LCD Soundsystem - "Dance Yrself Clean" Performed by Muppets

Unofficial, yet essential.

In response to a situation where scalpers scooped up many of the tix for his final show at Madison Square Garden show on April 2, James Murphy added 4 LCD Soundsystem shows at Terminal 5 on March 28-31. So hopefully everyone in the NYC area who wants to gets the chance to see LCD Soundsystem perform one last time.

Still don't understand why you feel you need to retire, James. But anyway, psyched for the MSG show.

LCD Soundsystem - Final Show Tix

This is essentially an ad that no one is paying me for (honest!), but click on the lightning bolt above to be connected with tickets for LCD Soundsystem's final show ever on April 2 at Madison Square Garden.

Tickets go on sale this Friday 2/11 at 11am, and will be sold out virtually instantly, I'm sure.

LCD Soundsystem Final Show @ MSG April 2

Last year, when James Murphy was talking about the new LCD Soundsystem record This Is Happening, he said some things about it being the band's last. But I didn't really believe him!

Musicians say stuff like that all the time. James commented that LCD Soundsystem had taken over his life, that he wasn't able to take other opportunities that he might have liked to, such as producing records for Spoon and Arcade Fire. And granted, that would be pretty awesome if he could produce records for those bands, but they're fine making sweet records on their own - I wouldn't trade in LCD Soundsystem for James Murphy as a producer.

But it's not my choice to make, and it appears James was completely serious about ending LCD Soundsystem. Posters are circulating around NYC indicating that LCD Soundsystem will play one final mega show at Madison Square Garden on April 2. I believe the band has never played such a large venue - other than festival appearances, maybe, which is a different animal. It was kinda surprising when Arcade Fire did some recent shows at MSG, but it's becoming obvious that 'indie rock', such as it is, has reached that level.

LCD ending is a major bummer. This Is Happening is a fantastic record, one of 2010's best. There's no sign of 'yeah, he should probably end it now before he tarnishes the band's legacy'. There's no reason to believe James couldn't continue to make awesome LCD Soundsystem records for years to come, if that's what he wanted to do. And shit, what a devastating week! The White Stripes and LCD Soundsystem are both confirmed dead. It kinda feels like my favorite bands are being taken out one-by-one. Wolf Parade, White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem - who's next?

In a way, it's not a tragedy. All of these musicians aren't giving up on working with music entirely. I expect to see new records from Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown in place of a new Wolf Parade record. Jack White has a million different bands at this point - I'd like to see another effort from The Raconteurs, for sure. And James Murphy, well he'll be free to do whatever he wants to do, which could be producing other band's records, or it could be something else.

But it won't be the same. It sucks that we won't be seeing future records or performances from these three beloved musical outlets.

Hopefully James will take out LCD Soundsystem with a bang on April 2.

LCD Soundsystem - "Home" Video

LCD Soundsystem "Home" from FUNWUNCE on Vimeo.

last.fm Artists 11-15

11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 542 plays
It kinda quietly crept on me how much I like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  I loved "Maps" when it first came out, but didn't go any further than that.  Didn't even listen to Fever to Tell.  Seems strange now that I wouldn't have, considering.

But anyway, fast forward to It's Blitz! coming out, and the band has added some electro pop to their sound.  And electro pop is like my crack these days.  So I listened to It's Blitz!, loved it, listened to their previous two albums and loved them as well.  Now the YYY's are a staple.

Karen O seems like the ultimate frontwoman.  I have not had the pleasure of seeing this band live yet, but I hope to correct that very soon.

My favorite song of theirs is probably "Down Boy", off the Is Is EP.

12. MGMT - 529 plays
MGMT have risen the ranks!  Definitely the most recent addition to this upper territory of my last.fm chart.  This is in no small part to me loving their sophomore record Congratulations, only officially dropping this week.  Oracular Spectacular has the killer singles, and I do hope they make more songs like that again at some point.  But I love their new direction, it's a glorious album.  Do not understand the early wave of hate/disappointment.  I hope that over time it is vindicated, but who knows.

13. LCD Soundsystem - 499 plays
Just shy of 5k, LCD!  That will change by tonight.  This Is Happening is soooo fucking good.  James Murphy is a genius, and this is dance rock of the highest caliber.  That is all.

14.  TV on the Radio - 491 plays
Return to Cookie Mountain is one of the albums that got me into all this art-rock and electro-pop crap in the first place.  I was so impressed.  Dear Science is prolly even better, and came around during one of the best times in my life to date.  It'll hold a special place in my heart forever.

15. The White Stripes - 488 plays
The oldest band in the Top 15, in terms of when I started listening to them.  Jack White is the man.  His output across three bands (and counting?) in the past decade is legendary. 

"The Hardest Button to Button", "Seven Nation Army", "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", "Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine" and "Conquest" are some faves.

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls (Video)

LCD Soundsystem

It's been an LCD Soundsystem week, for sure.  I caught James Murphy and co. at Music Hall of Williamsburg last Thursday 4/8.  James made a point of telling us that what we were experiencing could barely be considered a show - it was "practice", seeing as the gap between this show and the last time they performed was as large as the span from their first show as a band to their most recent.

You certainly couldn't tell from the performance - they fucking brought it.  Tribulations, Losing My Edge, Daft Punk Is Playing at My House, All My Friends, and Someone Great all got played.  They closed with New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down, which was fantastic.  No North American Scum though - whatcha gonna do?

Two new songs - Drunk Girls, which I already knew, and Change, which I didn't.

Now the album has leaked and I'm familiar with all the new stuff.  The record's amazing.  I'll wait for time to pass before determining its position in the LCD Soundystem canon, but it's fucking great.

Change is super catchy - I can totally see it becoming a hit.  Pow Pow is a fantastic 'talk over a beat' song in the mold of Losing My Edge.  Opener Dance Yrself Clean and Hit are early favorites of mine.

Stream This Is Happening here.

LCD Soundystem - This Is Happening

LCD Soundystem's third album finally has a title and artwork.  It's called This Is Happening.

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls

Earlier today I heard that a 30-second clip of LCD Soundystem's new single "Drunk Girls" was out there, available for my listening pleasure.

Now I've been impatiently waiting to hear any new material from LCD's latest record, but I had no interest in this clip.  A song is the atom of music listening.  You can't split it any further.  One song can serve as a preview for an album, but preview a song?  No.

Anyway, lo and behold, a few hours later and the full song is unleashed on the Internet.

"Drunk Girls" is a fun, catchy party tune.  Very appropriately titled.  Anyone who says "Well, it's no Someone Great or All My Friends" is being silly.  Songs like that (or, at the very least, songs that capture different vibes) will follow on the full record.  This is a taste. 

3rd LCD Soundsystem Record Is Done

James Murphy, aka LCD Soundsystem, has announced that the 3rd LCD record is done and sent off to be mastered.  I'd love some details - title, tracklisting, artwork, release date.  Hopefully they are forthcoming.