LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

[BleuPanda]

6 years later, I still can't believe this is happening. Due out September 1st, two of the ten tracks have been released, and the album art was just released.




...that's certainly an album cover.

[Pierre]

I like the two tracks already released. Catchy post-punk for one, moody new wave for the other, which is a bit funny, as you usually swap those qualifiers. Definitely looking forward to it.

When I saw the thread appearing, I hoped for a second that the album was already released for some reason Back to waiting then.

[BleuPanda]

When I saw the thread appearing, I hoped for a second that the album was already released for some reason Back to waiting then.

Sorry! I'm just so hyped; these 4 weeks are going to take forever.

[Pierre]

When I saw the thread appearing, I hoped for a second that the album was already released for some reason Back to waiting then.

Sorry! I'm just so hyped; these 4 weeks are going to take forever.

No sweat, I'm probably as hyped as you are

[StevieFan13]

When I saw the thread appearing, I hoped for a second that the album was already released for some reason Back to waiting then.

Sorry! I'm just so hyped; these 4 weeks are going to take forever.

No sweat, I'm probably as hyped as you are

Make that hype tripled! So ready for it. I'm just glad they're back.
...now can we bring back R.E.M.? Pretty please with sugar on top?

[Nick]

I am legitimately annoyed at how bad this album art is.

[BleuPanda]

Like, is it an Infinite Jest reference? But then why use that font?

[Nick]

I've seen some people online claim it may be a reference to Infinite Jest as well.

Which is funny because DFW notoriously hated the Infinite Jest cover.

And even if they wanted to do a reference to Infinite Jest there's a million better ways they could've done it. The whole thing just looks so sloppy.

This fan made cover looks way, way better for example. They turned down the overbearing saturation and made the text not so laughably huge and overwhelming.

[BleuPanda]

LCD must stand for Lazy Cover Design.

[BleuPanda]

And now they have an ice cream truck:
http://pitchfork.com/news/lcd-soundsyst ... l_facebook

[Live in Phoenix]

And now they have an ice cream truck

LCD is the new KLF?

[Listyguy]

I am legitimately annoyed at how bad this album art is.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates that album cover. Nothing about it screams LCD Soundsystem. Their other albums had decent to good cover art, but this is just awful.
I'm hopefully going to see the band this December, so I'm pretty excited for that.

[BleuPanda]

http://pitchfork.com/news/lcd-soundsyst ... rk-listen/


In the interview, he claims the album is darker than the first two singles suggest (which seems to be a usual process for a band that previously led with North American Scum and Drunk Girls). The album cover is apparently a painting.

[notbrianeno]

Cover has grown on me but is still a bit of an eyesore. Would have preferred something closer to the "Call the Police / American Dream" single cover with the album title "Demonstration"

[BleuPanda]

Third single out tomorrow!

http://pitchfork.com/news/lcd-soundsyst ... l_facebook

[BleuPanda]

The third track is out...and I can't listen yet...

http://pitchfork.com/news/listen-to-lcd ... l_facebook

[Nassim]

Textbook LCD Soundsystem, which is fine by me !

Pretty great groove, better produced than the previous 2 singles. Starts like a 1st album throwback and moves more to This is Happening territories.
I don't think it will stand out amidst their discography, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

[BleuPanda]

I'm thinking Call the Police over Tonite over American Dream so far, but I'm liking all three. The best track of their last two albums were quite a bit more melancholy than what we've seen so far, so I'm hoping a truly classic track is still hiding somewhere among the other seven.

Either way, I think this is promising to be a strong album.

[Listyguy]

I could be wrong, but is this the first time we've heard autotune in an LCD Soundsystem song?

[Nick]

I could be wrong, but is this the first time we've heard autotune in an LCD Soundsystem song?

I'm actually pretty sure it's a vocoder, not auto tune.

[Listyguy]

I could be wrong, but is this the first time we've heard autotune in an LCD Soundsystem song?

I'm actually pretty sure it's a vocoder, not auto tune.

Yeah, you're right.

