Album Review, Best Of 2010 (so far): LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

There has been much lauded praise extolled on LCD Soundsystem, or specifically ringleader James Murphy, beginning when their first album compiling three years of 12 inch singles burst onto the indie mainstream. Since then, Mr. Murphy has gained platinum card credibility and earned mountains of accolades from every arena of hipster culture. Their next effort Sound of Silver was arguably the best album of the last decade (my thoughts are given here). James Murphy also spent his time growing his record label DFA, remixing major artists and accepting a commission from Nike for an exercise mix. He is a man whose rising star has allowed him the luxury to cherry pick his professional direction and where his thoughts, tastes and opinions are read and re-read, respected and retweeted.

Early in 2010, LCD Soundsystem released their highly anticipated third (and, according to James Murphy, last) album This Is Happening. Each of it's nine tracks exudes the confidence of someone who knows exactly what he wants to do and the fussiness of someone who knows that a huge fanbase is listening very, very closely. The educated listener can connect the dots to figure out what influence Murphy and Co. were paying homage to on each particular track. In fact, it would be easiest to call This Is Happening "The Bowie Album". There are slight variations on this Thin White Duke theme. "Someone's Calling Me" is borderline plagiarism of Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing. The only piece missing from "I Can Change" and a Yaz single is Alison Moyet. Most of the other songs should hopefully garner Brian Eno the renaissance he deserves. For the most part, LCD Soundsystem is not only representing it's broad influences, it is pointing out that other bands should write songs this obsessively cool.

Admittedly, it took me awhile to fully enjoy this album. I wanted Sound Of Silver Part II and got instead James Murphy's Awesome Collection Of Vinyl. It took about three months to run through the process of wanting to dance, then sitting down to listen, then getting back up again to dance. It is a slow burn, but worth the deliberation. The best tracks from This is Happening are given below for your listening enjoyment.

Get LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening here.

LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change


LCD Soundsystem - Home


LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted A Hit