Lcd Soundsystem - This Is Happening (9 tracks) +Album Reviews

Good artists emulate...

Nails in My Head | 05/19/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

".. but great artists steal, or so they say.

And LCD are certainly mining the past on their third effort, the deliberately dense "This is Happening." James Murphy, the frontman and only solid emelent of an otherwise revolving lineup, has never been shy about proclaiming his influences and touting his musical heroes, but previous lp's always seemed more a mis-mash of otherwise incoherent styles, rather than the clear homages that mark this, the newest LCD album.

Not that I'm complaining; far from it. But let there be a warning to those who don't find late 70's Bowie or Iggy to their taste: a full three songs on the sprawling nine track lp are, beyond a reasonable doubt, directly inspired by Bowie & Co.

Drunk Girls, for example, copies "Lodger's" Boys Keep Swinging, while Somebody's Calling Me borrows nearly note for note the backing blips and piano of "The Idiot's" Nightclubbing. All I Want, too, reaches back to Bowie's "Heroes" for its Eno-itized riffing and vocal delivery.

The video for All My Friends clued us all in that Bowie's Berlin Tryptich served as a muse for Murphy and his band, but never before has it been more clear that the Bowie/Iggy partnership circa '76-'79 really ground LCD in the canon of Rock 'n' Roll rather than more modern dance music.

Which isn't to say the dance/electro that marked the beginning of LCD's career isn't still there. It's just much more subtle and nuanced when it is. Songs like One Hit and Dance Yrself Clean both feature the requisite kickdrums and basslines, but the melodies and lyrics are much more at the forefront. The days of Daft Punk is Playing at My House are over. If LCD's going to make a dance song now, they earn it with emotional impact and complex dynamic shifts.

So yes, LCD Soundsystem has matured. The humorous breaks don't dominate the record this time around, they just pepper delicate and honest confessional pieces. Think Someone Great and All My Friends for most of the record. Even the on-its-surface crass Drunk Girls proclaims during its bridge, "I believe in waking up together," a romantic assertion if ever I heard one.

So Murphy's grown up, in a nutshell. And if growing up lyrically means trading in the dirty indietronic rave-ups for '70s alt-rock inspired anthems, more power to him.

Just beware: most songs break the six minute mark."

Techno-nerds bebop

Erica Bell | Washington State | 06/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sandwiched between Pavement, Massive Attack and (ugh!) Tegan and Sara (and before that, the latest phenom Kid Cudi) at Sasquatch this year, LCD Soundsystem acted like they were just lucky to be inhaling the same oxygen as the rest. James Murphy came on stage, tugged at his tie and uttered a plaintive, "We're so honored to be here..." A lot of the kids around me got up to go get something to eat.

But damned if they didn't come back, and fast. LCD Soundsystem plays like they mean it, and later, everyone from the hippie clones to the old folks were shaking their heads with, "Who ARE those guys?!" One man complained that his feet hurt from dancing.

A lot of what they played is on this CD. From my perch as official Old Codger, I can only say that if Hall and Oates knocked up Bowie in his Berlin phase, their kid would be this band. Lots of synths, lots of beats. Heck, I'm just happy that dancing is back. I've heard they've shaved personnel recently--you'd never know it. Live, they're rich and huge-sounding. They're less so here. Standouts for me are "Dance Yourself Clean" and "I Can Change".

"

What Is Happening Exactly?

Flap Jackson | State Road, NC | 05/22/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Wacky in style and indie darlings for the latter half of the 00s, LCD Soundsystem perfected the genre of dance-punk. Mixing long-form jams and riffs with incredible production values & surprisingly meaningful lyrics, LCD Soundsystem knows what they do, what they do best, and they certainly don't do anything drastic to change it up with this record. If you heart LCD, then you should also heart this album as it provides you everything you like about the band. If you don't like LCD, your mind certainly won't be changed. And if you don't know LCD, well, you might be in for a suprise.

