Witticus Insightful Dwelling into Albums + Reviews

[BachiG]

Lol....loved this review. Never heard (of) the band or this album, so I had no preconceived notions before listening to it and reading your review... and I think you nailed it. I'm actually surprised to see this is from the early 90's because it sounds more like 80's hair metal to me, which would have just made it a more "fun" album to listen to.

[Witticus]

Lol....loved this review. Never heard (of) the band or this album, so I had no preconceived notions before listening to it and reading your review... and I think you nailed it. I'm actually surprised to see this is from the early 90's because it sounds more like 80's hair metal to me, which would have just made it a more "fun" album to listen to.

That's what I thought too at first. So after listening to it in my car, I kept thinking "Are these guys before or after Antrax?" Because I'd hate to make fun of a band that actually set up the dynamic for thrash metal. But after seeing 1993, I said "f*** it, there is no turning back." So I graded it as a thrash album.

The other thing is I find its much more fun to review bad albums, than good albums. So I might throw in a couple bad albums.

[BachiG]

I just thought of a band I'd love to read your review of... and even though i love their music and song writting, I won't care if you rail on them or not, I'll just enjoy your insight. So pick any album you want from Depeche Mode (my preference being something between Black Celebration and Ultra)... and wax poetic if you so feel inclined.

[Witticus]

I was actually thinking about a Depeche Mode review! Now I'll have to knock it further up the list. However next I'm going to try and get out of the 90s with an electronic artist with way more to say than we give him credit for.

[Witticus]

Welcome back everyone to another review. Since the last 4 I did were in the 90’s I decided to that this time I needed to break free and do something newer. So without further anticipation I bring you to…

LCD Soundsystem’s “This Is Happening”

Release Year: 2010
Genre: Dance Punk

LCD Soundsystem started out as a weird band with their first song they released called “Losing My Edge.” This is a song the then in his 30’s James Murphy, mastermind behind LCD wrote about being too old to be in the Electronic genre. That’s like someone being potty-trained complaining about incontinence. Strangely enough during their final album “This Is Happening,” you can actually see James Murphy’s growing insecurity, which makes the album all the more interesting and thought provoking.

Dance Yrself Clean

Right off the bat we’re given a 9-minute epic. Normally long songs are a staple of Electronic music, but LCD Soundsystem has always been a bit different. Instead of an exaggeratingly long instrumental like you’d expect from the likes of Deadmau5, Chemical Brothers, or Daft Punk there is actually a heartfelt story going on here. LCD was weird as an electronic band because they ignored the staples or repetition, but made an emotional song in a genre that typically relies on beats. Sure the beats are there and they are phenomenal with a quiet/slow and loud/fast parts interweaving. Let’s also note that in an average lyric sheet for LCD is longer than your freaking arm.

“Walking up to me, expecting, walking up to me
Expecting words, it happens all the time”

Yeah I do kind of expect words from you, it’s my favorite part of a song unless it’s got a kickass beat, which you seem to have taken care of, please continue.

“Ah, present company, excluded in the night
Ah, present company, included in the fight”

This is really thought provoking. How often in an electronic song do you write a song about an argument? The two distinct sections of the song going back and forth work much like a confrontation. But this is a swan song if you know that a year later they broke up the band. It’s beautiful in the fact that you can tell he’s trying, but sometimes things are just meant to break despite how much you love it.

Rating: 10/10
Electronic music has never been one for thought provoking discussions over a failing relationship. It’s either been dance, sex, or drug use in the genre. LCD set out to make a more modern approach to 80’s techno and New Wave, but somehow created something far superior in practice. Sure you could take the 3 above criteria into LCD, but there is so much more to this as well. But let’s continue.

Drunk Girls

This is quite jarring. You go from pseudo depressing to an upbeat song about intoxicated women. But holy dang, this a damn fun song. For every thought provoking song LCD makes there seems to be an accompanying stupidly brilliant pop song.

