James Murphy.... how can you do this to us....? what kind of sick pleasure do you get from dropping one of the best dance albums of the century on our laps, followed by the words "....last album by lcd soundsystem".
James Murphy is either a troubled genius or he is simply doing what sports stars never seem to achieve, and that is to go out at their peak. After the early success of the self titled album, followed by 2007's masterpiece Sound of Silver which spawned such top 10 tracks as 'Someone Great' and 'All My Friends', and the underrated 'New York, I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down', it must have seemed like mission-impossible for Murphy to go back and come up with a collection of new and fresh tracks.
The collection Murphy came up with (9 tracks at a total album length of just short of an hour) is nothing short of incredible. The album kicks off with a 9min aptly titled Dance yourself clean. If your not dancing, or atleast showing some form of bopping, then you have serious groove issues. The track is like an onion, built upon layers which Murphy slowly releases to you over the 9 minutes, although the real magic starts around the 3 minute mark when the synth sample board makes an entrance accompanied by Murphy's (very impressive) attempt at actually singing for once.
The next track is the radio-friendly 'Drunk Girls' which is the only track on the album shorter then 5.5 mins. Nonetheless its a party hit describing the activities of both drunk girls and boys. If you have a spare moment check out the video clip for that song, if features crazy pandas causing mayhem in a sound studio. The next track is the sexually-driven 'One Touch' which again has Murphy at the sample board, this track though does deliver some incredible metallic sounds. Listen for the 'metallic acoustic' at the end and you'll realise that ordered chaos can sound really cool.
'All I Want' has Murphy back on the mic, with a killer guitar riff as a backing. The signature sound in this song though is the electronic-beeps that begin half way through and progressively get louder and screechier as if signify that in all Murphy's manipulation of sound boards and computers, the sound still has a mind of its own. Next is 'I Can Change' which is the stand out track on the record. That statement alone should reflect the majesty of this song. The backing bass sound is just cool by definition of this song, although its repeated throughout the entire song, you'll be humming along with the beat in no time. Its evolution into a sci-fi-esqe beat in each chorus delivers an 'out-this-world-feel' to the track. Lastly the track is sung with some fantastic lyrics which seems to have Murphy drawing on some past pains... "love is a murderer......love is murderer, but if she calls you tonight everything will be alright".
The next track could have been split in two with the first 3 mins of 'You Wanted A Hit' acting more like an electronica transition between this and 'I Can Change'. When the track actually gets going it feels like a LCD classic with Murphy singing in syllables perfectly in synchronization with the backing beat. A really funked out 'guitar-radio dials' type riff busts out which seems out-of-place but then-again you couldn't imagine the song without. The song winds down with the exact same electronica sound that it started with as if to show the start and end of some fable.
'Pow Pow' is similar to 'Drunk Girls' in that if you're not dancing after 30 seconds there is something seriously wrong with the dance cortex in your brain. 'Somebodys Calling Me' has Murphy playing with a tricked out accordion in what is quite a dark track by comparison to it's predecessor. The final track (on the final LCD Soundsystem album.......) is titled 'Home'. I can't possibly think of a better name for the final track. The almost farewell-type feel to this track is quite melancholy, the backing beat is a mixture of of what sounds like a child's xylophone with a mean drum set. The track describes Murphy's journey into what he calls 'home', with lyrics such as 'if you're afraid of what you need....look around you, you're surrounded.....it won't get any better....until the night'.
No one review or blog can truly reflect, summarise, dissect, or evaluate LCD Soundsystem's last and greatest album. You need to listen to it from start to finish, have a breather, and hit play again, because like any truly great album, it isn't the individual tracks that make this album great, it is every moment of the 60-odd minute album, following on from another moment, and you guessed it, followed by another. All I can say is I haven't been this excited by an event since i was a kid at christmas time. May 31 can not get here any slower.
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