I'll let the music really speak for itself, since it really does require listening to it for yourself, instead of words, but I will say that "All I Want" is the track that stood out to me most, and what LCD crafts is often astounding. It's easy to make these songs 3-4 minutes, but LCD riffs them into 8-9 minute tracks without losing anything, and really building into the atmosphere of each piece.

Overall, no minds will be changed about the band in their supposedly last album, but your love will only be affirmed for them. Is it brilliant? No, but it is a solid effort, and if they truly are leaving, LCD is leaving on a high note, which is all you can ever ask for."

Danced Myself Clean

Modest Man Mike | Southern California | 08/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know that anyone makes better use of Cowbell than LCD Soundsystem. I don't know if its even possible. But seriously, they make good use of every instrument on every album. It's clearly a mission to take Old School Analog gear and percussion from old school dance and electronica and reinvent them in a fresh way.

Somehow they find ways to keep the music rich while appearing simple and highly accessible. This is True on all the LCD Sound System Albums, but especially on "This Is Happening". Ironically, on the track "you wanted a hit" he talks about how they don't set out to "make hits", but i truly believe LCD succeeds by staying true to its heart and making music that they as a band believe in.

This definitely an album to check out if you're looking for anything with cool grooves and a touch of rock here and there. its a nicely balanced palate of funk, dance, rock, with "indie" flavor and tongue in cheek sprinklings of humor.

My stand out tracks are (in order of appearance): DANCE YOURSELF CLEAN; DRUNK GIRLS; ONE TOUCH; I CAN CHANGE; YOU WANTED A HIT; POW POW; and HOME.

If you haven't heard the other albums, make sure to pick up Sound of Silver and the LCD Soundsystem albums.

Five stars for this one."

Consider myself danced clean

E. Kutinsky | Seattle, WA | 07/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Seeing LCD Soundsystem live at this year's Sasquatch music festival, I realized I thought frontman James Murphy's current touring band is a little like Bruce Springsteen Springsteen fused the rock and r/b and singer-songwriter movement and folk of his recent past and turned them into a band that felt unmistakably thrilling, like a train at full speed taking you somewhere new. Murphy is much older and rounder than Springsteen was when he started, but that sense is there - there are guitars and drums and keyboards, but also drum panels and laptops and little gray boxes I can't identify. You can't quite call Murphy a DJ, even though that's where he started - instead, Murphy has created a band (even though he plays every instrument on the records) that seems to define the capabilities of modern music.

Or, to put it differently: This is happening. That title. How ironic and exciting for an album whose influences seem to fly out of everywhere at once. "I Can Change," the thrilling synth keyboard at its center could have been lifted from the 80s Human League classic "Keep Feeling Fascination;" "All I Want" could be a 90s classic guitar song, even with the bleeps; "Someone's Calling Me" is like a muted, sexy take on Iggy Pop's "Nightclubbing."

But that's not what I think Murphy implies is "happening" with that title (nor are his hipster dance moves, gray hair, and skinny tie of the cover). Instead, that's what's in the lyrics - songs of facing your life and your shortcomings, buried in a great dance groove. That's undoubtedly the nature of "Dance Yrself Clean," a song that literally proposes dancing as a cure for the mentality of the "thirty car pileup" that's become an anxious mentality, and again in its last song "Home": "This is the trick/forget a terrible year," Murphy advises you. Dance Yrself Clean indeed.

The truth is the lyrics are Murphy's secret weapon underneath his already sterling beats. This is where This Is Happening distinguishes itself from the electronica trends of the 90s - though it makes you dance just as much (or more!), Murphy manages to place a revelatory statement of self inside each brilliant song. By the time the what-is-love dance-off "One Touch" segues into the beautiful love song "All I Want," you're already to give yourself over to Murphy equally for a long conversation as you would for a dance party. This Is Happening never stops giving you both."

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