However for every bit of pop/dance insanity there seems to be bits of incredible metaphor lined within the song.

“Drunk girls, drunk girls know that love is an astronaut
Drunk girls, it comes back but it's never the same”

For a dumb pop song, this is lined with brilliant pieces like this. However with this album I feel is also an allegory of depression. You see depression gives you both high and lows. So for the “Dance Yrself Clean,” you’ve got typical depression behavior, but here you have the high. You’re upbeat having a great time, but still you find the moments where your lows creep out.

Rating: 10/10
This is about as far removed from the first song as it can possibly get, but it’s wonderful. This is strangely the song that catches people the fastest. It’s easy to get into and despite having some dumb fun it knows it wants people to dance, but that doesn’t withdraw reason as well. It’s got layers and just works.

One Touch

And here we are to a low again or I think, it’s more of a transition that seems equal parts sexual frustration and possibly dangerous intentions.

No one is dangerous
We are not dangerous
Unless we get a closer view

Huh… I have danced the s*** out of this song. It’s weird how well the singing and the music go so well together, unless you listen to the lyrics. This is practically a mission statement for the song. Once you get a closer view of this song, it is in fact dangerous. It gets you moving, but once you get that closer view, there’s a feeling of disconnect with whomever you’re dancing with. Is this person dangerous?

Rating: 8/10
A bit more repetitive, but its also a damn clever and brilliant song. The problem is at over 8 minutes it dwells into normal electronic redundancy and overstates its welcome. You could actually condense out the exceedingly long exit by 2 minutes and not really miss anything important. Other than length issues, this song blows my mind in intentions that are weird for this band.

All I Want

The tempo is upbeat again, but geez the opening statement already let’s you know you’re in for an awkward song.

Wait for the day you come home from the lonely part
And look for the girl who has put up with all of your ****
You never have needed anyone for so long
You learn in your bed you've been gone for too long

These lyrics are cleverly masked again by the music. LCD is spilling their heart in this song, but is also kind of masking it at the same time. It’s maddening that this careful plan of detail into a heartfelt story is being hidden.

Maybe this goes back to “One Touch”. Most acts of violence are committed by people the victim already knew or are close with. “We are not dangerous unless we get a closer view,” makes a lot more sense in this respect. When you get the closer view, living or being around someone, that’s when tensions build up.

And now all I want is your pity
And all I want are your bitter tears

Called it!

Rating: 7/10
It’s a somber song, with much like One Touch can be a bit overdone. It doesn’t have the same dance magnitude and it just saddens me the wonderful lyrics are masked so much. Not a bad song at all, but I feel there could have been a better implementation of the subject. They’re hiding high emotions in techno songs and its frustrating.

I Can Change

This song gave me goose bumps when I first heard it and combined with Dance Yrself Clean is the reason I wanted to do this album.

It's good in the dark
Good in the dark
But into the lover's light
Here comes another fight

Sometimes in a relationship, you sit there telling yourself things to make tings seem better than they are. To be in the dark, so to say. You want everything to be as amazing as the first amounts of time with your lover, but sadly things always change. In the first part of the song you find the narrator unwilling to accept this.

Never change, never change
Never change, this is why I fell in love

The problem is people do change. Not every segment of your life is going to be the same, new problems arise all the time and you have to adapt to those or else you’re destined to fail.

Love is an open book
To a verse of your bad poetry
And this is coming from me

Now this is an eye opening statement to say the least, it’s a self recognition that he’s not the best poet in the world, but what he lacks in that sense, the honesty of emotion has been James Murphy’s most powerful tool.

I can change, I can change
I can change if it helps you fall in love

Here we have a moment of clarity. (Not going into that again, because this is happening) You have a progression of character who wants to still be with this person and is willing to change. This is crucial in a relationship. Kids, bills, work, etc., they all change you despite your best efforts to fight it. This is evolution of character.

