LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (Top 46 SMASH!)

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SLANT


LCD Soundsystem
Sound Of Silver
by Eric Henderson

omething happened in between James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem and Sound Of Silver. My hunch, and the age-specific lyrics of "Watch The Tapes" appear to back me up, is that I listened to many of the singles that made up the first album's true muscle (i.e. the collected early singles on the bonus disc, including "Losing My Edge") on the winning side of age 25, and now meet his latest work as a waning twentysomething, becoming wearily cognizant of the "get out of jail free" card that is generational angst. A few years ago, LCD Soundsystem seemed a refreshingly synthetic conceit in lo-fi drag during pounding non-songs like "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House." With one major exception, all of Sound Of Silver continues in exactly the same vein—a live drum set approximating Thunderpuss four-on-the-floor, rhythm guitar lines like back when The Clash could still knock boots with Johnny Hammond in a Loft DJ set, Murphy belting his sparse hooks with the sort of gusto that lets you know he doesn't mean a word. The actual songwriting may even be better this time around, complete with what sounds like cunning musical quotes of Kraftwerk's "The Robots" and The Winners' "Get Ready For The Future."

Which makes it all the more disappointing that the album, as it flees further and further from the propulsive funk of "Get Innocuous" until ending in the self-righteous, passive-aggressive bile of "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," seems intent on fleeing from the Sound Of Sincerity. Why is it that every techy hybrid act can't find it in themselves to trust the stalwart reliables—the 808 or the Moog? Why do they instead opt for the transparent, forced stunt instrumentation that results in interludes punctuated with Fisher Price xylophone (which, in this case, sabotage what might've been the album's warmest, most enveloping cut, "Someone Great")? Murphy's willfully pretentious métier, his intentionally inadequate lyrics, and his monotonous sequencing expose a genuine fear of dance. Far from bringing dance music to audiences that might not otherwise appreciate it, LCD Soundsystem is the perfect soundtrack for anyone afraid someone out there might have a genuine emotional investment in "stupid music."

Great dance music is almost always blithely ignorant of irony. The only thing more incessant than the bass kick bounce is its unchecked sensualism, and no rattled-off list of bitch house classics is going to put a chink in the collective good vibes of Deee-Lite, Nuyorican Soul, and an entire chapel of gospel house. "Love Is The Message," remember? So the old gray club ain't what she used to be. Buck up. As Prince sang in "1999," "we could all die any day," and making air quotes with your fingers looks pretty ridiculous out there on the dance floor…at any age.

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FILTER 27

LCD Soundsystem Remixed: Sounds Like Silver

The team behind "Always Outsiders, Never Outdone," the unofficial Prodigy remixed album, and "Flip The Switch," the unofficial Chemical Brothers remixed bootleg, have turned their attention to LCD Soundsystem.

Titled "Sounds Like Silver" the album is a remixed version of the new LCD Soundsystem's album, "Sound Of Silver," which is in stores now. Just like the previous bootlegs, "Sounds Like Silver" features remixes and reinterpretations by British, as well as international undgerground producers and artists.

The album is free to download (ZIP archive or a single torrent), but the folks behind the project would like you to donate either to Oxfam or Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, as well as support LCD Soundsystem by buying the original album.


Format: Digital download
Label: N/A (Unofficial bootleg)
Release date: Out now

Tracklist:

01. Get Innocuous (Geek Chic's Harm-Free Retouch)
02. Time To Get Away (ATOM's Exit Stage Left Mix)
03. North American Scum (Dunproofin's Not From England Either Mix)
04. Someone Great (Shokking Shokkaboy Remix)
05. All My Friends (AMIGAMAN Remix)
06. Us vs Them (Go Home Productions Remix)
07. Watch The Tapes (Team9's Excursion On The Version)
08. Sound Of Silver (McSleazy Remix)
09. London, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down (Hearing Double & JCB Soundsystem)


Update: You can download the album (including covers) via DivShare here.

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www.metacritic.com/music/artists/lcdsoundsystem/soundofsilver
88/100

!

[joker]

^ Wow, really strong reviews. That score's good enough to take over the #1 spot for 2007.

[oscillations.]

And with 18 reviews, it's not really fair to say it will drop considerably. It might actually maintain something close to that score.
When it leaked back in November, I d/led about 4 of the tracks & was impressed by them. I've turned a deaf ear to it since then, so I can enjoy the official unveiling of the album this Tuesday, unjaded.