[BleuPanda]

Now begins the longest week. It feels like Black Screen and How Do You Sleep are going to be the big songs based on early reactions I've seen (and they just so happen to be the longest songs as well). Here's Stereogum's early take:
http://www.stereogum.com/1959243/premat ... ream/news/

[Pierre]

Now begins the longest week. It feels like Black Screen and How Do You Sleep are going to be the big songs based on early reactions I've seen (and they just so happen to be the longest songs as well). Here's Stereogum's early take:
http://www.stereogum.com/1959243/premat ... ream/news/

Well, that guy seems pretty enthralled by what he heard. That new week can't come fast enough.

[BleuPanda]

4 days...or really 3 and a halfish days since I'm certainly going to be staying up to hear it as soon as it drops.

[BleuPanda]

Metacritic finally has its page up; starting with a 92 after the first four reviews!

[BleuPanda]

Now an 89 with 9 reviews.

[notbrianeno]

Leaked

[BleuPanda]

Still at an 89 with 14 reviews now.

[Pierre]

They've also released a new, 14 minutes electronic and percussions instrumental during the night titled "pulse (v.1)" which apparently won't be on the album. It's downloadable for free on their website without further explanation (or streamable everywhere else).

I don't have a particular opinion on the track yet except that the title suits it well. I'm in my second listen and I'm starting to enjoy it quite. It sounds like old school ambient-house à la Phuture or 808 State.

[BleuPanda]

It's out in Australia now...just 14 more hours for CST...

[BleuPanda]

(I don't think I've been this hyped for something than when Super Smash Bros. Brawl was getting daily updates over the course of a year)

How am I so lucky to live in a world where a third season of Twin Peaks is concluding the same weekend as a new LCD Soundsystem album?

[Nick]

I listened to it yesterday, but only once.

Premature first reaction: A very good/great album, but easily their weakest. There's some filler in the first half and nothing on this album as good as "All My Friends", "Losing My Edge", or "All I Want". Still an incredibly good album, but a little short of my expectations.

Highlights: How Do You Sleep?, Call the Police, American Dream

[acroamor]

Only heard it the once beside a few individual track listens, but a real pleasure. I might agree that there's not anything on the same scale as an "All My Friends, but for my money their most cohesive other than This Is Happening.

[BleuPanda]

Finally listening!!!

[Setherex]

Premature first reaction: A very good/great album, but easily their weakest. There's some filler in the first half

This opinion will not age well.

[prosecutorgodot]

Context: not an LCD fan, though I enjoy them casually. I wanted to get in on the convo.

On first listen, the only memorable tracks are "how do you sleep?" and "emotional haircut."

Happy September!

[Nick]

Premature first reaction: A very good/great album, but easily their weakest. There's some filler in the first half

This opinion will not age well.

On the contrary, once the "oh my god LCD" are back hype died down, I fully expect my opinion to become the general consensus.

Though this may just be wishful thinking.

Anyway, it may seem weird for me to gripe about an album that I've called "great". But this is LCD Soundsystem we're talking about here. In the 8 years between 2002 and 2010, James Murphy wrote, recorded, and released some of the greatest and most iconic songs of indie rock. In that timeframe he put out Losing My Edge, Daft Punk is Playing at My House, Tribulations, Someone Great, All My Friends, New York I Love You..., North American Scum, Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want, and I Can Change. Imagine what he could've put out in the 7 years since his last LP. Instead he puts out an album that is somehow much worse than anything he's released before?

If anything this release is a testament to the fleeting nature of genius. Murphy still has some of the spark here, and several songs on American Dream can go toe to toe with LCD's best. But, and I really hate to say this, it seems as if Murphy really is losing his edge.

[BleuPanda]

Though this may just be wishful thinking.

Why would you be wishful that other's opinion lower over the idea that your opinion might raise?

This is also based off a first listen: Either way, I agree that this album opens weaker than it ends, but I don't think it begins as weak as you're suggesting. Though it never reaches the high of their best works (except maybe How Do You Sleep), it also never reaches their lows; there's no song on here I'd put as low as Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up, Sound of Silver, Pow Pow, or Somebody's Calling Me, and there are a few other tracks I'd probably rank lower than the majority of the songs on this album. What we have here is their most consistent album, with a darker tone that works in a different direction from their previous work.