Rating: 10/10
How often in a song do you see a true progression of a character? How often do you see them deal with an issue and come to a conclusion that it might be partly their fault? How often have you ever heard this in an electronic song? Most songs about a failing love usually blame themselves or the other, but there is no progression, that’s it. There is a true arch of character in this, its profound!

You Wanted a Hit

You wanted a hit but maybe we don't do hits
I try and try, it ends up feeling kind of wrong

Now that they’ve got their relationship problems on the road to recovery its time to tackle what may have been driving them apart. Now LCD Soundsystem was huge in the underground, but never really achieved huge commercial success despite all their albums being critical successes. That is the sad life of a good artist.

Rating: 6/10
This is like the official swan song while Dance Yrself Clean was more of a prelude. The cynicism in this album reached a peak during this part. It reminds us that things sometimes end for the best. So instead of selling out (entirely) they intended to leave us with 3 incredible albums instead of countless mediocre ones.

Pow Pow

Well they officially lost it. You Wanted a Hit is where the album takes a dive despite the brilliance of the first half. We’re rewarded to another dance number where they honestly stopped giving a f*** and decided “You know we’re gonna dance, and its gonna have annoying noises!!!”

From this perspective, from this position
I have a good grip on both of them because I have stayed home
And have learned a little more about my neighborhood
Which is important, you know, there's a lot of good places to eat

This is a throwback to classic LCD from their first album. Despite these absolutely stupid lyrics this is an all out blast. It’s a fight with the UK that everyone always thought they were from. (New York City baby!!!) But this war is insanely fun.

One, the king wears a king hat and lives in a king house
Two, your time will come but tonight is our night
So you should give us all of your drugs
Three, we have a black president and you do not, so shut up

The energy is there, it’s a blast!!! Come on England your move!!!

Rating: 9/10
Not thought provoking, but fun in every sense of the word. However despite all the strides they had to reinvent the electronic genre, they fall victim to the clichés. But you know what even when they fall for clichés it is amazing.

Somebody’s Calling Me

Yep, they are losing it again. We have a weird song here about god really knows what. Its starts out talking about somebody lusting for the narrator, but nothing seems to go right. It feels like either a dream or… Depression. Which in the later stages when nothing seems to matter like even leaving the house, because what’s the point right? Really this song is a cool down song, but it just hits a nerve, with the keyboard stroke that never f*** stops. Seriously listen for the continuous “dun dun dun dun dun dun dun….” Throughout the entire song and it drives you mad.

Rating: 4/10
This song just annoys me. It has no real reason to exist, and is more annoying than wondrous. You can do way better LCD.

Home

Amazing opening!!! I cannot state this enough, the keyboard flurry is a welcome surprise from the repetition of Somebody’s Calling Me. I feel invigorated like my energy has just returned from whatever the hell the last thing did to it.

So grab your things
And stumble into the night
So we can shut the door
And shut the door on terrible times

You know very few bands ever right a goodbye song with heart. They either run into conflict during their production and just put out a crap album to get it over with, one person dies so they conclude it there, or they don’t know when to quit. LCD on the other hand gave us this as the final song.

Rating: 10/10
In truth this is the best you could really could expect out of a goodbye song. The band is at the top of their game, they are having a great time, and the energy transfers to you. When people are happy that’s the best you can hope for from them. Don’t make goodbyes sad. Let them understand the situation and give them a heartfelt sendoff and they will never forget you.

Overall: 9/10
This album on paper sounds like a complete disaster. None of the songs feel like a continuation of anything and it feels like everything is exceedingly random and jarring. But that can also come from the strength of the songs. Nothing felt similar to anything else on the album and didn’t run into a typical problem with electronic bands where they tend to sound too similar. LCD Soundsystem is a major contributor to the explosion of electronic infused music that the later 2000’s saw burgeoning. As young as this band is you can already see their influence. I recommend this album and also advise you go check out their 2 previous albums as well, trust me they’re worth it.

Recommend Songs:
Dance Yrself Clean, Drunk Girls, I Can Change