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L.A. Times review

LCD Soundsystem
"Sound of Silver"
(DFA/EMI)


by: Ann Powers

JAMES MURPHY, foreman of the New York electro wrecking crew LCD Soundsystem, is a kind of clubland Lenny Bruce. In songs concocted from whatever's been spilled on the dirty dance floor since punk first went nightclubbing around 1980, Murphy yelps in the voice of a late-night party crasher, smacking the "in" crowd — post-post-punks, aging club kids, jaded Brooklynites — with observations that entice and insult. He seems as if he's going off the rails, but the balance he maintains between arrogance and chagrin is as tight as a good punch line.

The satirist's challenge is to stay on that window ledge without plunging into irrelevance or reckless crudity. On "Sound of Silver," the follow-up to LCD's 2004 breakthrough, Murphy succeeds by stretching in two directions — finding a new musical center, and showing his humanity beyond the laughs.

Brian Eno currently is Murphy's favorite sonic muse. The shiny-headed genius of hybrid pop has long factored into the LCD soundscape, but here his influence abounds.

The first track, "Get Innocuous," is practically a tribute to the Talking Heads-Eno collaboration "I Zimbra" — it updates that polyrhythmic wake-up call with a snotty, electro-clash female voice chanting, "You can't normalize / Don't it make you feel alive," a phrase equally applicable to sound and nervous systems.

On this cut and throughout "Sound of Silver," Murphy taps into Eno's deep tranquillity, the whimsical calm at the center of his songs, organizing their strange surfaces.

Eno-esque cool comes from understanding that the artist's fatal motivation to play God will always be flummoxed by chance. Murphy, wedding rock roughness to the smoother palette of dance music, invokes this insight by seeking out elements that aggravate as much as they please.

The processed piano that holds "All My Friends" hostage before a kick drum declares this a normal pop song; the off-kilter falsetto that battles with Murphy's flatter intonations in "Time to Get Away"; the title track's queasy dynamics: They startle enough to force a dancer to misstep, or make a listener squirm in her seat.

Murphy uses this subtle, jarring effect to keep his songs from being just one thing; the funny ones always have a dark edge, and the downers gleam with beauty. Wisecracks still abound — "North American Scum," the fist-pumping rant about cultural tensions on the international dance scene, makes fun of the mimes of Europe and the uptight parents of the USA.

But there's also the tenderness of "Someone Great," a detailed account of grieving over a dead friend. The keyboard line that starts this elegy throbs like a hard fact that can't be reversed, and as Murphy sings about his regrets — that the sky weren't so blue, that he will move on — other elements build, every one slightly abrasive, adding up to something beautiful. It's a perfect metaphor for the off-kilter daze we call consciousness, carrying us through this cruel, wonderful life.

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Philadelphia Inquirer review

LCD Soundsystem
Sound of Silver[/size]
(Capitol ***1/2)

LCD Soundsystem main man James Murphy refines his retro-'80s electro attack on Sound of Silver, a twitchy, inventive record that comes out on Tuesday and will undoubtedly keep the indie kids gyrating throughout 2007. Is there anything on it as insidiously catchy as LCD's signature tune, "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House"?
Sound of Silver's "North American Scum" fills those dancing shoes nicely, as it locomotes along relentlessly and Murphy muses on America's current reception in European countries where the clubs stay open all night and "the buildings are old and you have lots of mimes."
That's the highlight, but Murphy's songwriting and consistently surprising production give momentum to even mid-tempo tracks like "Someone Great." Sometimes Murphy's robo-vocals can be hard to take, even when writing astute lyrics about, say, silly nostalgia for adolescence, as he does on the trance-groove title cut. But he bares his soul most effectively on the closing "New York, I Love You," a winning urban valentine. It's the postmodern update to Sinatra's "New York, New York" that Brooklyn hipsters have been waiting for.

