LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem

(EMI)

James Murphy, the wizard behind LCD Soundsystem, spent years in punk bands like Pony and Speedking. He's one-half of the sought-after production team DFA, which is responsible for the Rapture's ginormous hit "House of Jealous Lovers." Instead of going the desperate route and getting 27 "guests" to appear on his debut, Murphy pulls the fire alarm and runs. Not that LCD Soundsystem is a joke album. Murphy has simply found a way to combine his myriad influences to form one big, stiff middle finger. To wit: Opener "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" is a five-alarm disco fire, complete with cowbell solo and Beck-ish "ooh ooh yeahs" layered over Murphy's assertion that he's got "every kid for miles" at his house to watch Daft Punk play in the basement. "Losing My Edge" is Murphy teetering on the verge of an infectious beat, while questioning his own relevance. "Beat Connection" propels an ESG funk beat down the line, cushioning a critique of sad hipsters in da club: "Everybody here's afraid of fun and nobody's getting any play. It's the saddest night out in the USA." It seems Murphy enrolled in the Mark E. Smith School of Pronuncia-shun-uh for several of the tracks, but he manages to jump from messy psych ("Tired") to straight-up jams ("Yeah") without turning in his indie cred card. And there's the beautiful irony: Songs like "Losing My Edge" and "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House," the very songs that deconstruct the elitist hipster mentality, are the very songs those kids will be dancing to. You. Can't. Resist. (Thursday, March 17, 1am @ Elysium)