LCD Soundsystem

/wiki/LCD Soundsystemcreator

LCD Soundsystem was an NYC-based sort of band thing that was the project of James Murphy, who plays most, if not all instruments on the records. For the sake of the sanity of this article, the project will be referred to as a band so the word "they" will be used.

They got their start in 2002 when Murphy released a handful of singles that got decent radio airplay on underground stations. After these successes he got a few musicians to collaborate with him, wrote a Self-Titled Album and LCD Soundsystem was born. Then, in 2007 Sound of Silver was released to critical acclaim, appearing on many year-end and decade-end album charts. Then finally Murphy announced a possible end to the project, with a "final" album titled This Is Happening being released. Once again, the critics drooled and the album found itself on more lists. Their Out with a Bang final concert, which among other extravagances had the highly influential 80's Post-Punk band Liquid Liquid as an opening act and the Arcade Fire singing backup vocals, proved to everyone that James Murphy was actually ending the project.

Their music is part of the movement in indie music known as "dance punk". However, they are probably one of the bands that come closer to the "dance" side of that subgenre than with the "punk" aspect. Strangely, despite Murphy's vocals lacking the snarl of the other artists in the subgenre, it still works and qualifies.

Murphy writes ninety percent of the music himself but normally brings in "guest" musicians to play everything out during recording. Every now and then he records on his own as well, pulling off an I Am the Band image. He's seen on stage with his fellow colleagues as well as by himself with just his synthesizer, so whether or not those other people are considered "part of the band" still sparks debate between fans.

The band are known for Murphy's distinctive voice as well as the clever wordplay involved in their lyrics ("Drunk girls know that love is an astronaut / It comes back but it's never the same," for example).

LCD Soundsystem's best-known songs are "All My Friends," "North American Scum," "Drunk Girls," and "Daft Punk is Playing At My House."

Discography:

Studio Albums:

  • LCD Soundsystem (2005)
  • Sound of Silver (2007)
  • This Is Happening (2010)

EPs, Live Albums, and Remix Albums

  • Introns (Remix album, 2006)
  • 45:33 EP (2006)
  • A Bunch of Stuff (Remix EP, 2007)
  • Confuse the Marketplace EP (2007)
  • 45:33 Remixes (Remix album, 2009)
  • The London Sessions (Live album, 2010)
LCD Soundsystem provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Album Title Drop - "Sound of silver talk to me" in the title track to Sound of Silver
  • Anti-Love Song - "Time To Get Away."
  • Audience Participation Song - "All My Friends," "Us V Them," "Watch the Tapes," among others.
  • Auto-Tune - Averted. Despite it being Electronic Music written after the year 2000, there is not a single moment Auto-Tune is used.
  • Bolero Effect - Quite often, but notably "North American Scum."
  • Broken Record - Several. "Yeah" has, well "Yeah." "Get Innocuous" has "You will normalize / Don't it make you feel alive?" "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up" has "But not with you / I keep on telling myself it's true."
  • Call-and-Response Song - "Watch the Tapes," "Drunk Girls," "North American Scum."
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster - The self-titled album, with "Too Much Love" and "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up" between a number of high-powered uplifting dance songs.
  • Chorus-Only Song - "Pow Pow."
  • Cool Old Guy - James Murphy was in his mid-30's when he started LCD Soundsystem, far older than most indie rock artists releasing their first album.
  • Cover Version - "Bye Bye Bayou," originally by Alan Vega of Suicide, recorded for Record Store Day.
    • The Harry Nilsson song "Jump Into the Fire" at their final show ever at Madison Square Garden.
  • Dancing Is Serious Business
  • Epic Rocking - "All My Friends" and "You Wanted A Hit" are two of their longer songs, but many of their songs tend to go past the 6-minute mark.
    • Over 3/4 of the songs on This Is Happening are above six minutes.
    • "45:33" deserves special mention, all six parts clock in at a total of 46 minutes.
  • Follow Your Heart - "All I Want," "All My Friends."
  • Friends Rent Control - Inverted in "North American Scum": "New York's the greatest if you get someone to pay the rent."
  • Hollywood Pudgy - James Murphy, according to "Movement".
  • I Am the Band - See above.
  • Inaction Video - The video for "Drunk Girls" hangs a lampshade on this trope. A low budget was given to a bunch of people to buy whatever costumes and props they wanted in order to use any means necessary to distract and make the band screw up while they were calmly performing, a notable difference from the usual Inaction Video where the band doesn't acknowledge their surroundings.
    • Played straight with "All My Friends."
  • "I Want" Song - "All I Want," of course.
  • List Song - "Losing My Edge."
  • Long Title - "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up," "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down."
  • Love Nostalgia Song - "All I Want."
  • Lyrical Cold Open - "Watch the Tapes," "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," "Sound of Silver," "Drunk Girls".
  • Lyric Swap - "I believe in waking up together" becomes "I believe in waiting out the weather" during the last chorus of "Drunk Girls."
  • Minimalistic Cover Art - LCD Soundsystem
  • Motor Mouth - "Pow Pow," "Losing My Edge."
  • Nice Guys Finish Last - Inverted in "Losing My Edge": "I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent. And they're actually really, really nice."
  • Non-Appearing Title - "45:33."
  • Ode to Intoxication - "Drunk Girls" can be seen as this.
  • Perishing Alt Rock Voice - Thankfully averted.
  • Perma-Stubble - James Murphy, likely unintentionally.
  • Precision F-Strike - "If I could fuck you here tonight" from "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up," "You don't know shit about where I'm from" and "what's it called? Oh, fuck it" from "Pow Pow," "Who has put up with all of your shit" from "All I Want."
  • Politically Correct - The record label James Murphy owns, Death From Above Records, was changed post-9/11 because it was probably not a good idea for a label based in New York City to be called that. It's now just "DFA Records."
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis! - "Gil! Scott! Heron!" ("Losing My Edge")
  • Rockstar Song -
    • "Watch the Tapes."
    • "All My Friends" can be interpreted as a bittersweet, nostalgic variant.
  • Self-Titled Album - LCD Soundsystem, natch.
  • Shout-Out -
  • Single-Stanza Song - "Sound Of Silver."
  • Tin Can Robot - The "Home" video.
  • Title-Only Chorus - "Yeah", "Pow Pow"
  • Word Salad Lyrics - "Pow Pow"
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