Review Summary: Punky dance. Thats right.
Dance music reached its international peak in the 80s, when everything a dance artist would do woul be instant money. Hell, KISS and David Bowie each released dance albums in the 80s, and with that kind of support (KISS's international fame, and Bowie's reputation as a critic's darling.), how would anyone fail? But dance is going on strong today, but in hundreds of sub-genres with different artists making stages towards supremacy in each sub-genre. But while Amon Tobin, the Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, and Nine Inch Nails may of ruled the 90s with the slinkiest beats and the spaciest rhythms, dance's real comeback will come in the 21st century, and LCD Soundsystem is leading the way.
Don't believe me? Listen: dance has recieved such an amazing reputation from indie publications in recent years, and with mainstream perodicals becoming more and more indie by the second (Rolling Stone, SPIN), this dance thing is sure to catch on. LCD Soundsystem is leading the way because they're, or he's, simply the best electronica and the most hyped artist in dance today. And while James Murphy, the ONLY dude of LCD Soundsystem and a co-founder of DFA Records, may seem like an unlikely person to breakthrough an increasingly obscure genre, his beats are sure as hell not going to fail.
LCD Soundsystem's second album, Sound Of Silver, begins with the slinkiest beat of the whole album, with the epic 7-minute "Get Innocuous!" starts off the album with Murphy using his Let's Dance-era Bowie voice to the max over a synthesizer lick that can't fail. But it's the next track that will rule the airwaves: "Time To Get Away" has an equally catchy beat, and has a much more reasonable length. But most of the nine songs here surpass the 7-minute mark, taking the dance music a bit further with guitar licks and intricate drum patterns, and LCD Soundsystem's punk roots shine freely.
But if you want to get into dance, it's much easier to start with LCD Sundsystem than trying to tackle Amon Tobis on your first try. If you don't want to be alienated by the genre, start with LCD: the Nine Inch Nails-meets-Modust Mouse rhymes are a much easier and less compromising listen. But you couldn't say that about the first album, and that's because LCD Soundsystem has matured greatly, with less silly lyrics, and Murphy's new album is dance in the vein dance is supposed to be played: with a hell of a lot of fun. So while some of LCD Soundsystem's contemporaries are too distant from the mainstream, trying to make the "perfect" album by piling on strings, guitars, and synths, Murphy keeps it devilishly simple, and succeeds. Time to lead the revolution.