And I don't think first listens are ever good enough for a band like this; quite a few of their best songs are so outside the norm it's easy to miss the beauty of what they're doing. Though its my favorite song ever right now, "All My Friends" definitely had to grow; it's a song with the same piano loop over and over for seven minutes! I thought it was a joke seeing it so highly acclaimed while discovering this band when Someone Great and even Daft Punk is Playing at My House seemed so clearly better. Already I'm seeing a lot of people say the singles work better in the context of the full album.

I'd say it falls short of Sound of Silver and This is Happening, but most albums do! I'm also quite confident in saying I like this more than self-titled. I find albums this cohesive incredibly rare; few have such an overarching theme carrying through each song.

Current track ranking after first listen (the singles get an advantage of being seen live and being repeated dozens of times):
How Do You Sleep?
Tonite
Call the Police
American Dream
Oh Baby
Black Screen
Other Voices
I Used to
Change Yr Mind
Emotional Haircut

Any album that has me rank something like Black Screen in the bottom half is something great.

[Bruno]

"How Do You Sleep?" is great!!

[Listyguy]

Listening now. "How Do You Sleep" is great! I also particularly like the guitar solo on "I Used To".

[Nick]

Though this may just be wishful thinking.

Why would you be wishful that other's opinion lower over the idea that your opinion might raise?

Good point right here.

I'll admit I am s bit too focused on the negatives right now. If American Dream were by any other band my disposition would be much different. But Sound of Silver is my #7 album of all time and This is Happening is about #60 or so. The good news for American Dream is that it'll probably make my top 500, but end up around #450 or so (still need more time to really digest it).

I'll post a more in depth review sooner or later.

[Listyguy]

So after a full listen, I think it's somewhere between LCD Soundsystem and This Is Happening, which I haven't heard lately but have always viewed as their least good album. Overall, American Dream is solid but I don't think we'll know how good it really is until after the dust has settled from the excitement of seven years of waiting.

[BleuPanda]

Still at an 89 with 29 reviews. Critics are really loving this one (Sound of Silver is at an 86).

[Pierre]

I've listened to it twice (and I love it). Here's the stuff I have to say about it:

First off, the album is, as promised, quite dark. Not goth-level dark, but the underlying melancholy of James Murphy's work is even more apparent this time.

Secondly, it's somewhat striking how LCD Soundsystem wear their influences on their sleeves here. Talking Heads, Brian Eno and the Bowie/Eno collaborations, Joy Division and New Order, Magazine, Suicide, Gang of Four, they're all there and then some, and in plain sight. Whether it's subtle (the doo-wop-ish background vocals on the title track have been interpreted by some critics as a tribute to the late Alan Vega. Why not?) or not so much (the arrangement for "Other Voices" could have been on Remain in Light, the lyrics quoting Gang of Four on "How Do You Sleep?", the blatant tribute to David Bowie that is the entirety of "Black Screen"). But even if it's obvious that musically, all these artists are not so far apart in the first place, it's amazing how LCD Soundsystem still mix these influences while undeniably keeping their identity and producing on all levels their most cohesive work yet.

This is no random coincidence: this album, from the politically-charged title American Dream (Murphy doesn't really talk about politics anywhere on the record, but the album title is so in-your-face, you can't miss it), to the breakup opening track "Oh Baby" and the David Bowie tribute closer "Black Screen", is mournful. It's probably their way of putting the difficult year that was 2016 out of their system (and also probably Murphy's divorce), and they do so while expressing surprising strength, and even optimism, as shown by the rather hopeful piano melody the album closes on. It's really the music 2017 needs. In this respect, it's definitely the product of a definite point in time, and yet I bet it'll transcend it.