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GIGWISE

LCD Soundsystem- 'Sounds Of Silver' (DFA)
Released 12/03/07
"James Murphy and gang have ditched their affiliation with droll narratives and grown a set of long experimental feelers..."



by Gill Ripley

With LCD Soundsystem, their trademark style has become known as a beat driven jaunt down the electro-funk pop lane. 'Sounds Of Silver' demonstrates how in such a short amount of time, James Murphy and gang have ditched their affiliation with droll narratives and grown a set of long experimental feelers. They seem to have cut the ties with their long serving cowbell. Well, almost.. It all starts with the excitingly dark ‘Get Innocuous’. With a synth beat to shake the belly of an ale drinking sloth, its power surges give a brilliant indication for a sturdy and emotive album. Murphy has found an electrifying charge with his chanting and as the synths progress and beats emerge, it really feels like a new wave has hit LCD smack in the face. Quick cut to ‘Time to Get Away’ and they are back.

The rhythmic plod of ‘Beats On Repeat’ emanates the feeling that the cheeky LCD are still kicking and will yelp a song to make us grin. It’s not all about smiling however, and their satirical jibe at feelings towards our pals across the Atlantic is made clear in ‘North American Scum’. As a band that have to cope with being assumed of as English, they poke fun at preconceptions about what it means to be an American. The journey continues into the fantastic retro sequencing of ‘Someone Great’ featuring vocals with the filthy charm of Louis XIV, before dropping us in the middle of a great big happy tune in the shape of ‘All My Friends’- a definite dancefloor song for clambering all over your mates to.

The definitive highlight of the album and the epic equivalent of ‘Yeah’ is ‘Us V. Them’. They have dusted off the cowbells for a rapturous stomp along for a gloriously long jamming session. Less than deviant from their old album, it is nonetheless brilliant to hear something that casts us back to their debut festival heyday. ‘Sound Of Silver’ seems to be overpowered by the rest of their offerings so far, but is rich and bassy, and has a hypnotic lyric to wind the album back down to the ground again. The whole affair signs off with ‘New York I Love You’, a tale of Murphy’s love/hate relationship with his home town. Despite its depictions of grime and the rat race, it sounds like a dishevelled Kermit The Frog, reminiscing alone against a cardboard skyline.

'Sounds Of Silver' is an album of playful growth, with nonetheless strong social and political undertones. Its difficult to find an album that stands up to such a strong debut, but LCD have done it here and it is defiantly one to have for a fantastic all round listen.

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URB

LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
Capitol/DFA

The Pied Piper of dance rock leads us on to higher heights



We always knew that James Murphy was too ambitious to be content just teaching the rock kids to dance. Beneath the schlubby exterior and cynical disposition lurked the soul of a true dance godhead. A Larry Levan in waiting. An American Moroder. And on LCD Soundsystem’s second full-length album, Murphy shoots for the moon, and not just the one with the coke spoon at Studio 54.
Dance music has always been about stealing genius, and Murphy is unapologetic, sacking from no less than himself on opener “Get Innocuous,” which lifts the drumbeat from “Losing My Edge,” the LCD debut that indoctrinated the scene like dance-punk’s own “Times They Are A-Changin’.” But Murphy digs deeper, borrowing a Bowie-esque chorus on the stomping “North American Scum,” a Human League bass-synth on the chiming “Someone Great” and a Bryan Ferry vocal effect on the murky title track. In fact, the vocals are where Murphy has developed the most, trading in his Mark E. Smith yelp for various crooning styles. The lack of holler (and any fuzzed-out bass lines) means that there are no obvious party starters found on SOS, but when the pendulum swings the opposite direction on the piano ballad “New York I Love You But You’re Freaking Me Out,” Murphy proves that his sardonic lyrics don’t need an extroverted shout to be effective. But if his scorn for the NYC scene that his own DFA label spawned is true, singing “Take me off your mailing list/for kids who think it still exists, ” Murphy still offers ample evidence that the party is still getting started. Just maybe not in Williamsburg.+

Reviewer: Joshua Glazer

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New York Magazine article (3 pages)

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EYE WEEKLY

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
Sound of Silver
DFA/EMI

It made perfect sense for James Murphy to adorn his 2005 LCD Soundsystem debut with a picture of a disco ball – not just because he loves the nightlife and loves the boogie, but because his sardonic electro-funk commentaries hold up a mirror to the hipsters who are dancing along to his every move. But on Sound of Silver, Murphy's more comfortable holding up that mirror to himself, coming to terms with loveless romances, fading friendships and the fact that he's a thirtysomething striving to, as the title track intones, “feel like a teenager.”

