Average Metacritic score 85 (34 reviews, number 13 overall):

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/musicreview ... system.htm



LCD Soundsystem
DFA/Capitol
US release date: Feb. 15, 2005
rating: 5/5 (100)


Around this time last year, someone on a music web board was talking about the forthcoming Icarus Line album, The Penance Soiree. He asked if it was strange that he felt like he was listening to the album of the year for 2004 as early as mid-January. With file-sharing networks, the idea that a record is only heard after its official release date is of course laughable, yet it still feels weird to think that, here in January 2005, the self-titled debut by LCD Soundsystem will be the best album of the year.

I liked those early singles. You remember "Losing My Edge," with the shout-outs to all of our favorite underground bands. Lyrics like "The Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978" really said it all, didn't it? The irony was overwhelming, but for some reason it worked. It was retro, electro, old, and somehow completely new at the same time. I knew LCD's James Murphy was a talented motherfucker, but nothing would prepare me for how good the full-length would be.

And that's what I'm doing here, playing this album over and over again since I got it weeks ago. I'm not supposed to like this. Surely, it borrows too much from the past to be original. It will inevitably fan the flames of more '80s revivalists. Yet somehow, something this blatantly crass and in your face comes off as absolutely brilliant.

Even the track order is perfect. Start off with an ironic party anthem that loosens up the listener and sets the tone for the album ("Daft Punk is playing at my House"). Slow things down on track two with something chill but still subtly keeps the energy going ("Too Much Love"). On track three, give the listener something so direct they'll either love the album completely or quit while they're ahead, preferably with New Order-esque synths ("Tribulations"). By track four, let people know where you came from; feel free to make inadvertent nods to The Fall ("Movement"). And so on.

The latter half of LCD Soundsystem slows things down a bit with the Beatles-inspired clunker "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up" and the slightly annoying "On Repeat." But Murphy ends strong with the electro-heavy "Disco Infiltrator" and Eno-esque closer, "Great Release." And if that wasn't enough, the album comes packed with a bonus CD of all the previously released singles.

In the same way that Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes was an homage to Sonic Youth and other '80s underground favorites, LCD Soundsystem is also a tribute of sorts. To all of the great electronic and alternative artists that are finally getting their due (The Fall, Can, This Heat, Brian Eno, etc), this album is a direct product of their contributions. Only the very best can pay tribute without coming off as total poseurs. James Murphy has paid his dues for years and played an important role in bringing his musical heroes back into the popular consciousness. And while LCD Soundsystem is grounded in the past, quality and talent make it an album deserving to be listened to for years to come. Talk to me in a few months, but I think this one won't be beat.

reviewer: jean-pierre

Not heard a single note.

I like this album. I especially think "Losing My Edge" is an awesome song.

This is actually one concert I regret missing this year. It funny because I have owned this two CD album for the longest time and think it’s one of the best from this year. It however is vastly underplayed because it is a CD when those damn MP3s get more action. I love rocking out, dancing or cleaning to this album up very loud, will end up right around number five for 2005.

"But I'm never as tired as when I'm waking up, but it feels like I'm love again"

you should feel blessed. trust me.

I like it, but it's uneven. "Daft Punk..." is good, and "Tribulations" is fantastic.

Not down with Fanny or LCD! I think when I finally heard the nine or ten new tracks on the full length, I was let down. Tribulations was out awhile before this came out, so there wasn't anything too new and exciting on this disc. I'm curious what their new stuff will sound like. The 2nd disc that came with the album is where I think they excel. I've caught them live a few times the last two years and have never been disappointed.

<-------- Blessed.

So true, Disc 2 is flat out phenomenal.

i haven't heard any 80s revivalist stuff that tops it. not a great album, but a really really good one. in my opinion the best party record of the year, hands down.

it is over rated...i still own it....but its over rated

This is Brilliant:

"Losing My Edge"

Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from France and from London.
But I was there.

I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.

To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.

But I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.

I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City. I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band. I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids. I played it at CBGB's. Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.

I've never been wrong.
I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.

I'm losing my edge.

I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Every great song by the Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit - 1985, '86, '87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.

I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.

But have you seen my records?

This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra, Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra, Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc, Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force ("just hit me"!), Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.

You all know what you really want. (x15)

edit: bold for bands

Groovy fun. Tres good.

I like this. Great variety of stuff. "Losing My Edge" is hilarious.

Am I correct in thinking Disc 1 is new material and Disc 2 is basically a singles history?

It's OK but its been massively over hyped.

I don't mind groups having influences or even a retro sound but when your basically stealing tunes note for note and hoping a bunch of hipster kids born in 1987 won't have heard the original material, well that kind of grates a little.

not in the least.

when you're exposed to some of the more creative and genre bending techno, electronic, dance music as i am [not bragging here, just saying], you can tell the difference between absolute shite and the good stuff.

when you're not exposed, you think that this type of shit is "phenomenal".

Pretty much how I feel. It's a solid party record that I've listened to a bunch, but it's nothing particulary new. "Your City's A Sucker" or whatever it's called is fucking awesome though. I definitely listen to the singles disc more than the album.

I've listened to some of those techno/dance music mixes you've put up over time and they do nothing for me. I know we both felt the Modeselektor though, so I give you that. I like the fun in Fannypack and LCD and I feel a lot of dance music just isn't that. I feel I'm pretty exposed to what I want to hear. (done defending myself)

fair enough. Modeselektor are much different than FP and LCD though. There's original lines, it's fun, and pushes the envelope quite a bit. The difference is....they're not cheesy, and they're not full of re-hash.

also, i don't think i've ever posted a dance mix. idm/ambient maybe, but not typical dance music.

OR you like to sit around and think you're ahead of the music game by listening to mind-numbingly boring minimal dance music while trashing groups like LCD Soundsystem because they aren't cool enough with other losers who listen to the same shit.

once again, you're mindless.

LCD happen to be very popular not only with the majority of my friends, but also in the dance music community.

but i wouldn't expect you to know that, because you're clueless about everything else.

You got a stalker, dude. He loves you in that 'little boy who's mean to the one he secretly likes" kind of way.

haha,

I love it. Best album of this style that I've ever heard. Admittedly (Dalen) I haven't heard many.

Yea, thats correct.