I must have been a bit late on this phenomenon; LCD Soundsystem is a name that I've heard popping up for years now, but never really hunted down. I knew it was some sort of dance music, which scared me away at first. This was until my friend Chris gave me a burned CD of their newest album, This is Happening. What I heard was dance music, but more of a rehashing of late 70's David Bowie and Talking Heads. This was my type of dance music.
I been a fan since then and all of their three albums are great, but none matches their first. The first track, "Daft Punk is Playing at my House" lays the whole idea of the group on the table in a quick, fun, funky, danceable rock song. It simultaneous pokes fun at the nerdiness of the hip, yet embraces it at the same time. The rest of the album switches between electronic workouts and jumpy rock songs. I would not call anything here truly original. "On Repeat" sounds like a modern retake of post-punk, just more electronic. "Never as Tired as When I'm Waking up" sounds like a cover from The Beatles White Album, even in its quality, but despite the rehashing of ideas, producer James Murphy always keeps a strong humor, the songs paying homage to his influences, not copying them.
The second disc is made up early singles. The first, "Losing My Edge" is a hilarious nerd battle between the old school record collectors and children of the internet age. The rest are not nearly as great, but the two extended versions of "Yeah" are both fun dance songs.
Overall, this is one of the most fun albums of the last ten years. It is simply likeable as both a listening experience and a background party album. This is great dance music for people who don't like dance music.
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