And he plays the part so well, acting out his post-punk Peter Pan complex in fierce hits of futurist nostalgia. Dynamite opener “Get Innocuous” finds Murphy switching his house guests from Daft Punk to Kraftwerk, before a Berlin-bound Eno and Bowie crash the chorus; “All My Friends” is a thrilling post-rave sunrise anthem that's pure Neu! Order; and the Can-style analog-synth ticks that open “North American Scum” trigger a formidable motorik-rock charge that owes not a little to Pete Shelley's new-wave nugget “Homosapien.” But in calling himself “scum,” Murphy is really trying to undercut America's notorious superiority complex by owning up to the lack of quality Stateside after-hours clubbing. “We don't blame the Canadians,” he offers as consolation, probably because deep down, he knows the real reason why we can't stay out late: we're getting old, dude. And that's OK: if all mid-life crises turn out to be as much fun as Sound of Silver, nothing's going to touch us in these golden years.

STUART BERMAN

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DUSTED

Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: Sound of Silver
Label: Capitol

At this point, James Murphy is a man who needs little, if any, introduction. Having staked his reputation as one-half of the esteemed DFA production team, Murphy sealed his place in the then-nascent dance/post-punk revival of the early aughts either behind the consoles of some of the movement’s best tracks or as the creative polymath at the head of them. To be sure, when the morass of millennial disco gets dusted off again in a couple of decades, his song “Losing My Edge” will stand as one of the rightful high water marks of all that was said and done in that field.

Though the series of LCD Soundsystem singles that led up to his 2005 full-length debut were models of genre-checking efficiency and self-effacing humor, something failed to translate in the long-playing format. Though LCD Soundsystem bumped quite ferociously at times, as a whole it never hung together, presenting a ragtag patchwork of name-check nods and fluent beats instead of a solid end-to-end album.

Sound of Silver, Murphy’s follow-up effort (not counting the Nike-commissioned track 45:33 that dropped last year in a bizarre fit of corporate cross-promotional bravado), revels in the same extended beat-scapes and sly genre-nods that have thus far permeated the whole of the man’s career. And yet the album addresses each and every shortcoming that made Murphy’s debut less than the epoch-defining event it should have been. Make no mistake – the beats are still rigid, dabbling in taut funk and squelching electro as much as snotty punk moves and glorious polyrhtyhms. These nine songs, however, ring with a clarity of purpose and a true intent that was previously altogether lacking, presenting a far more cohesive image of Murphy and his many strengths. More than anything else, for the first time it becomes obvious that there’s a real human heart that beats somewhere beneath Murphy’s keyboards and drum machines.

LCD Soundsystem tracks have always examined the changing landscape of pop music, filtering whole eras worth of sounds and styles onto distinctly modern platters. Rather than present these reflections again as a calculated style, though, Murphy’s lyrical concerns begin to reflect more deeply thought and felt sensations. In many ways these tracks strike as an obvious reaction against the media-crush that surrounded all-things DFA for a few brief moments during the crew’s inception phase, as songs like “Get Innocuous!” and “Us V Them” speak of overpopulated nightlife scenes and the push-and-pull exerted by unsought fame, balancing buoyant rhythmic pulses from rock and electronic angles against slightly bitter vocals.

And sure, there’s still a dose or two of well-placed humor, like the back-handed defense of all those considered “North American Scum,” amidst a well-played track of serpentine bass and driving drums. But it’s songs like “All My Friends” that cut the hardest here, hitting more openly raw nerves while channeling Neu’s Teutonic pulse and Faust’s off-kilter melodicism into a tune that wistfully celebrates the late-night parties and social scenes that seemed to have slipped from Murphy’s grasp. Likewise “Someone Great” and its glockenspiel-addled clicking percussion and synth swells render relationship dissolution with a rarely seen forthrightness.

But what exactly is the “Sound of Silver,” then? Based on the title track’s insistent robotic vocals and steady stabs of minimal house and pulsing percussion, it’s what “makes you want to feel like a teenager, until you remember the feelings of a real live emotional teenager. Then you think again.” And so it goes with both that sentiment and the closing thoughts of “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” that James Murphy’s true feelings on the art of the reminisce come to the fore – a true conflict between heady youthful idealism and fondness for things past jostling with the awkwardness of those same formative years.

