Taken from their third, and reportedly final, album ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ is nine minutes of LCD Soundsytem’s finest work. The track provides the slow opening for ‘This Is Happening’, with James Murphy’s vocal quietly accompanied by handclaps and metronomic bass. It’s not until the track reaches past the lengthy three minute mark that the brooding beat kicks in. It’s a trick that shows why LCD are such a special band; the slow brooding intro forced many listeners to reach for the volume to hear the lyrics before the track angrily booms out of their speakers a third of the way. This is LCD Soundsystem at their best, making great pop music without worrying about making a snappy radio edit.
LCD Soundsytem spent a large part of 2010 on the road showcasing their third album across countless festivals and a co-headline tour with Hot Chip. Murphy recently confirmed with Spinner UK that the band will not tour after 2011; however that doesn’t mean the last of LCD Soundsytem as a band. We can expect more music in the future, but those hoping to catch the band live will need to act fast. He commented “It doesn’t mean we won’t make an album per se, but the process will be very different. We’re done being just a pro rock ensemble.”
This weekend, we finished our summer festival season by making the journey to the Isle of Wight for Bestival. Now in its seventh year, the event has become an essential addition to many summer diaries with around 50,000 eager revelers making the journey across the water. As always, fancy dress was the order of the weekend; with a large majority of attendees – including many of the bands – adhering to the ‘Fantasy’ theme for the event bathing the site in an array of colour. The festival’s curator, Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank, once again ensured the weekend went off with a bang. With a line up that encompassed some of the biggest artists and DJ’s plus a number of one off performances that keep this festival so unique.
Headlining the event’s main stage this year were the Prince of Grime, turned permanent chart botherer, Dizzee Rascal, American indie Godfathers The Flaming Lips and, providing one of Bestivals most raucous send offs, dance legends The Prodigy. However this was only the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of other bands and DJ’s providing countless line up clashes across the weekend. Whether it was the draw of the Big Top, or the fire breathing chaos of Arcadia; Bestival provided a weekend of unbridled madness that already has us counting down the days till next year.
US cartoon network Adult Swim, in a joint effort with carmaker KIA, has put together a series of new tracks by eight highly rated artists. For eight consecutive weeks, a new single will be offered as a free download.
The first one is now available and comes from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, teaming up once again with Matt Sweeney; with whom he released the 2005 collaboration album ‘Superwolf’. The pair covers a seventies country hit by Gene Watson, ‘Love In The Hot Afternoon’, for the occasion.
Madvillain, acclaimed new rapper Freddie Gibbs and Holy Ghost – with their remix of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Drunk Girls’ – are also among the acts to appear in the series.
Check the complete schedule below:
17/5: Superwolf (Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney). 24/5: Madvillain. 31/5: Killer Mike. 07/6: Washed Out (with Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek). 14/6: High On Fire. 21/6: Black Lips. 28/6: LCD Soundsystem (‘Drunk Girls’ Holy Ghost! Remix). 05/7: Cults. 12/7: Freddie Gibbs
As anticipation for the release of LCD Soundsystem’s new album mounts, the first hints of what the final product will sound like are beginning to come together. Yesterday two leaked tracks appeared online entitled ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ and ‘I Can Change’. Those who got to check the tracks out before they were taken down would attest that they fall closer to the indie side of LCD Soundsystem’s indie /dance sound.
The first official single will be ‘Drunk Girls’: an enticing musical mixture that has a solid Gang Of Four-esque bassline and a chorus that sounds like it’s sung by a down on their luck 60’s surf rock band. Typical of LCD Soundsystem’s former songs such as ‘Yeah (Crass Version)’, ‘Drunk Girls’ is likely to become a welcome addition to the band’s live shows.
Interestingly for fans of the band, there appears to be little evidence on the new album of LCD Soundsystem leader James Murphy’s current obsession with slightly camp disco. His DJ performances over the last year as part of Special Disco Version have seem him spinning strutting discoid gems from the likes of Hot Chocolate and Shalamar – often to enraptured and sometimes slightly confused audiences more used to James’ heavier musical styles.
To download a free Special Disco Version mix by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney click here.
Now in its seventh year, Rob Da Bank’s Bestival continues to stand out among the wealth of festivals that take place over the summer. After 2009’s crowd were wowed by German electro pioneers Kraftwerk, expectations were certainly high for this year. Thankfully the Radio 1 DJ has pulled yet another stroke of organisational genius and has come back with a veritable feast of musical goodness. This year’s event takes place on the Isle Of Wight on the 9th to 12th September. Headlining the opening day will be East London’s own Prince of Grime, Dizzee Rascal. Stepping up to the headline slot will surely be no problem for the rapper and no surprise for anyone who witnessed the reaction ‘Bonkers’ received during his Glastonbury set last summer. Also playing will be psychedelic pop masters The Flaming Lips, whose enchanting stage show will no doubt fit in perfectly with the festivals trippy aesthetics.
Making their fifth festival outing at this year’s event will be Hot Chip, whose appearance comes hot on the heels of fourth album, ‘One Life Stand’. If that wasn’t enough, LCD Soundsystem will also be showcasing tracks from their highly anticipated third – and rumoured to be final – album.
As always with Bestival, the headliners are just a small portion of what you will witness over the weekend; with many other bands and DJ’s equally vying for your attention amongst the masses of fancy dressed revellers and unexpected sideshow attractions. The list of acts is already jaw dropping and as the event isn’t until September – it’s only going to get better. For the full line up and ticket info, head to the Bestival website.
James Murphy strikes again. The first hint of how the third LCD Soundsystem‘s album might sound is this cover of Alan Vega’s ‘Bye Bye Bayou’, reinventing the Suicide member’s original like an explosion of 21st century disco.
The track was not meant to be released on vinyl until November the 7th, but an early internet leak has prompted Murphy to allow the first 20.000 visitors to the following link a free download in exchange for their contact details. Hurry up and enjoy!
