LCD Soundsystem

A project of producer James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem aims to merge punk and dance music.  Somehow, James Murphy effectively forged his project to become very listenable and catchy.  Hardly known in the United States, LCD Soundsystem has two albums that have been on the UK top 40.

However, I’d say that it might be an emerging sound in the USA.  I remember when my roommate, Sam, was playing Forza 2 early last spring; a dance beat lured me into asking more about it immediately after hearing it. It turns out it was “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” by LCD Soundsystem. It was funky, had a really dirty electronic feel, and a ridiculously satisfying cowbell solo.

Then in early May, after Grand Theft Auto 4 was released, I found out another LCD Soundsystem song was featured in one of the advertisements.  This time it was “Get Innocuous!” , a song with a groovy cooing synth playing along with an aggressive and maniacal riff. James sings along in a creepy, almost condescending tone as keyboard chords chime in.  I guess it was a good choice for the game, but I was also very excited to find out it was used.

I figured the madness of this coming up was over, but if you’re good at picking up on commentary you can see the irony of where this is going. Step Brothers was released in the end of July.  As much as I was laughing, I almost cheered “Huzzah!” when the title sequence actually began.  A familiar keyboard tone and a wooden block riff were introduced as Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly confront each other. I heard an “Uhhh, yeah yeah,” and knew it was “North American Scum”.  After the movie I must have talked my friends’ ears off about that happening, and all they wanted to do is reminisce about all of the hilarious one-liners.

Besides all of this pop culture exposure in the United States, some companies are seeing profitability in LCD Soundsystem. For example, Nike contracted a deal with James to compose a track for them. What came out of it was,”45:33: Nike Original Run,” an album originally released on iTunes only as a mix created to accompany jogging workouts.  Now referred to simply as “45:33,” the whole album is actually just one gapless track.  Honestly, it’s become my new favorite song to jam to.  It lures you in so subtlety, just a synth roll picking up speed, as it dies down a dance clap and keyboard jingle comes in. It takes almost 2 minutes for it to have any substance, but at that point you can’t help but bob your head.  It get really funky, after this you don’t care what comes next, yet it is all so appropriate and works as one long mix. James has actually taken various parts of this song and mastered them as songs on the album “Sound of Silver.”

I’m pretty sure you’ll be hearing more of LCD Soundsystem in the future, and I’m not going out on a limb at all coming to this conclusion. James is currently doing a lot of DJing, but according to the forums, he’s planning on working on another release soon.  If you haven’t already, give LCD Soundsystem a listen, and I think you’ll be pleased with the decision.