[embedded YouTube link; if you can’t view it, click here]
This one’s for Scott. Make sure you watch through the end for a surprise.
EDIT: YouTube pulled the video at EMI’s request; you can see the video here. Thanks to Scott for pointing this out in the comments.
[via Brooklyn Vegan]
One of my oldest friends just moved from New York City to Antwerp, its polar opposite in almost every way – quiet, clean, sleepy – and it seemed fitting to pull out LCD Soundsystem‘s “North American Scum.” It’s off their brilliant album Sound of Silver and is a tongue-in-cheek look at the differences between Europe and the US, as well as yet another homage to James Murphy’s beloved New York (that’s him, above, looking quite, well, European). And remember, ‘don’t blame the Canadians!’
MP3: LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum
Previously: Coverage: The Main Drag, “All My Friends”; Capturing the zeitgeist; 2007 in review: LCD Soundsystem
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]
Three songs that namecheck bands, with three different intentions.
The Dead Milkmen had a minor college radio hit in 1987 with their song, “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything),” which lampoons listeners of a number of (iterated) post-punk bands, such as The Communards. The best line in the song is, “I came to drink not to get laid.” (I’ve often thought that it would be useful to have a t-shirt with this line, although I’d probably substitute ‘dance’ for ‘drink.’)
In contrast to “Instant Club Hit,” which ridicules music fans for their taste, LCD Soundsystem‘s first A-side, 2002’s “Losing My Edge,” simultaneously celebrates and mocks obsessive music fans with its iteration of bands and repeated refrain of “I was there…” James Murphy slyly mixes reality in with the hyperbole – “I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City” (probably not, since he was four) is alongside “I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids. I played it at CBGB’s’ (yup). But the best phrase is undeniably the description of “art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.’
Finally, Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip rail against taking music too seriously in “Thou Shalt Always Kill,” off Angles, which was just released in the US. The best part of this song is definitely the visual-pun-laden video [above]. While the lyrics are self-consciously countercultural and more than a tiny bit preachy, Dan et Scroobius get props for the line, “Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry.” Advocating spelling ‘phoenix’ as ‘pheonix,’ however, is suspect, to say the least.
For the record, The Smiths show up in both “Instant Club Hit” and “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” and Public Image Ltd shows up in both “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and “Losing My Edge.”
MP3: Dead Milkmen – Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything) (warning: contains homophobic language)
I was prepared to hate the movie 21, partly because the trailer suggests that the movie is entirely unlike the book, but mostly because they shut down the People’s Republik and Harvard Bridge for several nights for filming (I really hope there is a kick-ass car chase on the bridge, not just a touching love scene between improbably hot ‘MIT students’). However, I do have to salute the producers’ excellent taste in bringing LCD Soundsystem in on the soundtrack (my love of James Murphy is well–documented). His contribution, “Big Ideas,” begins with a driving beat, underlaid with syncopated drums. The rising tension and accelerating pace have turned out to be the ideal music for last-minute pre-workout details, like putting on a sports watch and finding my keys, as I’m getting ready to head out the door. The horns come in at about 1:40, and by the time the vocals come in at 2:10, I’m ready to sprint.
Of course, “Big Ideas” is also an excellent accompaniment to a strenuous session of couch-surfing. Or, you know, winning big at Vegas.
I should add to my previous post that The Main Drag endeared themselves to me forever when they chose to cover LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” for Coke Machine Glow (I kind of like that song). Their version loses the staccato piano and swaps out James Murphy’s world-weary but assertive voice for the straight-up emotion of Matt Boch and Adam Arrigo.
MP3: The Main Drag – All My Friends
About Coverage
Apparently, I’m not the only person who thinks that LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” is the defining song for the year.
Pitchfork’s Top 10 Singles of 2007.
“Someone Great,” also off Sound of Silver, is at number 7.
It’s Thanksgiving in the US, which means I can start thinking about the year 2007 in music. Without question, “All My Friends,” by LCD Soundsystem (off the brilliant album, Sound of Silver) was my defining song for this year. Using an evening out as a framing device, James Murphy incisively considers growing older while finding (and losing) one’s place in the world. You might have to be old enough that you can relate to self-descriptions of ‘with a face like a dad’ and to thoughts like, ‘when you’re drunk and the kids look impossibly tan,’ but I find this song and video deeply poignant. Lest that sounds boring, I should point out that the melancholy lyrics and dry delivery are backed with driving, anthemic musical lines.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his lyrics in this song and in songs like “North American Scum” and “Losing My Edge,” James Murphy is engaging and funny; the Guardian Unlimited music podcast posted a Music Extra interview (MP3s at bottom of page) with him that gives some backstory.
| 2009: My Favorite (B… on The Mark Sandman Memorial… | |
 | Lindsey on The zen garden theory of minim… |
 | ashanan on On a world of distributed… |
 | J Thomas on Why “music isn’t a… |
 | Roberto on Why “music isn’t a… |
zed equals zee 