r.i.p. lcd?

I'm sad that LCD Soundsystem is kinda leaving us. Last years This Is Happening is allegedly their last album, their Valentines day appearance on the Colbert Report was their last television performance and they played their "last show ever" early this month (and got screwed by scalpers).

I spent the past few days listening to LCD Soundsystem non-stop and re-watching James Murphy interviews. Thought I would share some highlights and LCD odds-n-ends as an ode to the past 10 years.

But first the obvious question: what will James do next?

Oh.. :) Did you hear that? He will actually be "making some more LCD Soundsystem stuff, just not [as] professional rock band". Nice! As he says in The Fresh Air Interview: "That doesn't mean LCD will stop. It just means I'll go back to the beginning: releasing a track here and there or being more fluid about my decision-making rather than albums, videos, singles, tour. Rather than this professional arch of being in a band, I'd like to go back to being a person who decides what he likes to do and pursues something new once in a while."

Personally I'm looking forward to some more DFA remixes, culminating in a Chapter 3 release perhaps. And I'm glad he's gonna get back into dj'ing (and making special disco edits to play) - he already has a bunch of festival DJ gigs booked.

M ss ng P eces Interview (from 2006)

m ss ng Murphy from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

Thats Cool, But Can You Make It More Shit? with aesthetic interview



Live Alone (Franz Ferdinan cover)
LCD Soundsystem - Live Alone (Franz Ferdinand cover) by DominoRecordCo




....and possibly my favourite LCD track.


(check the live version from the last show here)

circlesquare

Circlesquare is Vancouver born and Berlin-based Jeremy Shaw. His music is thick and powerful, and I would say more important for the music world (by way of inspiring musicians) than it is great. But it can also be very great. Jeremy began Circlesquare in 1999 with a 3 track EP called The Distance After - an EP which began to sketch out the musical landscape Jeremy sought to chart. By 2003 his orientation in this space was more defined with his full length album Pre-Earthquake Anthem. Boomkat called it “dense, considered stuff… mixing up a brooding and pounding melancholy, bass-fueled sensory exploration, and purest minimal electronic meltdown.”

7 Minutes

In 2006 he released Fight Sounds EP on which he seemed to be pushing the industrial button a bit more, all the while keeping things at the pace of a snail on fire.

Here's Fight Sounds Pt. 1, a track about shifting loyalties among friends and the question as to who is to blame for when they fall apart.

Then in 2007, the label that was releasing his stuff Output went under and Jeremy had to find another label. He first began work on his next LP from Vancouver, writing songs without practicing them with a band. In 2008 he moved back to Berlin, reformed a band and began playing his new songs live. He then went into the studio with the experience and refinement that only playing live can bring. The 2009 full length album that followed, Songs About Dancing and Drugs, was released on !K7. Here is a quick promo interview with Jeremy about the album.




The first single from the album is Dancers

The second single Hey You Guys got remix treatment from Mickey Moonlight, as I posted earlier.
Circlesquare - Hey You Guys by le_maitre


Ten to One



Timely (Excerpt) -- a hommage to Vancouver in the late 90's.

So go to filestube and download Songs About Dancing and Drugs and while your there and in a polished fashion-smart vocal dance mood, get Tiga's pretty excellent Ciao! album from last year if you don't have it already. I have Gentle Giant, the albums deepest cut on repeat here at graefe headquaters. No surprise that its co-written and produced by James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem). Now go to hotfile and get the Gentle Giant Remix package with a sweet dubstep version by none other than Martyn and a pretty good minimal effort by Efdemin (that unfortunately sounds not enough like the original). Check here for Tiga's typically quirky press release for the package.

Tiga - Gentle Giant (Co-Written and Produced by James Murphy)



Tiga - Gentle Giant (Martyn Heaven Remix)

i work for no one

but if i did, it would be sir james.

On july 16, LCD will release the new single 'I Can Change' on itunes, with this nice Stereogamus remix:
LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change (Stereogamous Remix) by theinsound

also (and for no more than completeness) check out both the grimey, banging (and average and outdated) soulwax remix of 'You Wanted a Hit' on pitchfork and the Wooden Shjips rough wash shoegaze cover of 'Drunk Girls' on covert curiosity. meh.

oh you

So I forgot to mention that that outstanding new lcd soundsystem album had 2 bonus tracks with it if you bought it through itunes.
The first, 'throw', is a cover of carl craig's paperclip people song and redthreat is hosting a highres mp3 for those of us who paid 16 euros for the physical cd and who therefore didnt get the bonus tracks. right click here
The second, 'oh you (christmas blues)' also appears on the greenberg soundtrack (james murphy wrote nearly the whole thing - 12 out of 18 tracks). it also appears here

so while I am pumping murphy's tire (again), i might as well tip you off to the pretty fun holy ghost remix of 'this is happening' lead single 'drunk girls'

LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls (Holy Ghost! Remix) by Hypetrak



if you havent bought the album yet, just do it. currently i am really into 'dance yrself clean'.. dont mind if i do!

>

ps. f*%$ off kid cudi. make your own beats to 'rap' over.

james murphy

James Murphy, DFA Records boss, is LCD Soundsystem, and his new album, This is Happening is finally out. And its fucking great!
I saw them in Berlin on May 6 and was blown away. It was mostly reworked and extended old tracks with a few (4?) new ones here and there. I highly recommend both the album and the live show.
Check the LCD site for tour dates

...and here's a hot b-side-ish track from the 2006 Introns album: Slowdive (xfm session)