LCD Soundsystem - American Dream - 9/1/17

Listened to this at the beach yesterday. So much better than I was expecting. Happy surprise! How Do You Sleep? is fire

Definitely a bass guitar album.

His records sound so great.

Listening to this for the 1st time. "How do you sleep?" is dope

Depends how much you wanna hear a middle aged man doing his variant on "It's not the side effects of the cocaine" over a variant on "Dance Yrself Clean."

Besides being unsure exactly what this means, is it wrong that as someone gradually edging their way into middle age I've got no issue in principle?

dear 'oh baby' fans,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od-GIE9kNG8

Nice. That's a fairly good track as well. Thanks for that.

wow it's not a 'song' album is it? sounds great but lots of go-to-the-bar/for a fag/ for a wee moments when you see the new tour.

can't hear the Remain In Light references. so far.

Change yr mind is the most direct Talking Heads pastiche in hear but not hearing it that much. I think it sounds more like LCD Soundsystem trying to sound like LCD Soundsystem this time. So a copy of a copy.

distinct Plainsong vibe from Oh Baby.

His records sound so great.

This one sounds way better than the last one to me, which was kinda thin-sounding? All the synths sound amazing.

Definitely a bass guitar album.

And looking at the credits it's mostly JM...he's a really good bass player, huh?

whoah, piscesx otm. definitely a Plainsong vibe from that song- distinct from the direct melodic lifts from Remain in Light.

And the chorus of PiL's Rise and the synth line from Yazoo!'s Don't Go.

It's from Only You isn't it?

Yes, that's correct!

Got half way through the first song then got bored...started listening to the 2nd track and remembered how great music from 'The Catherine Wheel' is and put that on instead...this band is rotten...

Wow I have not thought about Catherine Wheel in a good decade.

Change yr mind is the most direct Talking Heads pastiche in hear but not hearing it that much. I think it sounds more like LCD Soundsystem trying to sound like LCD Soundsystem this time. So a copy of a copy.

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Monday, September 4, 2017

^^
This.

Emotional Haircut is the one that really sounds like Talking Heads to me, or like '80s King Crimson trying to be Talking Heads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUqGK-Z9a9I

Just got around to listening to this - unsurprisingly, I like it.

and I'm not much of a fan of Talking Heads.

Emotional Haircut reminded me more of Wire than anything else

One of them really sounds like Berlin Bowie. Specifically Heroes, with the crazy Fripp guitar.

do you think the references make the record better/worse/doesn't matter?

All their records have absolutely been laden with references, musical and lyrical, to other music. Hell, their debut single was literally a list of people who inspired them. It's part of the DNA, the schtick, the USP of LCD Soundsystem. Less a band than a system that mashes up other music and plays it back to you. They're the 00s American Primal Scream.

They're the 00s American Primal Scream.

Also, Primal Scream were largely the product of great producers, not a great band. I know someone who was around for the creation of 'Screamadelica' and he will tell you that record was the output of holing up in the studio with some average rock tracks, Andrew Weatherhall being an enthuisastic total amateur at the time and not knowing what was wrong to do, and a Herculean amount of pot.

In contract, LCD is unquestionably the James Murphy show. He even had that interview recently where he said he gave up on producing other people because he can't work that way (i.e. collaborate!)

So what's your take on Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR, then?

So what's your take on Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR, then?

Primal Scream were largely the product of great producers, not a great band

It's a different system that does the mashing.

james murphy is just a heavy-handed production outfit who happens to also be the artist

Aye.

this bored me

Thanks! Why?

this album is class

xposts:

You have a point with Screamadelica, not so much the othet two.

Screamadelica's approach is replicated in XTRMNTR by [the core of] Primal Scream specifically seeking out various producers for different sounds on specific songs. This is obviously a creative decision by the band - they knew that Paterson and Miller and Weatherall would provide disparate results, and sought them as collaborators, just as they sought Denise or George Clinton or Augustus Pablo or Mani as collaborators. That they were making their decisions wilfully, not being shaped helplessly at the whim of hired adults, is underscored by Vanishing Point sounding like Vanishing Point, not like Wild Wood and Stanley Road.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7957890/lcd-soundsystem-james-murphy-no-1-album-billboard-200-chart

No. 1 on US Album chart ... but it's bringing me down

85000 copies sold, that is impressive

81000 even...

Thanks! Why?

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, September 8, 2017 10:00 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess it's sort of on paper a lot of things that I "should" like a lot, wrt all the post punk references edging up against dance stuff but with a certain classic rock grandiose stadium quality

but overall, i don't know there's no weird mental frission that marks the best period post punk for me, a genuine weirdness and disorienting quality that comes from maybe not really knowing what the fuck you are doing in a way, or trying to accomplish things that are beyond your abilities

like whatever early PIL or Raincoats or Swell Maps or Joy Division/New Order or The Fall or Gang of Four have, this just doesn't have it to me, it feels like he is a canny guy with good taste and a good template for what makes LCD Soundsystem albums at this point but ultimately it's like, I dunno, All That You Can't Leave Behind era U2 or something, some real pros executing their style effectively

"some real pros executing their style effectively"

that sounds great!

it helps if it's in any way interesting, too

I mean, you could write some music that is completely uninteresting but checks all the stylistic and technical boxes, and perform it in a proficient way, and still be boring as hell

(that isn't about LCD, just that praising well-performed things isn't necessarily a complement)

get a sense that they are trying to accomplish Belew solos at points in this, but it is beyond their abilities

otm

I guess good for them for not just having Byrne/Belew/anyone else just play on their records, since surely they could at this point?

I'm not sure Byrne would be in, but Belew is cool doing session work and I'm fine with that!

Emotional Haircut reminded me more of Wire than anything else

― ufo, Friday, September 8, 2017 12:11 AM (three days ago)

As soon as I read that I could hear "I'm the Fly" in my head.

Album art looks like an ilxor quoteblock