LCD Soundsystem new album review of “This is Happening”
Let me start out by saying that in general I LOVE LCD Soundsystem. Seriously, I should get a room and marry the band I love the music so much. Let me also point out that rather than reading this review, for a limited time anyway, you should just head over the the LCD site and listen to the new album yourself, which is streaming in its entirety for free. Seriously, go listen.
Ok, with that out of the way, let me get to the new album. Overall, I’m hugely disappointed. Their punk sound is gone and the retro casio-tone vibe that replaces it does not adequately fill the gap. Much of the album sounds like a poor attempt at an 80s retro sound mixed with some techno elements from the mid 90s. While there are a few moments here and there which shine, they are very few and very far between. This album feels rushed, the product of someone with too many other things to do. The music is severely underdeveloped and sadly, forgettable. As I streamed through, all I could think is “Is Murphy really boning it this badly? Yes, this is really happening.” This album is in severe need of editing, with annoying synth nonsense layered in on various tracks for no discernible reason, and with several extra throwaway minutes in nearly every song. Anyway, I think you get the big picture, let’s move on to the songs themselves.
The album starts off very quietly with a bossa nova soft bongo thing at the beginning of the track “Dance Yrself Clean”. Murphy’s lyrics accompany this very drab opening section which thankfully transitions to a techno clash number a few minutes in. While the sound after the transition is much less snoozeworthy, it fails to be memorable and transitions back to the tragically flawed opening riff again at the end. I feel distinctly unclean and not at all inclined to dance through the entire song.
Next we move on to Drunk Girls. Another forgettable track. Seriously, I just listened to it and I can’t remember anything except a very basic pop song about drunk people. At least this has a bit of the punk energy of old LCD songs though and the best vocal performance. So after hearing the rest of the album, this is actually one of the better tunes. As with the rest of the album though, it is repetitive and tiring. This should play well at frat parties.
“One Touch” follows. This is the best track on the album, though the most derivative. It sounds very like early Moonshake or even Laika, but a significantly simplified rhythmic structure. If you don’t know those references, go get Sounds of the Satellites and Dirty & Divine right away. They are both much better albums than this one. This song is like mid 90s art techno rock. So, it mixes interesting electronic sounds with rock elements and lyrics. “One touch is never enough” is the refrain, and for this song at least I would hit the play button again.
Next up is “All I want”. We start out with a simple beat and Echo and the Bunnymen style guitar through an crunchier effects pedal. This song really feels more and more like a late Echo song as it goes along, though it is far more boring. It is kind of like an M83 song with worse music and a flat vocal performance. At various points, annoying synth freakouts occur, the first major sign this album needed to be edited down.
Next is “I Can Change”. Here perhaps we learn the reason this album is so bad. Maybe Murphy has a chip on his shoulder and is trying to show he can do something different than what he has put out before. However, this overly repetitive dance number doesn’t demonstrate any new directions of substance. This feels dated and dull. If you have to change Peter, move in a new direction!
Moving on, we get to “You Wanted a Hit”. Yuck. We start out with subpar ambient music that goes on endlessly before turning into a standard dance house beat with 80s guitar in the background. “You wanted a hit”, the lyrics tell us, “but maybe we don’t do hits.” Well, certainly not if you are pumping out this kind of garbage. At one point pan flute comes in. That’s right, pan flute straight out of the Peru. I was laughing out loud. Total Fail.
Next up is “Pow pow”. This song sounds like a terrible remix of “Losing my Edge”. Unlike that song though, the lyrics aren’t as compelling and the music is awful. The bongo fury that has haunted us at various points of the album reappears here. Peter’s vocals are almost identical in tone and timbre to Losing my Edge, but imagine that song with an awful pre programmed casio backing track, and maybe you’ll understand why I NEVER EVER want to hear this song again. It goes on endlessly (like many songs on this album) and builds to nothing.
We are almost done. “Somebody’s calling me” is next. This is basically a variety of dissonant piano tones accompanying soft vocals. The tones are really unpleasant and monotonous, and I found myself looking around for the Advil.
“Home”, the final track (thankfully), is decidedly upbeat, which is an interesting change. Again though, it is little more than Peter Murphy singing over a soft techno track you would have heard in Miami in the mid 90s. I get that the 90s have to make a comeback at some point but not here, not now. Don’t take my LCD Soundsystem you damn retro cancer!
So, overall, I would give this album 1 or 2 out of 5 stars. I would never pay money for this. That’s not to say you shouldn’t give money to LCD Soundsystem. You really should. Just go buy everything else they’ve put out instead. I truly hope this is not their final album, as this is a really sad and sloppy way to go out.
