Album 3: LCD Soundsystem, "The sound of silver"

LCD soundsystem is the project of New Jersey born producer James Murphy, a sombre, middle aged looking man, who you wouldn't expect to be the time to produce some of the catchiest and disco like songs this side of the 70s.

The first LP produced by the act, "LCD Soundsystem", was a double disc epic of classic electronic pop songs, in a time when such a thing was far from common, and well before "nu-rave" was on the scene. Chances are you will have heard "Daft Punk is Playing in my house", a 5 minute dancefloor classic that you simply cannot not dance to, a song which reached #29 in the UK charts. If you haven't heard the first album, definitely download "Tribulations", an uptempo synth based song which is one of those tracks to play in the morning to get you out of bed.

After much success with the debut album, expectations were raised for "Sound of Silver". With a much changed music scene, where electronic music is much more at the forefront of the charts due to the likes of Klaxons and CSS, would LCD be able to step up to the challenge, or simply rest on its Laurels?

The simple answer is there is no simple answer. The album sees a big change in direction to the sound for Murphy, whose trademark nasal vocals are found a lot less frequently on this record. Single "North American Scum" has clearly been released to appeal to fans of the last record, following in much the same vein as the debut, with driving disco drums, big bass lines and a lot of dynamic with the change into the massive chorus. A very good song, but wholly unrepresentative of the album.

Murphy has gone for a considerably more emotional sound on this record. Gone are the catchy keys and unique vocal hooks, replaced with a lot more singing, and songs that are a lot less instantly accessible. For some songs this works brilliantly; Track of the album, "Someone Great", is a very relaxed effect, heavy on synth and effects, with simply perfect lyrics about losing someone very special. Very emotional, and perfectly executed.

The problem with this album is that it is a live album. LCD are a great live act, with everyone bouncing up and down and having a dance. This is a dancing album, but it doesn't work on record. Songs like title track "Sound of Silver", seem to go on for ages, with the same beat, repeating over and over, with bits being added and built up, forever. Live, this can and will work. On record, it leads to a very bland sound that could be used for elevator music. "All my friends" suffers from the same condition, with the main riff, a very nice and simple piano line, is repeated throughout the entire song, which is slowly built up and has everything else coming in after; First the drums, then the vocals. A good song, with some nice gentle singing from Murphy. However, the song ends up dragging, and leads to the listener becoming disinterested. This too, is a "proper" song, not a dance floor one. I don't think it will work live, and I don't think it works as well as it could on record.

Album closer, "New York, I love you but you're bringing me down" is another proper song, a beautiful piano piece, whose lyrics are self explanatory from the title, which finishes with a nice piece of musical aggression. A nice way to end the album, although it doesn't fit with anything else. There will be no bouncing to this song. Maybe some romantic dancing though.

There are still hints of the old Soundsystem in there. "Watch the tapes" comes in with a catchy-as-you-like vocal riff, then kicks into driving drums and bass line, with the old school vocal lines from Murphy, making you want to get out your seat and bounce around. "Time to get away" also offers hints of the debuts vocal lines, however the tracks tempo lets it down as it's much to slow to move about like a madman to. This track also suffers from the albums "start small, add things to it, add more things to it, keep doing this for a long time" problem. Although it has plenty of cowbell in it, which helps :)

This album is the reason why iTunes is good. It is a mess, and it's hit and miss. Half the album (North American Scum, Someone great, All my friends, New york...) are great songs, which I recommend you go buy. Even where I've criticised them, they are still worth listening to in isolation from the rest of the album. Then there are the other songs, which I would recommend certainly not paying for, like opener "Get Innocuous!". Although this has been getting a lot of praise from some camps, I can honestly say it sounds like a poor self indulgent experimental piece, which unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the album.

With this album, James Murphy has changed the direction of LCD from pop disco to a bit of pop, a bit of emotion, a bit of experimentation, which has led to a mixed album of hits and misses, and overall an album that does not gel. By all means listen to the tracks I recommended, but certainly don't buy this album. There's a lot of other albums that deserve your undivided attention more.

5.5/10
Download: Someone great, All my Friends
Don't download: Get innocuous!, us vs them



www.myspace.com/lcdsoundsystem
www.lcdsoundsystem.com

ALBUM 1: Yourcodenameis:milo, "They came from the sun"

Right, catch up time. Tomorrow beckons the beginning of week 3, and I've yet to right a review. I may do each album a week in lieu, to give me true absorbtion time. Meaning i'm only slightly behind!

"They came from the sun" is the North Eastern quintets (Sort of) second full long play offereing. I say sort of, as they recently released "Print is Dead volume 1", an album of collaborations with artists like Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party), the Automatic, Lethal Bizzle and Reuben. A quality album, which was recorded simulateneously with TCFTS in their "Like a cat, like a fox" Studios located under a bridge in Byker, named after the original title for first album Ignoto. The boys have built the studio from scratch, begging, borrowing and stealing whatever they can to improve it.