It’s no surprise that the newest LCD Soundsystem album is populated with beats that jerk and jump as well as anything Murphy has previously crafted – at this point we rightfully expect at least that much from the man. However, Sound of Silver earns its marks for catching a creative force with his guard down for a moment or two, birthing songs that imbue his never-fail instrumental and production prowess with a newfound sense of humanity, making all the difference this time out. Though even a lesser album could sound stunning in a field now bereft of those mingling rock and dance moves, James Murphy has still created a compelling album that will define whatever legacy he may have as much as those essential early singles.

By Michael Crumsho

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Sound of Silver (2007)


By Jason Adams

''Daft Punk Is Playing at My House'' is no longer playing at my house. Yes, my ass shook along as that unlikely hit grooved LCD's 2005 eponymous full-length debut all the way to two Grammy nominations. But a couple years will mellow ya, as Soundsystem guru James Murphy can attest. While Sound of Silver still delivers terrific buzzy dance-space jams (e.g., single ''North American Scum''), it also contains wispy hints of New Order and Bowie (''Someone Great,'' ''New York I Love You''), and Murphy's best song-making efforts to date. A-

[jaxxalude]

Sasha Frere-Jones is not a doctor. Still he uses The New Yorker to order a Hip Replacement on James Murphy.

[joker]

More reviews:

PopMatters (7/10)

Drowned in Sound (8/10)

Pitchfork (9.2/10)

Guardian Unlimited (4/5)

Billboard

Others also added to Metacritic.

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Out today in stores.

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The Village Voice's Tom Breihan (aka The God Of Current Music Writing) tells James Murphy to Get In The Ring, motherfucker!

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Will LCD Soundsystem top the Billboard charts?

Midweek sales of LCD Soundsystem's second album 'Sound Of Silver' suggests that it is very unlikely the album will top the US Billboard charts.

As previously reported frontman James Murphy urged fans to buy copies of the album in its first week, suggesting that if everyone who bought the first LCD Soundsystem LP (released in 2005) bought the second it would sell more than the soundtrack to the Beyonce film 'Dreamgirls'- Billboard's Number One album at the time.

However, online midweeks sales suggest the album might not even scrape the Top Ten.

It cites the fact that on the midweek Amazon chart it is at Number 17, on the iTunes chart it is at Number Nine, on Barnes and Noble it is at Number 26 and InSound it is at Number Five.

However, some readers who left comments on the Idolator website suggested record stores could not accommodate demand for the album and they had sold out of copies too quickly.

-----------------------------------------------

In another article, James Murphy recalls working with 'strange' Britney.

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Billboard.com:

...while LCD Soundsystem's sophomore Capitol/DFA effort, "Sound of Silver," earns the James Murphy-led group its first Billboard 200 chart ink at No. 46.

[busyboy]

So much for a #1 debut! The record still kicks ass!

[busyboy]

15,000 copies sold. From www.mtv.com/news/articles/1555768/20070328/modest_mouse.jhtml

[busyboy]

From Pitchfork

www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/41173-guest-list-lcd-soundsystem

Guest List: LCD Soundsystem
Guest List by James Murphy

Welcome to the latest edition of Pitchfork's Guest List. Each week, we ask one of our favorite artists to fill us in on what they've been up to lately: which tracks they can't stop spinning, what books they can't put down, and what new bands they've caught on tour. This week it's James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, who admits he was a little late jumping onto the Arcade Fire bandwagon, reveals his "sneaky secret" favorite record from the British new wave, and explains why Glasgow, Scotland is the best place in the world to see a rock show.

>> Favorite Older Songs at the Moment

Fleetwood Mac: "Sara"
I've been listening to "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac over and over. It's true. It hasn't left my turntable. Yep, there it is, sitting there right now: fourth side of Tusk. It's insane how good it is. I haven't listened to it since I was a kid, and was just dumbfounded by how beautiful it was.



Kenneth Wannberg: The Philadelphia Experiment soundtrack.

Mouzon's Electric Band: "Everybody Get Down"

Junior Byron: "Dance to the Music"

Stuff like that. Vanguard-style, early 1980s electro-disco. Not so much the Bobby O stuff. I like the Bobby O stuff, but that's not really where my head's at.

>> Favorite New Band

I always feel like a jerk, because I'm mostly interested in DFA bands. Not because we want to toe the party line, but that's why we signed them. And plus, in the year that I make a record, I really tune out new music-- almost on purpose. Like if somebody writes a book, a lot of times they won't read for a year, because it fucks with your head too much. I'm typically pretty ignorant. But I'm just staggeringly ignorant at this moment.

