I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t clue everyone in to the greatest indie music secret out there: LCD Soundsystem.

If you like your dance/indie-rock music fun, clever, ironic and somewhat tongue-in-cheek (Yes, PLEASE! Sign me up!), then LCD is for you. And if you’re a geek that just likes to shake it, you’ll find plenty to love about NYC’s hippest dance-rock artist. The band is part Talking Heads, part David Bowie, part Cake and part New Order. Yeah, that’s a retro-heavy list of influences tossed into a modern sensibility.

Soundsystem is the brainchild of James Murphy - an overweight, hairy music nerd (surely no personal connection there) who once moonlighted as a DJ until people caught on to just how brilliant his remixes are. In 2002, he released the snob-rock anthem, “Losing My Edge,” chronicling the rise and fall of an indie record store clerk who “had everything before anyone.” (I’m looking at YOU, Schoolkids Records!)

He followed that up with a brilliant 2005 self-titled release featuring “Daft Punk is Playing at my House” - for my money, the best dance song of the last decade. “Tribulations” was also a minor hit.

Last week, the follow-up - Sound of Silver - was released to thunderous critical acclaim, and for good reason. The album is less dancy and more cohesive than the first album, but no less clever. And for the first time, Murphy writes songs around feelings instead of soundbites. First single “North American Scum” is smashing, but it’s a little worn by this point.

“Someone Great” is the pinnacle of his achievements thus far - a quiet, drony ode to a lost loved one that makes the specifics of grief universal:

“The worst is all the lovely weather
I’m stunned it’s not raining
The coffee isn’t even bitter
Because, what’s the difference?”

The rest of the album hangs in equal parts heart and silliness. The title track plays with late-70s Bowie vocals and a ridiculous repeated refrain. Album opener “Get Innocuous!” spreads its groove across five minutes of analog-synth madness. And “Watch the Tapes” meditates (not too hard) on the cult of indie-rock stardom.

Okay - so this blog has gotten music heavy. I can’t help it if there’ve been some great albums coming out this year.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.