LCD Soundsystem
This Is Happening
DFA Records
This Is Happening is the third studio album released by James Murphy under the name LCD Soundsystem. It is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Sound of Silver, an album that put Murphy at the center of everything hip in the indie music world back in 2007.
Three years later, Murphy sounds like a man who’s enjoying the spotlight and having as much fun as he can on This Is Happening, which he says will be LCD Soundsystem’s final album. “I believe in waking up together/so that means making eyes across the room,” he sings on Drunk Girls, the album’s ultra-catchy first single. Propelled along by crunchy guitar and booming synthesizers, the song is likely to become a dance rock anthem.
There is no doubting the caliber of the music here, which sounds like your favorite songs from the 1980s being given a once-over with modern production gloss and tongue-in-cheek wit. You Wanted a Hit’s chunky palm-muted guitar riffs and vocal phrasing sound like something straight from The Cars’ music book, and the playfully spooky synths of I Can Change instantly bring the hit She Blinded Me With Science to mind.
But LCD Soundsystem is at its artistic best on songs that build to powerful climaxes, as on the closing to All I Want, where Murphy’s repeatedly sings “take me home” atop an insistent, distorted guitar riff, while melodic synths explode into atonal splinters.
This Is Happening is one of the most fun records of the year, and a fitting finale for the LCD Soundsystem project.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the Cairo Gang
The Wonder Show of the World
Domino
The Wonder Show of the World is singer-songwriter Will Oldham’s 14th album under the Bonnie “Prince” Billy name, and is a continuation of his collaboration with The Cairo Gang, which consists of guitarist Emmett Kelly and bassist Shahzad Ismaily.
Though The Wonder Show of the World is far less ornate than some of Oldham’s recent releases, the musicianship on it is solid, with The Cairo Gang making some tasteful contributions. Nowhere is that more evident than on the album’s opener and standout track Troublesome Houses, on which a wandering bass line adds some melodic intrigue to the simple chord progression atop which Oldham sings, “I once loved a girl/but she couldn’t take that I visited troublesome houses.”
While his voice has improved considerably over the years, Oldham is not a great singer in the traditional sense. His gift is in many ways a rarer one, however, as the grit of his vocals breathes a special life into his songs, carrying his words far further than would otherwise be possible.
On Cornstalks or Among Them, a simple, sparse track haunted by desperation and sadness, he pleads to a lost lover for a second chance: “I have saved enough that I can go/But where to find you/I don’t know.”
And on the album closer, Kids, Oldham seems to hint that he is on the verge of a complete breakdown, “I have gone from place to place/Weeks or only steps ahead only/Of something following/Now I am becoming afraid to move.”
Although The Wonder Show of the World is not one of Oldham’s greatest albums (look to the critically acclaimed I See a Darkness to understand what he’s capable of as a songwriter), it is nevertheless quite good and likely to please anyone who’s a fan of singer-songwriters with an Americana feel.
Broken Social Scene
Forgiveness Rock Record
Arts and Crafts
A s one of indie rock’s most celebrated acts, Broken Social Scene functions more as a loose collective of musicians than a traditional band, with an ever-changing roster that at one point swelled to more than 19 members. That number has since been cut to seven, though innumerable guest musicians, many of them ex-members themselves, were invited to play on the group’s fourth studio album, Forgiveness Rock Record.
Forgiveness Rock Record is perhaps the most straightforward Broken Social Scene album to date. Though the band’s songs are still splattered with instrumental jams and artful noise, some of the youthful experimentalism that characterized earlier releases seems to have been abandoned. But that isn’t to say the band has regressed. In fact, the album is a step forward into more measured, mature songwriting.
The album’s most successful moments tend to be its quietest. The single Sweetest Kill, with its mellifluous synths and heavy reverb, is an achingly beautiful ode to life’s uncertainties. Kevin Drew’s voice has never sounded better as he sings, “All the time we get by/Trying to figure out our lives/Like a fade out.”
On Highway Slipper Jam, feather-soft vocals float atop a nimble acoustic guitar and polished percussion as the band ambles through four and a half minutes of airy pop.
But the band has never limited itself to slow, subtle jams. Sentimental X’s bouncy, cyclical bass builds to a sterling climax in familiar Broken Social Scene style, with triumphant horns and squealing synthesizers, before fading out in a wash of white noise.
The band’s 2002 breakout record You Forgot It in People will be remembered as a landmark album in indie rock, a feat difficult to duplicate. That said, Forgiveness Rock Record includes some of the best music the band has ever released.
Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
Warp Records
Flying Lotus is the moniker of electronic musician Steven Ellison, who is perhaps best known for his work on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, for which he provides snippets of music. It might not be the claim to fame most musicians dream of, but it has helped to put Ellison on the map. Cosmogramma, his second album for Warp Records and third overall, sees him continuing his evolution as a uniquely talented electronic music producer worthy of far more attention.
Most of the songs on Cosmogramma are short for electronic music, often not reaching the two-minute mark. But sounds and motifs are repeated continuously on the album, providing listeners with a compass to work their way through what would otherwise be very schizophrenic terrain, such is the speed at which Ellison juggles ideas.
Ellison is the nephew of jazz greats Alice and John Coltrane, and Cosmogramma is drenched in a deep jazz influence. The album’s mix of jazz and electronica at some points calls to mind the sounds of other artists, particularly on the drum ’n’ bass track Pickled, which makes use of a Squarepusher-esque bass sound with cut-up beats to great effect.
The tracks Arkestry and Recoiled mix some jazzy acoustic drums and brass with an angelic harp to create a chilled-out ambiance akin to LTJ Bukem’s work.
Adding some star power to the mix, Radiohead front man Thom Yorke makes a guest appearance on the track ... And the World Laughs With You, a song that almost sounds like it could be an Amnesiac B-side.
But despite all these references, it would be wrong to write-off Ellison’s music as derivative, because when taken all together, his sound is one-of-a-kind. He’s put together a quality record that displays a special talent for arranging disparate sounds and styles into a cohesive unit. Anyone who favors a more challenging breed of electronic music should consider giving it a spin.
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