YCNI:M are a band that have progressed far in their time on the music scene. Their first offering, the "All Roads to Fault" E.P., saw them producing some very raw, heavy music with a very stripped back 3guitarsbassdrumsandvocals set up. The E.P. saw some great songs, with great riffs, vocals, and bizarre timings. Best tracks on the play are title track, "All roads to fault" and "fourthree".

With second offering, "Ignoto", the band showed a much more more grown up sound, the quality of which was enhanced by production from FLOOD. This album brought more great riffs (check out single "Schteeve" and "the General"), but saw much bigger sounding songs, showing the benefits time can bring to a band. The album also saw the introduction of a distortion effect on singer Paul Mullens voice, which helped to enhance the songs bulk, bringing further comparisons to bands such as "At The Drive In". The album also saw some quiter, much more experimental tracks such as "Team Radar" and "the Audition", which brought a new sound to the bands musical CV, but was quite a dramatic change which took some adapting to for some fans (including myself).

Current album, "They came from the sun", sees the band produce what I can only describe as a masterpiece. The band recorded and produced the album themselves, with no outside help. For most bands, this would lead to a poor quality album, but YCNI:M have shown great intelligence, and musical apttitude, to produce what is going to be one of the albums of the year.

First track on the album, "Pacific Theatre", starts as the rest of the album goes on. On first listen, All I could think was "what the hell is going on?". But in a good way, as the music is so clever that a song often takes a few listens to even begin to take it in. The main riff in this song, catchy as it is, is almost status quo esque but fused with alt rock at it's best. The song twists and turns, as the beat changes dramatically for the chorus, leading to a truely epic aural experience. This is the sort of music that requires you to sit down, put the album on, and do nothing but listen. This, ladies and gentlement, is intelligent rock at its best.

This album also shows a much greater use of synth and electronic effects in the songs, as shown from tracks "All that was missing" and "I'm leaving". This adds a completely new dynamic to songs, which hasn't been seen before by the band. "I'm leaving" in particular, is a very potent song, making a big use of synth in conjunction with very clever guitar, to create a song which loses none of the classic YCNI:M charm, but is catchy in an almost pop-esque way.

One noticable change on this album is the drumming style. "Ignoto" drummer Paul Gamble Beresford left the band to be replaced by Shaun Abbott, who has clearly stamped his mark on the album in a big way. Whilst elements of the bands trademark querky drum timings can still be found, such as closing instrumental track "Dicta Boelcke", the majority of this albums drums are made up of very simple driving beats. Although it's dissapointing that the drums have lost some of the emphasis in the songs due to their simplicity, they work amazingly on most places in the album. Afore mentioned "All that was missing", and experimental track "Translate", have frankly perfect driving beats that simply make the song. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the drums, although different, do not lower the quality of the songs in any way. The driving beats on this album make it what it is.

"Take to the floor" is probably the straightest song on the album, seeing Paul going into full singing mode in a way not seen since ARTF, and seeing the rest of the band regressing to this period too. Great, clean guitars, brilliant drums, and nice supporting bass.

The latter of the tracks, "Translate", sees the bands create a perfect fusion of old and new, with the use of vocal effects to completely change the way they are used in a song, but with the jerky guitar seen from ARTF. Not one of the most accessible tracks for a casual listener, but definately a grower.

Tracks "I'm impressed", "Evening" and "Screaming ground" see the band produce the best songs to come out of Britain in a very long time. The guitar riffs in "Evening" and "Screaming ground" have to be heard to be beleived. Songs so perfectly written, executed and recorded doesn't happen very often. "I'm impressed" has to be my track of the album, with simply brilliant technical drumming and guitar, leading into a vocal and guitar harmony that just makes the listener want to loop that section of the song over and over again.

People looking to the quieter side of YCNI:M will not be left upset, with "sixfive" producing a beautiful piece of well produced music, which is experimental in many ways, but results in a well rounded track that fits the album, and the band, a lot better than some of the attempts on "Ignoto " did.

First single off the long player is "Understand", which is a very radio-friendly song. Great guitars and vocal hook make this song very listenable, particularly for those who haven't heard the band before. The chorus shows great utilisation of the 3 guitar structure, to produce a quality track.

Let me say now, in summary, this album is brilliant. This is potentially the only album i've ever heard without a single filler or let down. Every single song has something good to listen to, something that will appeal to anyone who likes great music. Most bands hope to write a song of the quality of one of these songs at least once in their career, and YCNI:M has produced an album full of them.

This album far supercedes previous release Ignoto. As good as it was, it felt like it was missing something, and in parts was very "out there". This album is constant and flows. This album feels right. Every song fits in the role it is given, all the bits work together. Listen to the album from start to finish and cherish every second. This is an art piece.

Welcome, the saviours of British music.

The band are on tour around the UK this month.

Score: 9/10

Download: "I'm Impressed", "Screaming Ground"
Don't download: n/a
http://www.yourcodenameismilo.com
http://www.myspace.com/yourcodenameismilo

Translate : Yourcodenameis:milo (MP3)