DariusNYC
04-12-2007, 01:19 PM
Hi all. Welcome back, Rae. One thing that's been on my mind:
It seems to me that LCD Soundsystem is such a hot and exciting band, and their new album especially so top-notch, that I'm disappointed to see that no one here has been talking about them or it, and I want to take a few minutes to talk about them. They are a band that puts out a sound that is sometimes referred to as dance-punk, but veers between new wave, dance/electronic, 70s art rock, punk and pop. Big influences you hear are Bowie, Talking Heads, Eno, Daft Punk, The Fall and other new wave and no wave bands, as well as pretty much the entire cooler strain of rock history, but with a dance music slant and a primacy given to energy and beat and emotional and physical engagement with the music. Lyrics are sometimes meaningful, sometimes tossed off phrases in their danciest stuff, sometimes semi-improvised witty declamations.
I have their first album from 2005, I have their singles starting in 2002 contained on the DFA Records compilations #1 and #2 (which are both great in my book), I have their new album that came out last month, and I've seen them live twice; first in 2005 and again a few weeks ago, both at the excellent venue Bowery Ballroom in New York. The show in 2005 I paid a lot of money to a guy on eBay to get tickets, because they had only announced that they were doing very few shows at that time and James Murphy was mumbling about not wanting to tour, so everyone thought that was their only chance as did I. Plus their major-label-distributed first album and just been released and gotten a lot of hype, and there were a lot of "people in the biz" there in that small General Admission venue. So, the show sold out in 5 minutes and I had to buy tickets from this guy at an exhorbitant price. But I was so excited about this band from having heard their singles "Yeah", "Losing My Edge" and "Beat Connection" and having given a couple spins to the new album, and I thought they would be fantastic live. Well, gentle reader, they were amazing. My wife, who isn't a music geek at all and wouldn't chose to listen to this stuff if she was just sitting around at home, was blown away, I was blown away, we all were blown away. The whole crowd was dancing frenetically; and it wasn't just a bunch of young indie kids. James Murphy, the main guy, really has a stage presence, and his band was hot. The beat was king. My wife and I saw them again a few weeks ago (got tix right when they went on sale this time) and, friends, they were even better, with an expanded and highly talented band. Sometimes there would be three percussionists at once, sometimes two bassists and no guitarists; sometimes half the folks twiddling knobs; sometimes all organic. Lots of cowbell.
The new album is much more consistant than the first, although the first was mostly excellent in my book, and is a great sounding, turn-the-volume up, musically rich album. And I guess it's a great intro to the band, despite the you-gotta-hear-it excellence of some of their early singles like "Losing My Edge". So, if you're interested in this band, I first recommend the second album, called "Sound of Silver". And if you get the first album, which is almost as good, it comes with a second disc that contains all their genius pre-album singles. So you'll be completely covered.
I evangelize for these guys because I think they've found a way to make rock music fresh by accessing the groove, by focusing on fun, and by reaching into a rich past of art rock and dance music without any sense of distancing elitism or formalism, but with a goal to make hot, exciting music. I feel that they are following a more promising avenue for a future of exciting music in the "rock" genre than some of the more traditionalist indie bands like Arcade Fire. I feel like they have some of the excitement that I've more often been finding in hip hop and pop singles as opposed to rock albums these days.
But you have to understand when you get it that some of the songs will be nine-minute long dancefloor jams, although with melody.
Anybody?
It seems to me that LCD Soundsystem is such a hot and exciting band, and their new album especially so top-notch, that I'm disappointed to see that no one here has been talking about them or it, and I want to take a few minutes to talk about them. They are a band that puts out a sound that is sometimes referred to as dance-punk, but veers between new wave, dance/electronic, 70s art rock, punk and pop. Big influences you hear are Bowie, Talking Heads, Eno, Daft Punk, The Fall and other new wave and no wave bands, as well as pretty much the entire cooler strain of rock history, but with a dance music slant and a primacy given to energy and beat and emotional and physical engagement with the music. Lyrics are sometimes meaningful, sometimes tossed off phrases in their danciest stuff, sometimes semi-improvised witty declamations.
I have their first album from 2005, I have their singles starting in 2002 contained on the DFA Records compilations #1 and #2 (which are both great in my book), I have their new album that came out last month, and I've seen them live twice; first in 2005 and again a few weeks ago, both at the excellent venue Bowery Ballroom in New York. The show in 2005 I paid a lot of money to a guy on eBay to get tickets, because they had only announced that they were doing very few shows at that time and James Murphy was mumbling about not wanting to tour, so everyone thought that was their only chance as did I. Plus their major-label-distributed first album and just been released and gotten a lot of hype, and there were a lot of "people in the biz" there in that small General Admission venue. So, the show sold out in 5 minutes and I had to buy tickets from this guy at an exhorbitant price. But I was so excited about this band from having heard their singles "Yeah", "Losing My Edge" and "Beat Connection" and having given a couple spins to the new album, and I thought they would be fantastic live. Well, gentle reader, they were amazing. My wife, who isn't a music geek at all and wouldn't chose to listen to this stuff if she was just sitting around at home, was blown away, I was blown away, we all were blown away. The whole crowd was dancing frenetically; and it wasn't just a bunch of young indie kids. James Murphy, the main guy, really has a stage presence, and his band was hot. The beat was king. My wife and I saw them again a few weeks ago (got tix right when they went on sale this time) and, friends, they were even better, with an expanded and highly talented band. Sometimes there would be three percussionists at once, sometimes two bassists and no guitarists; sometimes half the folks twiddling knobs; sometimes all organic. Lots of cowbell.
The new album is much more consistant than the first, although the first was mostly excellent in my book, and is a great sounding, turn-the-volume up, musically rich album. And I guess it's a great intro to the band, despite the you-gotta-hear-it excellence of some of their early singles like "Losing My Edge". So, if you're interested in this band, I first recommend the second album, called "Sound of Silver". And if you get the first album, which is almost as good, it comes with a second disc that contains all their genius pre-album singles. So you'll be completely covered.
I evangelize for these guys because I think they've found a way to make rock music fresh by accessing the groove, by focusing on fun, and by reaching into a rich past of art rock and dance music without any sense of distancing elitism or formalism, but with a goal to make hot, exciting music. I feel that they are following a more promising avenue for a future of exciting music in the "rock" genre than some of the more traditionalist indie bands like Arcade Fire. I feel like they have some of the excitement that I've more often been finding in hip hop and pop singles as opposed to rock albums these days.
But you have to understand when you get it that some of the songs will be nine-minute long dancefloor jams, although with melody.
Anybody?