What the record is and where it came from
LCD Soundsystem’s debut was released in 2005 and produced by the DFA partnership of James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy. Its new album material was accompanied by a second disc gathering earlier releases. The package therefore combines a first sustained album statement with an account of the project before it.
How it sounds, and how it was made
Dance-punk, electronic production and indie-rock song forms share the programme. That range is the organising premise, rather than a temporary detour into one genre. Murphy’s vocal presence gives the varied settings a common personality, including an audible appetite for humour and self-consciousness.
What lands
“Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” makes the social imagination behind the project immediately accessible. Its music-fan premise becomes a song that can itself participate in a party. The record’s knowledge of other music is most useful when converted into a fresh occasion for movement.
What does not
The range can feel unfocused, and the accompanying earlier material may sharpen comparisons that the new album cannot always win. The knowing manner also risks making participation feel like an exercise in recognising references. Its humour will not suit every listener.
The ideas inside it
Anxious awareness of musical history can become creative material. The record turns fandom, taste and social positioning into things a performer can examine while still making music intended for collective enjoyment.
Who should hear it, and who should not
Hear it if your interest crosses dance records and guitar-band albums. It is less suitable when you want either a seamless club sequence or an entirely unselfconscious frontman.
Is it worth your time
Yes. Hear the original album disc first, then the earlier singles as a separate account of how the project reached it.