I'm typically way, way behind with new bands. After everyone started eating their own hand about Arcade Fire, I kind of just ignored them because I assumed I wouldn't like it. Because it seemed like the people who liked it would be a little too indie for me. Then I listened to it and was like, "Wow, this is really great." And I really like them, and about a year-and-a-half later, I'm like, "Arcade Fire, have you heard that?" And now I'm friends with them, and I really like them, and I was going to work on the album with them, but it conflicted with my album too much.

Now I really like Antony and the Johnsons. I found out about them three months before they won the Mercury Prize, so I was really on the cutting edge with that [laughs]. I'm really just on the razor's edge. I've just now heard a couple of Klaxons songs. So, finger on the pulse, man, finger on the pulse...

This year, I'll go on tour, so I'll be inundated with it. That's sort of how it works. Because on tour, you're simultaneously really ignorant, because you don't know what's No. 1 in the states anymore. You don't know any Kanye songs because you're in a bus. But you're constantly hearing DJs between your set and seeing other bands because you're playing festivals. So that's where a lot of that information for me comes from, rather than reading about it or getting demos, which I just kind of tune out.

I like Planningtorock. There's a video for "When Are You Gonna Start?" that's probably my favorite video I've seen in a really long time. I think it's genius. I now have a correspondence with the girl from Planningtorock on e-mail. I wrote an e-mail because I was going to ask her to do my video. But it just didn't work time-wise. But that "When Are You Gonna Start?" video is one of my favorites.

>> Favorite Song at the Moment

Right now it's "Sara". That's definitely my favorite song of the moment. Or Mouvon's Electric Band: "Everybody Get Down". Mouvon is my favorite record in my DJ bag. And "Sara"'s probably my No. 1.

But my favorite song ever? I can walk over to my records and look and think-- and there are a bunch of them, and I say it a lot, I'm like, "This is my favorite song ever!" But that's a hyperbole. Because I'm a hyperbolic shit. I use hyperbole too much. I use hyperbole all the time, every day! I can't stop using hyperbole!

Wow! There's so many. There's "How Can I Tell You The Way That I Feel?" by Todd Rundgren. "Mother of Pearl" by Roxy Music, "Loose" by the Stooges, "Cheree" by Suicide. You can see what section I'm looking in, that's the "S"s.

The whole first Modern English album, Mesh & Lace-- it has "Dance of Devotion" on it, which is possibly one of the best and most underrated screaming British punk/new wave songs. That record is a sneaky secret that everyone writes off, because they just think it's going to be a "Melt With You", but it sounds way scarier than any Joy Division record.

Then there's been a re-issue of the Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark Peel Sessions. The first of couple songs on that are murder-- they're totally amazing.

Maybe "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed.

>> Best Recent Show

I can't even think of the last rock show that I went to. When I get off tour, the last fucking place I want to be is at a concert. I still feel kind of bad about that because I recently read a good piece on the times on David Byrne. And he was like, "I go to shows and I wonder where all my contemporaries are." And I'm like, "Dude, I was about to start Little League when you guys were putting out records." Who am I kidding? I was like two or three years out of Little League when they were putting out their first record. So I was really impressed. It kind of got me to rethink some things. So I feel like I'm going to put in a little more effort and try to reset my brain after this record. Be a little less beleaguered. Recognize that part of the beleaguered is an easy escape, and that I should probably step up.

>> Last Great Film I Saw

I watch a lot of crap, man. I watch movies on planes. The last movie I saw was Pirates of the Caribbean 2. When you're on a plane, you're lucky to get what you get. But the last good movie I saw...I haven't seen any good movies lately. It's just been garbage.

>> Last Great Book I Read

Thomas Pynchon: Mason-Dixon
Most of my reading that I spent this year has been rereading the entire Pynchon catalog, and I didn't know that he was putting out a new book, and I still haven't bought it, but I should, just to get the hardback. But I happened to have been in the midst of Mason-Dixon when I heard the announcement, so I thought, "That's convenient!" because I read them in sequence, except for Slow Learner; I didn't read Slow Learner. But I do that sometimes, I go through phases. Those have been really good. I've read Gravity's Rainbow probably now-- I can take a look because I sign it in the back every time that I read it. I always sign books when I read them, and I make people, when they borrow them, sign the backs and that way I know who borrowed my books and who's read them; I've been doing it since the late 80s, so I have these books that have been signed ten times by friends I don't see anymore. It also helps me know-- I'll be like, "When did I first read that?" and I flip to the back, and it's got a date like, "March 1992." I don't know, I've read [Gravity's Rainbow] about four or five times now, and now it's funny. I remember when I first read it, I was like, "What the fuck?" But now it's funny.

