american dream [Explicit]

In 2010, after seven years and three studio, two live and two remix albums, songwriter-producer-singer (and DFA Records co-owner) James Murphy disbanded LCD Soundsystem. There were two reasons: he’d long said he’d do so when he turned 40, which he did earlier that year, and he’d said he wanted to leave while they were at the top of their game, which they most assuredly were.

But it turns out that ‘goodbye’ was really ‘au revoir’ and the band have reformed and made a comeback album in the shape of American Dream’s ten tracks. Given the band’s earlier sponsorship by Nike one is bound to wonder whether this move was motivated more by the lure of filthy lucre than by Murphy’s drive to express himself creatively, so was this the right move?

The answer is an emphatic and unequivocal ‘yes’.

In ‘I Used To’, Murphy sings ‘You made me throw my hands at my own traditions’ but he’s certainly not turned his back on his own personal influences. He’s never sounded more like David Byrne on ‘Other Voices’ whilst lyrics like ‘You're still a baby with soft feet and everything’ conjure up memories of Talking Heads’ ‘Stay Up Late’. ‘How do you sleep’ not only shares a title with a John Lennon song but treads the same tightrope between vitriol and humour. Indeed, humour abounds: sometimes in sly form, with lines like ‘I have a penny for your thoughts/If you could keep them to yourself’, at others more earthily – ‘don’t waste time with love/It’s just a push and a shove’. Guitar licks on tracks such as ‘Change your Mind’ are worthy of Carlos Alomar and Robert Fripp in the service of David Bowie, of which there’s no higher praise in my book. In other words, Murphy draws on a rich musical heritage but manages to make it his own unique characteristic dance-punk-funk fusion that is LCD Soundsystem.

There isn’t a duff track but for me the standout one is the magnificent title track, ‘American Dream.’ Like the album as a whole it builds slowly but by the end you have no doubt that LCD Soundsystem is back on top and whilst others (Lana del Ray and Arcade Fire) have recently been thought by many to have faltered, James Murphy’s clearly still on the top of his game.

Did you ever believe that when James Murphy announced the "end" of LCD Soundsystem in early 2011, that we had truly seen the last of them? I didn't believe it for one second, and the only question for me was how long it would be before another miracle "come-back" would be in the offing. As it turns out, 5 years is all it took for Murphy & Co. to come storming back, first at a number of festival appearances last year, and then with a new album this year. As a huge fan of their prior 3 'regular' albums (hence not counting "45:33", "London Sessions" or "The Long Goodbye"), I was eager to get the new album, which I got from Amazon a few weeks ago. After repeated listening, I am now ready to report on it.

"american dream" (10 tracks; 69 min.) opens with "oh baby" (yes, all tracks are is lower case only), not the blazing start that I had envisioned of a new album 7 years in the making. I like the up-tempo "other voices" a lot better. "i used to" seems to wander without really going anywhere. Likewise with the seemingly endless (9+ min.) "how do you sleep?" (not to be confused with the John Lennon classic of the same name). Side B opens with a hard-charging "tonite", by far my favorite track on this album, with clever lyrics to boot ("and yr too sharp to be used/or yr too shocked from being used/by these bullying kids of the fabulous/raffling off limited edition shoes", ha!). "call the police" is guitar-heavy (and reminds me of David Bowie's Heroes for some reason). It all leads to the album's closing track, the 12 min. epic "black screen", a slow burner that simply goes... nowhere. Bottom line: I find the new album to be quite the mixed bag, even more so if you are pining for more dance-oriented tunes that made the previous albums so irresistible.

I've had the good fortune of seeing LCD in concert a number of times during their heydays (2006-10), including a truly memorable set at the 2010 Coachella festival, where people were literally begging for more music (but in vain). When you leave the crowd so badly wanting for more, you know you have a winner. Hoping to see these guys again at some point. Meanwhile, "american dream" is of course not a bad album, but neither does it stack up favorably against LCD's earlier studio output.

I was never in LCD fan just because I had never tried, but this new album is incredible from start to finish. Unbelievable. Do not hesitate.

More please.

Another great album. Glad they got back together.

Some of the beats can be overly repetitive, but a few of the songs do move in a way that feels more energizing or danceable. On the whole, though, the songs aren't very strong... and the more I listened, I did not get into it more, I got less into it. I hear the references to Bowie, Byrne, etc., but on the whole it is not really catchy. I guess if you are into Murphy's life and his anxieties about aging, then it might be interesting to you. For me, it's something that now I have heard and now I will move on. At least the new OMD album came out the same day, which is amazing! The lyrics are on this LCD record are on the whole more interesting than their old stuff being. I actually never liked, and still don't, the older LCD music. At least this album feels more like it grows a little bit beyond the influences and it doesn't just sound like a hipster self-congratulation party (though maybe its more of a post-hipster era depression party?). The concluding dirge is great, really great to take a nap to, if you are tired.