LCD Soundsystem - American Dream - 9/1/17

i first hear LCD from a DFA mix a long time ago. he was producing all those bands and they all sounded really good. what is the best of the stuff he has produced for others since then?

no one would have bought a *james murphy* solo album, for sure

xpost

shouldn't be necessary to do so much second guessing wrt the moniker, murphy's been pretty straightforward abt it:

so i asked pat and nancy to come over to my apartment for coffee and told them: ‘i’m going to record some music. should i make up a band name, or make a ‘james murphy’ record, or should it be ‘lcd?’ we all thought a good amount about it. we have had lives for the past 5 years, which has been nice, and those guys have made amazing music with museum of love, the juan maclean, and all sorts of other things. i’d managed to do a bunch of fun, dumb stuff which mostly annoyed people who were into the band because, well, subway turnstiles and a coffee aren’t lcd, basically.

at any rate, they both said ‘let’s make an lcd record’. you see, if they didn’t want to, which i’d half assumed, then there’s no such thing as lcd. imagine this: me making a record, calling it lcd, and then you go to the show and there’s just some guy playing drums over there, or some other person playing keyboards. horrifying. then imagine this: i make a ‘james murphy’ record, or, i don’t know, an ‘everteen’ record, or whatever made-up name i come up with, and there’s pat playing drums, and nancy. maybe al isn’t too busy with hot chip so he comes to play. what the fuck is that? here were our choices: 1. make music with your friends and call it something else, which seems hilarious (everteen) or egomaniacal to the point of sociopathic (james murphy solo record). 2. make music, but willfully exclude your friends because of the horrors in option 1. 3. make an lcd record with your friends, who want to make said record, and deal with whatever fall-out together. 4. don’t make music, to avoid the horrors of all of the above. 5. make music and, like, hide it somewhere.

makes sense. still a really bad look when you threw yourself a going away party at Madison Square Garden 6 years ago. album better be fucking great (idc either way, never got into LCD), or the vultures will feast.

Does anyone really think anybody cares? The Last Waltz wasn't really the last waltz either.

Does anyone really think anybody cares? The Last Waltz wasn't really the last waltz either.

All well and good. But i doubt the music will be interesting if the first two songs are anything to go by.

God forbid someone change their made and go back to doing something they love

*mind, not *made

btw i really enjoyed 'before and after science class'

http://pitchfork.com/news/watch-lcd-soundsystems-new-tonite-video/

Why listen to Murphy's latest take on Harry Nilsson/Bowie/etc/etc when you can just listen to the original? These new songs are shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFzhad-bnY

pretty subtle track but diggit.

Still enjoy Call the Police the best.

idk, i really can't be mad at the new single. actually it's pretty fucking awesome xp

Surprisingly into tonite, it's a good single.

This meme unfortunately is stuck in my mind now... :/ You know, glad that jams is returning to music after his stint in the Trump administration.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/240/899/413.jpg

Tonite is great. Easily the best of the three songs out there.

He is kinda underrated as a vocalist. The ability to both hit the notes, switch falsetto off and on, and still sound like you have no idea what you're doing. That takes practice.

The vocalist thing is interesting because it's reminding me about how he would pick these very idiosyncratic references on each major release and really go to town on them. Specifically:

Mark E. Smith on the debut
Heaven 17/Bowie + Eno on 'Sound of Silver'

I'm not sure if there was some particular thing he was trying on the last one or now (or at least I haven't heard something obvious to me?)

I recommend Lizzy Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom oral history for any fans, there's a lot of LCD & DFA stuff in there. There's an amazing story about Murphy taking ecstasy for the first time.

yea I think he's underrated too. which is why I never bought into the "some unshaven schlub just decided to make a record" mystique. he tries to hide it but he's got legitimate vocal talent, given the sort of shouty and yelpy sort of music he's in

There were less heady reasons, too. The show at Madison Square Garden had been booked far in advance and the venue “didn’t think we were going to sell well,” Mr. Murphy said. “They were trying to get a big opener for us,” and suggested a nonsensical double bill with Big Boi from Outkast.

“My theory was, if I make it our last show, we’ll sell it out in two weeks,” he said. The show sold out in minutes. “It wasn’t a total lark, but it was a bit larky,” Mr. Murphy admitted. “But I like making decisions. I find it easy.”

this was pretty obvious but it's still something to hear him cop to it. publicity stunt confirmed.

also not sure why was Big Boi also a big pop star was "a nonsensical choice" as the two acts have shared stages many times since

just another plot by those evil music promoters to have you play a show with someone you massively respect

Why listen to Murphy's latest take on Harry Nilsson/Bowie/etc/etc when you can just listen to the original? These new songs are shit

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.

James Murphy on why Big Boi was a nonsensical choice:

One of the openers they suggested was Big Boi from OutKast. Why on earth would Big Boi open for us? Big Boi was in one of the biggest, most important hip-hop — no, one of the biggest and most important acts of all time. It didn’t make any sense.

It's almost as if that was the most likely reason. But hey, anything for a snark.

^^^ 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

maybe that’s why the later stuff hasn’t hit for me, I like my depressed introspection buried under a layer of yeahs

the lyrics might be good! the delivery is....not.

i think that

Oh I'm a reminder
The hobbled veteran of the disk shop inquisition
Set to parry the cocksure of men's sick filth
With my own late era middle-aged ramblings"

is a lift from

Just like I told ya
Prefers karaoka
Cheap shit half-dollar man
The sky calendar
Bar, home
Speculates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBOmAnhh6xk

or maybe another part. whut.

quite drink

The Rian Johnson directed video for "oh baby"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gIhrPGyu6U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pWaLlrhdgM

they sound completely out of ideas

Starts like a bad Le Tigre song

It looks like James Murphy is going to appear for the Q&A at tonight's NYFF premiere of White Noise.

I guess it's possible whatever he made for the film will work well within the context of the film. I always thought Dylan's score for Pat Garrett was actually good but close to useless as standalone listening (with "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" being a lone exception).

starts like a B52s song.