>> Favorite Piece of Musical Equipment

57 Gretsch Drum Kit
Probably my drum set. I have a 57 Gretsch kit that's just a little slice of magic that always sounds really, really good. More specifically, the kick drum. My 57 Gretsch kick drum is probably my favorite piece of musical equipment, to be specific.

>> Favorite Record Store

Vinyl Mania, NYC
Or Disc Union in Tokyo. The last thing I got at Vinyl Mania was probably Punkin Machine's "I Need You Tonight". And the last thing I got at Disc Union was probably 80 different 12"s, because when I go there I just buy stacks of records: I bought a ton of Carl Craig stuff, just a ton of stuff.

>> Best Purchase of the Past Year

"Snarling Foxes"
It's a painting by Glenn Grancio, who is an artist with the Bridge Group. The Bridge Group is an artist group/art therapy group for people with mental illness in New York City. And I read a story in the Village Voice about them a year ago, and we bought a painting called "Snarling Foxes" which is about my favorite thing that I've ever seen. It's amazing, and I'm in the midst of trying to get the rights to figure out an agreement with them so I can make it the poster for the 7" of the first single. It's just these two foxes staring at you and making really evil faces, and it's totally incredible. It's the only painting we have hanging up in our house. My wife just went back there and bought a bunch of paintings from Glenn.


>> Best Thing I Did This Year

It really depends. Making the album, making the 45:33 comp, making a bunch of music-- since I'm about to go on tour, that means I'm not going to be able to make anything for about a year.

But then, I also got this totally amazing dog, which is more of a personal thing. She's a french bulldog named Petunia. She's 15 pounds of snuggle, just made to be a companion. Some dogs have jobs. You know what I mean, they'll be like, "Well this dog's a fetching dog, and this dog likes to carry things." Well, this dog doesn't do fucking shit. It likes to sit down and be sitting on you. And the great thing about it is, when you walk the dog, it has the exact same temperature and weather sensitivity as a human. So, if it's cold and you're fucking bummed about it being cold outside, the dog is bummed, too. You open the door and you're like, "Man, this dog better piss and shit right now." And the dog is thinking the exact same thing. The dog is like, "I am gonna piss and shit so fast!" So the dog runs outside and does his business and then trucks to the door. And if it's hot out, the dog doesn't really want to go far. She's really made me super happy and helped me calm down, the little monkey.

And also I've started training fighting. Mostly Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but I'm going to start doing more once I get my heart rate down and my conditioning better.

>> Favorite Music Venue

Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, Scotland
It fits about 2,000 people, but it's completely square and the audience there is so amazing. The only thing I can compare it to, if you played a big festival or you played a huge arena rock show, and you're a band who's just getting to be that size, so the audience is still really down, and there's about 2,000 people in this square right in front of the stage losing their marbles, it's basically like the pit of a big show, and if you just got rid of everybody else, that's the Glasgow Barrowland. Literally, from the front to the back it's people totally paying attention. It's a suspended floor, so when people jump up and down it bounces, it gives, it's like a big roller rink. It's amazing, and Glasgow's the best place on the planet to play a rock show, period.

>> Favorite TV Show

I'm a little torn. I'm going to have to throw two up there. I'm going to say "Extras", which has been brutal, the Ricky Gervais comedy on HBO, and I've been watching "Ultimate Fighting".

Ah, "30 Rock!" My wife just said-- you're not supposed to...this is supposed to be an interview with me! Yeah, "30 Rock" is also super funny. It's hard to argue with Tracy Morgan. It's a bit like the Arcade Fire, you hear a little too much about it and you think you're going to wander in with your cultural smarty-pantsness and poke holes right through it. And then, "Oh, this is actually funny." And Alec Baldwin is actually just as good as everybody says he is.

