LCD Soundsystem - American Dream - 9/1/17

^^^ staggering

kind of presumptuous to imply that LCD fans don't know about Nilsson and Bowie - Murphy's often liberal "borrowing" has been well established since "Losing My Edge", and doesn't seem to turn a whole lot of people off. its not why *I* like the band in any case.

Around the time of Sound of Silver and 45:33 you couldn't find a bigger LCD fan than me. But LCD sound their best when they aren't doing their take on Nilsson/Bowie, in my opinion.. My favourite LCD stuff is still the Get Innocuous/45:33 era groove building tracks they did in 2007.

hmph - always thought Get Innocuous had a huge Bowie influence

You liken it to what Bowie?

that descending voice that comes in halfway through the track - very much sounds like Berlin Bowie to me

the rest of the track not so much, but that's maybe my favorite bit on the album, so...

Does he give credit though? I've never seen "cardboard lamb" or "Jamaica running" mentioned anywhere and he lufted those almost completely.

huge Bowie influence

descending voice that comes in halfway through the track.....the rest of the track not so much

So by "huge" you mean really small? Right.

well it is the money shot

and a flakey bowie influence at best

hmph - always thought Get Innocuous had a huge Bowie influence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M92JO2f4rPw

lots of the 'influences' chat here

i should say it's him playing a bunch of his favourite tunes (Gilbert O Sullivan, Roberta Flack, Nilsson, Bowie, The Fall etc) and talking about them, as 'Lecture' makes it sound very dry and it really isn't.

From the Times interview(s) making the round, basically:

Murphy (on the breakup/makeup): "It wasn’t a total lark, but it was a bit larky."/Bowie made me do it.
Nancy Whang (on the reunion): "It’s crass to say that it was about the money, but it would be insincere to say that wasn’t part of it.”
Al Doyle (on reactions to the Times piece): "I do need y’all to know it wasn’t to grub ticket money.”

revews coming in.. anyone heard it yet from our parish?

Lots of descriptions of this album as "dark" are fascinating me...

when the same word is popping up in multiple reviews it'd be good to have a look at the bio/press kit that came with the promo because those "everybody's saying the album i _______" things are often because the adjective in question was foregrounded in the press materials. which doesn't mean it's not accurate, I don't think it's bullshit for press materials to say "here's a way of listening to the album" but I do think press spin has an actual effect on the way writers talk about records

Certainly when they want to foreground subtle themes. Like, if you start encountering claims that this is a concept album about a man having a breakdown while working at a mall sushi stand, yeah, let me see that press release.

well that's cool, i like when singles fake out the album

If I were an artist with a highly anticipated upcoming album, I would release two identically titled and track-listed albums with totally different music at the same time, just to read the wildly divergent reviews and wait until everyone figured out what happened.

As a fan I think I'd think it was really cool that my favorite band had secretly released two albums at the same time.

*would buy yr merch for a first row ticket*

xp

Each of my seemingly identical albums would secretly include a download code for the other album, because that's only right. Also, they would both be album of the year. And my concerts would not have a front row at all, like the 13th floors in hotels it just won't be there.

No front row? No progress bar? I'm out.

a thread title is but a suggestion to Josh in Scenarios

Honestly, this thread always makes me think one of you crazy contrarians has revived CSNY discussion.

I always loved the idea of an artist making a crappy fake leak ahead of time to fool people

I don't know if anyone's actually done it - IIRC some semi-big name did - but I do remember a lot of people suspecting that Daft Punk and Weezer had done such a thing

yeah didn't Tool do that with Lateralus? or did they just announce a fake title & tracklist?

If I were an artist with a highly anticipated upcoming album, I would release two identically titled and track-listed albums with totally different music at the same time, just to read the wildly divergent reviews and wait until everyone figured out what happened

Old Man Gloom did something very close to this with The Ape Of God.

I think one of the early ones was that No Doubt album where the song titles were right, but each one was just a loop of one part of the song

I remember because the single was literally "feelin' hella good so let's just keep on dancin'" and a couple instrumental stabs... repeated for a couple minutes

I think Madonna did it once?

I think one of the early ones was that No Doubt album where the song titles were right, but each one was just a loop of one part of the song

I remember because the single was literally "feelin' hella good so let's just keep on dancin'" and a couple instrumental stabs... repeated for a couple minutes

lol that rules

ive been trying to think of a single musician or artist i like who was all "I am really concerned bout my legacy".

nope. its some politician bullshit.

there was also the classic merriweather post pavilion leak

you mean when it leaked on Christmas at 8pm or something? yeah that was incredible & one of the best experiences of my life

nah when roxymuzak (?) pissed off a lot of dorks by leaking a fake version

album is ok but unspectacular, 'dark' just means a little more post-punk gloom, including a decent cure pastiche

I Used To is one of my favourite things they've done. I'm guessing that's the Cure pastiche?

for sure sounds like a self-consciously "mature" LCD Soundsystem album. there's a lot of things to like in it, but I can't see it displacing any of the others as a favorite.

Some review said this sounded like a James solo album, but I disagree. I think it sounds very much like a band-in-a-room record. I mean, not radically different from the last couple, but maybe a little more spare. Even more Berlin/Eno Bowie than before, if that's possible. I like it so far (not least because, well, Eno/Bowie, I mean, come on), but I would have liked it better without out the preemptive anticlimactic reunion preamble.

Change Yr. Mind is totally a riff on Eno's "No One Receiving."

I guess I wish there was more of a point to the Bowie/Joy Division/Eno nods, but I admit he could do worse than nod to stuff I like.

Eh, ok, this is totally an album in the old fashioned sense, with a side A and side B. I really liked everything I heard up until and including "Tonite," which I'd call the end of Side A. Then everything from "Call the Police" to "Black Screen" ... I dunno, there were some moments that really annoyed me, and I'm not sure "Black Screen" comes close to justifying its 12 minutes as a closer.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090418175342AA4lP72

I love the weird cut up guitar solos.

American Dreams and Emotional Haircut drag a bit, but otherwise I really like the album. Black Screen is devastating, and overall he seems to try some new things, weirder rhythms, weirder flourishes. He could kinda do this thing for decades, I reckon.

I keep singing/thinking "I could be wrong/I could be right/..." over "Oh Baby".

"Change Yr Mind" sounds like if you slammed the spirit of 'Scary Monsters' and 'Remain in Light' together. Awesome track.

This is most obviously post punk record they've done. I've seen a few reviews that call this a traditional LCD Soundsystem album and I don't get that sentiment at all? The dance punk stuff is pretty much totally missing. "Tonite" is about the only thing that sounds obvious self-referrential.

I think this might be my favorite album with them? But I've never considered them an album band before. There's nothing as good as Yeah or All My Friends on here, but the whole thing really coheres.

You don't think the first half is way better than the second (which is like half Black Screen)?

i love Black Screen. It dips towards the end, sure. But they've never had an opener as good as Oh Baby, and never a closer as good as Black Screen. I think. And it helps that the long tracks are the weirder atmospheric ones, instead of the dance-punk epics.