The reason is the songs. If LCD Soundsystem are losing their edge, it's definitely their poppier one. But the compositions have never been so cohesive and great overall. Many have noticed that the album has apparently a hard time taking off ("Change Yr Mind" is probably the nadir of the album), but when "How Do You Sleep?" kicks in and the rest of the album unravels, man are you glad for the ride. Despite their rougher arrangements, the album piles up gem after gem from this point onward. The arrangements might not be as accessible as they were on "All My Friends" or "Someone Great" back in the days, but in my opinion what the album might lose in immediacy, it makes up for it with the sheer quality of the songs. And the lyrics are top-notch James Murphy, his vision intact despite the open cracks that his divorce, the general climate and the deaths of many of his influences (Bowie in particular) have left on him.

The album is both a tribute to these influences and an affirmation that Murphy has his sights set on a brighter future. I don't know where American Dreams will rank compared to his stellar body of work, but if it's really his weakest work to date, then he's a genius light-years ahead of the competition.

Side-note regarding "Pulse (v.1)": Murphy confirmed on Facebook that the song was a sort of "addendum" that didn't make the record but could have played after "Black Screen". The reason invoked, not enough place on the vinyl edition, is dubious. In my opinion, it's just that Murphy came to the realization that "Black Screen" was the perfect finale for the album and that adding this track would have been overstaying its welcome. It's a sign if there was any that LCD Soundsystem is no longer the garage dance-punk act that it was 12 years ago, and that Murphy is a pretty professional producer today who showcases his skills. It's all the paradox and the genius of the guy: managing to create an album that has both a slightly less accessible sound while actually being definitely the work of a veteran act who perfectly know what they're trying to achieve. Some lessons to be learned for the kids there.

Conclusion: the album is a must-listen. One of the best releases of the year so far, and just the stuff I needed after the bummer that was Everything Now last month. Thanks Jim, you did it again.

[Moonbeam]

When they announced their return, I had my doubts. Listening to this, though, and I'm blown away. Again. LCD Soundsystem is on the short list for best artist of the 21st century for me. I've only listened 3 times in full, but the album is already a contender on the level with This Is Happening, and with further listens, it could possibly approach Sound of Silver in my eyes, though that would be tough.

"How Do You Sleep?" is the most "staring into the void" song they've ever done: the darkness of a midnight sky growing darker with those manic strings before the frozen synths striate the black sky in bold, neon relief. Amazing. "It Used To" is one of their most guttural pieces ever, with that gorgeous high synth line and visceral guitar attack toward the end. These two are the standouts in an album full of them thusfar. The opener "Oh Baby" is so tender and unabashedly beautiful, and "Black Screen" closes the affair like an updated Oppenheimer Analysis soliloquy. I literally laughed out loud with the "good gracious... I sound like my mom" line in the ever-fun "Tonite", and the 1-2 punch of "Call the Police" and "American Dream" as a lead-off single was so tantalizing that it was very hard to resist the urge to overplay ahead of the album's release.

The only songs I don't love yet are "Change Yr Mind" and "Emotional Haircut", but that may change.

[BleuPanda]

Updated track ranking after, like, 7 or 8 listens:
How Do You Sleep?
Tonite
Call the Police
American Dream
Other Voices
Oh Baby
Black Screen
Emotional Haircut
I Used to
Change Yr Mind

So, Other Voices and Emotional Haircut both jumped 2 spaces while everything else remained the same. I could see Other Voices placing above American Dream with time, it's a lot of fun. Sound of Silver has 5 songs in my top 2000 range, This is Happening has 6, this already has 4 and will probably have 5, and I could see everything down to Black Screen at least being considered.

[spiritualized]

Just my 2p.
I just listened to change yr mind and still in shock. How Talking Heads is that song ????
I had to check if David Byrne hadn't done a cameo appearance on the album. Good song too !

[Pierre]

Just my 2p.
I just listened to change yr mind and still in shock. How Talking Heads is that song ????
I had to check if David Byrne hadn't done a cameo appearance on the album. Good song too !

Well, what about "Other Voices" then? It was actually the one that struck me most as Byrne-esque at first

And you're right, "Change Yr Mind" is good, but it's still the worst song on the album in my opinion. That doesn't mean it's a bad song, it just shows how awesome the album is.

[BleuPanda]

American Dream ended up #1 on the charts this week in America.

[StevieFan13]

American Dream ended up #1 on the charts this week in America.

Woo-hoo! Good taste!