>> Favorite Video Game

I do not play video games. But I'm not against them. I play one video game per system. Nintendo 64, I played "Goldeneye". Bought the whole system just to play "Goldeneye". And then I bought the Xbox to play "Halo". And I haven't bought a new system since then. Although when making records, I bought all of the "Medal of Honor" games, the World War II first-person shooter, but I made my assistant play them. I just watched. I just like to watch them and be the navigator. I don't really like to play them.

>> Favorite Radio Program

"Work in Progress", NPR
Joe Frank has a couple of shows, but this was the main one. It's not a music show, but he's a storyteller, like a Spalding Grey, super freaked-out, super amazing. There's a show he did called "Arena" and another called "Emerald Isle" that are just totally amazing.

>> My Ringtone

It's called "Bell & James" and it's by my friends Nick Millhiser and Alex Franklin.

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I love this man's mind.

[banet2001]

I can't stop playing "North American Scum". It is such a great song.

[oscillations.]

Hot Top 46!

[areyoureadytojump]

4/14/07 chart:

135 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM SOUND OF SILVER 14,989 6,676 -55.5% 21,665

[busyboy]

Franz, John Cale Cover LCD Soundsystem on Single
LCD retaliates by covering Joy Division

When LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy sang about all his "Friends" on this year's good-as-gold Sound of Silver, who knew he was talking about kewl folks like Franz Ferdinand, John Cale, Erol Alkan, and Joy Division?

Yet all these characters crop up on various configurations of the latest Silver single, "All My Friends", out May 21 via DFA/EMI. On that date, folks overseas will have the opportunity to purchase three different versions of the Silver standout. The first of two 7"s includes an Erol Alkan-produced cover of the song by Franz Ferdinand and an LCD cover of Joy Division's "No Love Lost" on the flip, while on the second 7" Velvet Underground viola vet John Cale gives "Friends" a go. The CD option, meanwhile, includes Franz's take and something new called "Freak Out/Starry Eyes". Or pass on doors one, two, and three for door number four, a 12" edition of "All My Friends", out May 28.

LCD Soundsystem, undeterred by foiled chart-topping ambitions, launch a North American tour at Coachella this weekend (with buddies Prinzhorn Dance School opening), then rock the European festival circuit all summer long.

"All My Friends":

7" #1:
01 All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand Version)
02 No Love Lost

7" #2
01 All My Friends (John Cale Version)
02 All My Friends

CD:

01 All My Friends (Edit)
02 All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand Version)
03 Freak Out/Starry Eyes
04 All My Friends (video)

12":

01 All My Friends
02 All My Friends (Harvey Mix)
03 Freak Out/Starry Eyes

Gigs:

04-28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
04-29 Los Angeles, CA - The Standard *
04-30 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine #
05-01 San Francisco, CA - Mighty *
05-02 Seattle, WA - Showbox #
05-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #
05-04 Vancouver, British Columbia - Celebrities Nightclub *
05-05 Toronto, Ontario - The Social *
05-06 Chicago, IL - Metro #
05-07 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater #
05-08 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theater #
05-09 Montreal, Quebec - Spectrum de Montreal #
05-11 Boston, MA - Axis/Paradise #
05-12 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B #
05-13 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
05-14 New York, NY - Webster Hall #
06-16 London, England - O2 Wireless Festival $
06-17 Leeds, England - O2 Wireless Festival
06-29 St. Gallen, Switzerland - St. Gallen Festival
06-30 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Wercther Festival
07-01 Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Opener Festival
07-04 Lisbon, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock
07-05 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-13 Barcelona, Spain - Summercase
07-14 Madrid, Spain - Summercase
07-18 Ibiza, Spain - Ibiza Rocks Festival
08-17 Saint-Malo, France - Route du la Rock Festival
08-24 Leeds, England - Carling Weekend Festival
08-25 Liverpool, England - Creamfields Festival
08-26 Reading, England - Carling Weekend Festival
08-31-09-02 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic
09-02 Argyll, Scotland - Connect Festival

* James Murphy and Pat Mahoney DJ set
# with Prinzhorn Dance School
$ with Daft Punk (!!)

[oscillations.]

That single sounds awesome!

[banet2001]

The single sounds great.

I cannot believe that Pitchfork missed one gig for LCD Soundsystem. They are also playing Lollapalooza on August 3rd.

[busyboy]

Yep, I think I'm buying the CD single and then look towards the Hype Machine to check out the rest of the songs.

[busyboy]

"All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand Version)" available, so to speak... :)