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CD review: LCD Soundsystem ‘This is Happening’
LCD Soundsystem
(DFA)
`This is Happening’
Grade: A-
“There’s no way that we will be pleased with this/We’ve been waiting such a long time” James Murphy croaks on “One Touch,” the third helping of haughty dance-punk on third LCD Soundsystem album, “This Is Happening.” The line could serve as an encapsulation of the sky-high expectations with which “This Is Happening” must contend. The rock critic hive mind collectively dubbed 2007’s “Sound of Silver” a modern masterpiece, and justly so - it boomeranged wildly from parody to poignancy, with Murphy’s spiky, knowing croon reflecting on self-consciousness and aging, anchored at every point by some of the most indelibly infectious disco grooves yet seen in the still-nascent 21st century.
So it’s a great pleasure to report that “This Is Happening” pioneers new territory for Murphy, beyond even the already expansive horizons of “Sound of Silver.” Opener “Dance Yrself Clean” kicks off modestly, with a slow build of bongos and Murphy at his most reminiscent of Kermit the Frog, before exploding in a cathartic, powerful release of synthesizers. That trademark blend of Murphy’s striking lyricism and dance instincts shows up on the wistful “All I Want.” The cloaked self-loathing of “I Can Change” sounds like the Smiths-by-way-of-synthesizer. The requisite goofiness appears on lead single “Drunk Girls” and, more enjoyably, on “Pow Pow,” which graduated from the same “monologue as song” school as “Losing My Edge.” It’s an eight-minute charmer that’s less a song and more a lengthy call-and-response stand-up comedy routine layered over tropical percussion. Only the aforementioned Talking Heads train wreck of “One Touch” fails to impress, but eight out of nine’s nothing to sneeze at, and all is forgiven by the time emotional closer “Home” sulks out of the speakers.
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