Future perfect
New York resident, James Murphy (LCD Soundsytem), also one half of the production team DFA (Death From Above), first came to prominence with his work on The Rapture’s "House of Jealous Lovers" single in 2002: a prodigious bass propelled punky jaunt with the production values of a club record and with its controls set firmly towards the heart of the pelvis. Skinny white boy funk had never sounded so good.
Following on from this he unleashed his first single "Losing my edge": an 8 minute broken funk excursion that drew its influences from the agitprop post-punk bands of the early eighties, the rhythms of Krautrock, the fluidity of disco and crucially the dance floor dynamics of acid house.
Lyrically it aimed a critical broadside at fickle scene followers, anal record geeks and modish musical elitists. With its roll call of oh so fashionable bands and a narrator hilariously attempting to out do everyone in the cool stakes to the point of insanity - "I used to work in the record store. I had everything before anyone. I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan. I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes. I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988." - it shone a light on the redundancy that pervades certain music circles and the levels people will stoop to compromise their own integrity just to look hip.
But this wasn’t just an outward bitter rant though, what made it beguiling was Murphy’s self awareness, he knew all too well where he fitted into the equation : the list of bands he cites obviously make up his record collection.
With a farcical inevitability it became a beacon call for every trucker hat wearing mulleted superior on the look out for the next big thing, and in the process making LCD the type of band that could easily have fitted into its own song.
A few more singles followed, accompanied by a slew of accomplished remixes and some blistering gigs, each helping to cement the reputation further, and building the kind of LP anticipation that would give music marketing drones feverish wet dream material for, well , all of 15 minutes.
“Daft punk is playing at my house” is a vigorous opening, combining a stabbing bass with intricate claps and cowbell. Lyrically it continues the themes from ‘Losing my edge”, with Murphy excitably yelping about the Parisian DJ duo performing at one of his parties...
“Too much love” is more sedate: a minimal house throb pervades with scatterings of percussion, leading up to a clattering drum finale.
“Tribulations” is a technoid pop workout with a twisting electrified bass and sprinklings of New Order style guitar. Murphy’s voice here is at its best, proving there is more to his vocal range than spoken monologues and boisterous shouty rants.
Next is the most recent single "Movement", a 3 minute burst of techno garage rock sung with the best Mark E Smith impression this side of a Camden drunk.
“On repeat” starts off with a plinky plonk one note groove and slowly manoeuvres itself into a surging incessant minimal stomp. Murphy here comes across like Malcom Mooney of Can with a blocked nose nasally spitting out lyrics: “here comes the new stylish creep, from every car in the street, on repeat”.
“Thrills” is probably the oddest track on the LP: a maladjusted mix of Rockabilly, Grime and Bangra with window rattling bass and sustained hisses’ and effects. At just under 4 minutes it’s far too short.
“Disco infiltrator” takes us back to the dance floor with the now customary handclap and cowbell combination, this time joined with droplets of electro pulses and wonky bass. Murphy’s cold also seems to have come back with a vengeance.
The two remaining tracks “Never as tired as when I’m waking up” and “Great release” detract slightly from the overall quality of the LP. The former is a workmanlike Lennon type ballad and the later a pastiche of Brian Eno “Here come the warm jets” era. Where on previous tracks influences were drawn upon and used in an original way so as not to sound like imitations, here they struggle under their weight.
The second disc collects the first 3 singles together and illustrates why they garnered so much interest to begin with. The aforementioned “Losing my edge” kicks things off in jerky fashion and raw vitality, threatening to collapse under its own dislocated momentum at any moment. “Yeah” starts of inconspicuously enough before mutating with layer upon layer of swarming analogue synths and unbridled brain melting acid riffs. Metal kids could thrash around to this if they were open minded enough. “Give it up” is more pop orientated and wields an insistent punchy morphing bass line that’s backed up by Murphy’s fiery vocal delivery. Whilst “Beat Connection” heads straight to the white heat centre of the dance floor: a perfect amalgamation of human and machine moving effortlessly in unison.
Someone once said that you shouldn’t have heroes just people you think you can better, LCD Soundsystem’s peak moments pull off this tricky feat. Murphy’s debut is an irrepressible success of influence cross- pollination and forward thinking.