By Don Allred
DFA Records producer/LCD Soundsystem leader James Murphy thrives on extremes, and seems unafraid of being tagged as a “punk-funk” novelty guy. No doubt he knows that the idea of rock music that you can actually dance to (or want to dance to, and maybe think you’re dancing to, and not care if anybody’s laughing at your attempts) will always be a novelty to some, no matter how far back its history goes. (There was a reason young Elvis Presley was often referred to, and sometimes addressed, as “Pelvis.”)
By 1996, Murphy and former Les Savy Fav drummer Pat Mahoney were DJing and playing together, using volume and beats, trying to get jaded indie rock kids to loosen up, and lose themselves in dance. Actually, of course, kids were dancing to techno, and there was about to be another ska revival, and even a swing revival, whoopee! But that was not what the co-founders of LCD Soundsystem had in mind.
Their sound, a lean but dense mix of thrashy old rock and trashy older disco, was just familiar and just obscure enough to tantalize audiences, at least when they tried it again in 2000, after Murphy started DFA Records with former trip-hop producer Tim Goldsworthy, and LCD Soundsystem became a full-fledged band. And here’s where the mixing of humor and seriousness comes in: Murphy knows how to make room for both, just by playing it straight enough (“just,” but he’s got a rare sense of balance). LCD’s “Losing My Edge” is a parody of aging hipsters, but the guy in the song also comes off as a sympathetic figure. As Tammy Wynette proclaimed The KLF, in words they wrote for her, he’s “ justified and ancient, “ holding onto being proud of being old enough to (claim to) remember trance-jam pioneers Can’s first concert—“In Cologne,” the background singers reverently assert. And on LCD’s recent single, “North American Scum,” Murphy sadly acknowledges the way Americans are seen in much of the world today, before LCD keyboardist Nancy Whang turns Murphy’s confession into a yelping confirmation, “We are, North! Am-er-ican!” Both songs might well make you shake your fists, and booty, along with their nerdy protagonists. This kind of sympathetic attraction also applies to the frankness of his more abrasive, challenging lyrics, and to “Someone Great,” which, with out over- or underplaying, could just as well be about the death of a relationship, as the death of a person. It’s not a dance song, but it moves along like feelings do. (Like the sleepless, injustice-counting narrator of “Tribulations” says, “At least something’s happening!”)
Like his words, Murphy’s music is accessible, but both follow their own case logic, Remakes and remixes (like the ones done by guests on LCD’s recent download-only EP, A Bunch of Stuff, or Murphy’s own “Onanistic Dub” mix of “North American Scum”) surely can seem superfluous, showing just how well-matched all parts of the original tracks are. The better tracks, anyway. The instrumental title suite of LCD Soundsystem’s forthcoming disc, 45: 33 (commissioned by Nike, and available since 2006 as a download), takes about thirty minutes to get free of a monotonous disco beat, but Part Five ripples as deeply and lightly as all music should, and Part Six leaves all beats behind, for a heavenly row of shapely tones. Excellent previously UK-only single tracks “Freak Out/Starry Eyes” and “Hippie Priest Burn-Out” also appear on this collection, evidently because Murphy knows that heaven is not quite enough. Don Allred
LCD Soundsystem will open for Arcade Fire at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion on Friday night. Tickets are $40.00.
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