and infectious, just like the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variant COVID-19! Speaking of which, how's that working out for everyone these days? Everything else I can't get too excited about and it's not worth going into specific detail about them here. There's nothing bad. It's all enjoyable, yes, but there's a lot of sameiness to Sound of Silver that causes frequent lapses in my attention over the course of 55 minutes. Maybe this shit was the Big Cheese in 2007, but this is 2021 baby. I need more BTS influence! Rating: 8/10 |
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This Is Happening (2010) It happened, all right! The pinnacle! This is an album I can get excited about! Every track has a personality, every track is memorable, a lot of tracks are even thrilling. The album is diverse. Emotions in all directions are everywhere. This Is Happening feels like the logical next-step, the culmination of everything that makes LCD Soundsystem good. Murphy's getting older, he just turned 40. The wisdom of age prevails. "Dance Yrself Clean" is a perfect opener, beginning with a quiet and subdued but peppy electronic loop that brightens and loudens after a couple minutes, symbolizing kicking down the door of the and dance club and letting the music run free. "Drunk Girls" is energetic, short and sweet. "One Touch" is a robotic, futuristic, creepy incel dance party! "All I Want" is an Eno-esque hypnotic and loopy dreamscape! "I Can Change" is a somber Gary Numan new wave dirge! "You Wanted a Hit" is a nine-minute anti-commercial anti-hit! "Pow Pow" feels like a leftover from Sound of Silver, but it's a good leftover! "Somebody's Calling Me" is a slow, jazzy number replete with pensive introspection! "Home" is the culmination of it all, the perfectly tempoed cooldown closer! That's all the songs, baby! What a great way to end a career! Rating: 10/10 |
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American Dream (2017) Oh shit, it's not over? Even after an announcement and a farewell concert? Well, good! After a few years hiatus, the band reunited and cut another strong collection of tracks for American Dream. The vibe this time seems melancholy, with Murphy pushing 50 the lyrics are a lot more straightforward and introspective than we've heard before. A lot of the album roots itself in '80s gothic synthwave, especially tracks like "Oh Baby", "I Used To", and the title track "American Dream". Even the tracks that aren't awash in gloomy synths are still at least, you know, peppered with gloomy synths. The sound is more full and round than the sparse techno of the past. LCD Soundsystem haven't strayed too far from their usual formula; American Dream is the usual fare of looping dance numbers and long track lengths with similar influences driving the creative train. PAR EXEMPLE, I'm gonna bring up Eno a third time, because Murphy is clearly a big fan: "Change Yr Mind" is yet another faithful Eno tribute. I haven't decided yet if it sounds more like Byrne/Eno or Bowie/Eno, but the whole song is a dead ringer for Side A of Eno's Before and After Science album. Old fans will be delighted that the band is still recognizable, new fans will be delighted by...I don't know, these aging Gen-Xers coming to terms with the cool world of music attempting to move on without them, I guess? These guys aren't washed up, yet, though! I'm looking forward to Album 5, there's no reason to expect a decline yet! Rating: 8/10 |
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