This Is Happening

"Just laugh it off, its better than it seems"

So, I decided to review something a little more foreign to me, LCD Soundsystem, a band I had never heard of.  However, their album "This Is Happening" (2010) released May 18th got great reviews, so I thought I would give it a shot.  At the head of LCD Soundsystem is James Murphy, a musician, producer, and co-founder of dance-punk label DFA Records.  Supposedly, "This Is Happening" is Murphy's last album as LCD Soundsystem, so I guess it was a good time for me to find him.  LCD Soundsystem has received overwhelming support in the UK and is beginning to become more popular in the US, especially with "This Is Happening" breaking into the Billboard Top 10 (after looking on the Billboard site to see where he was at as of now, I noticed he dropped down to #58; something more terrifying was that Justin Bieber is at #2... someone please end this).

LCD Soundsystem does a good job with their album in successfully synthesizing an electronic-dance feel with more punk vocals.  At first I was really unsure as to how I was supposed to listen to them.  When I listen to Daft Punk or Ratatat, I go into it with a certain mindset; when I listen to Sum 41 or Blink 182, I go into it with a certain mindset.  For LCD Soundsystem, I had to merge those two different mindsets.  The minute I started getting into a funky dance beat, punk vocals would jump in a catch me off guard and vice versa.  I had to get used to this because originally it upset me because I would really dig the instrumentals/vocals and then the added punk vocals/dance beat would totally throw me off.

With that out of the way, I can easily say that, once wrapping my mind around it, LCD Soundsystem has a very successful hybrid of electronica-dance and punk.  One of the most successful of these hybrids is "One Touch," which features a very technological, trance-like beat accompanied by very monotone, droned out vocals.  However, the punk hops in once the chorus hits with Murphy chanting "One touch is never enough/ You gave the opening, opening/ One touch is never enough/ People who need people, to the back of the bus" with female vocals shouting "One touch!" at the same time he chants it.  The vocals really compliment the back track and although Murphy's vocals almost sound like Mike Score, lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls, he manages to incorporate it well with the more contemporary dance track.  He keeps his chorus interesting as well, with variations on the phrase "People who need people, to the back of the bus."  

Unfortunately, where LCD Soundsytem is a melting pot of sound in certain songs, he seems to ruin the mood for other songs.  My favorite song on the album is his opener, "Dance Yrself Clean."  The track opens up with a very mellow beginning: light drumming and a very simple bass line.  Soft vocals eventually creep into the mix creating a very calm, relaxing, and serene sound; almost a hybrid of sounds found in Iron & Wine and Zero 7.  Murphy repeats the phrase "present company" throughout the song in lines such as, "Present company/ The best that you can find" and "Present company/ Makes me want to stay" translating to a very warm message.  However, around three minutes into the song, Murphy drops a very heavy synthesized beat with a drum machine.  The soft vocals transform into... well, the best way I can describe it is soft shouting; his voice is more strained, but he's not screaming.  Now, after listening to this song a few times, I expected it to come and it really does work with the song as a whole.  However, the first time I heard it, I was disappointed that he killed the amazing atmospheric sound he had setup in the first three minutes of his song.  While the song is almost nine minutes long, those first three are still what I wish I could hear more of.

LCD Soundsytem does this again in their second to last song "Throw."  The beat is awesome, one of the best dance beats I've heard in a long time.  Its really repetitive, but has enough variation to keep a listener interested and builds a lot of tension that dance listeners are always looking for.  Unfortunately, around six minutes into the song, Murphy starts screeching long held notes over the funky beat.  When I first heard this, I almost thought it was a joke because I imagine these vocals as how Towelie from South Park hears himself when he's high.  This is no exaggeration either, you need to hear this.  The vocals in this song are really annoying and don't fit the back beat at all; the bass line is so funky and the drums are quick and fun, but the vocals just sound like some guy who's drunk at karaoke.  On top of that, the notes are held way too long, some going for over 20 seconds; I highly doubt he holds those notes live, much to the appreciation of the audience, I'm sure.

Because I feel like I should give LCD SOundsystem a little bump before finishing off this review, I'll talk about another one of his more successful songs briefly.  "Pow Pow," again, has a good synthesis of dance beats and vocals.  Murphy essentially talks throughout the whole track with little actual singing.  However, all of this works together to create a very unique song that stands out from the rest of his album.  The talking vocals really make you want to listen and the catchy phrases and comparisons he makes within the lyrics (such as "You on the outside/ Me on the inside/ There's advantage to both" and "I have been untied/ And you are all cross-eyed/ There's advantages to each") really suck the listener in.  With all of his creative lyrics though, my favorite has to be "Three, we have a black president and you do not, so shut up, because you don't know shit about where I'm from that you didn't get from your TV," which is incredibly ballsy considering that a large portion of his audience is from the UK.

Overall, LCD Soundsystem has a great album.  The sounds Murphy creates by intertwining electronica-dance and punk are really interesting and its definitely worth a listen.  I would recommend either giving yourself about two hours to listen to this or try to listen to it in chunks.  The album as a whole is only eleven songs long, but takes up nearly eighty minutes (there are only two songs under four minutes long, most being around seven or eight).  I can safely say that after listening to "This Is Happening" I will be downloading more LCD Soundsystem at a later point in time.  The album is good and well deserved of the marks it has received, averaging a Metacritic score of 84.  I definitely enjoyed this album, but I think LCD Soundsystem is stretched a little too far vocally and needs to really try to settle within a few different vocals ranges instead of a different one for nearly every song.  I give it an 82/100.  Take a listen here.

Also, seriously... someone please stop Bieber.

EDIT:  I just realized that "Throw" is an exclusive track on iTunes and maybe the UK version of his album, as is another track, "Oh You (Christmas Blues)."  If anyone wants to listen to those tracks, let me know and I'll get them for you.