“Daft Punk is Playing at My House” – LCD Soundsystem
(Words/music: James Murphy, available on LCD Soundsystem, DFA 2005)
James Murphy’s best work under his LCD Soundsystem moniker tends to sprawl beyond five minutes. Generally, these tracks need this time to gradually evolve, like the ever-intensifying “All My Friends” or the lesser acclaimed “Someone Great” from the same disc. Some of these songs need their long running time to tell the entire story – the caustic “Losing My Edge” needs every one of its near eight minutes to build up and tear down any artificial notions of “cool.” Given the larger canvas, Murphy generally will use all available space to his advantage. He does these longer tracks so well that his shorter, more compact tracks fall through the cracks. Some of his best compositions – “Tribulations,” “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down,” and “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” – could play twice before reaching the end of some of his longer songs.
“Daft Punk…” sounds particularly tight when compared with some of Murphy’s more extensive mixes. Fueled by a tight guitar riff, the song gives Murphy enough space for a thumbnail sketch of a Daft Punk basement show. Murphy howls a few times and repeats some of his lines, but generally he stays out of the way of the track. It’s the only track I can think of that features a cowbell solo as well (and a multi-pitched cowbell / a-go-go bell solo at that)! It captures the specific vibe one might have scrambling to put together a house show (especially one for a group that fills much larger venues) – Murphy sets the stage and ends the track before wearing out his welcome, just in time for the guys in the robot suits to annoy the neighbors.
(As I’ve done a few times this week, I’ll be listening to the new LCD Soundsystem album This is Happening at 10:00 tonight on the East coast and tweeting my thoughts and replying to yours on the @somesongs Twitter page. Hope you’ll join in!)
More on LCD Soundsystem: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm
21 Notes