LCD Pollsystem- Sound of Silver

(no jaggers club)

my 42 sockpuppets and i will be voting "watch the tapes"

j/k ;)

faust arp, man.

all my friends. I sorta hope it doesn't win though.

it's between the first three tracks for me

first track title should be taken out and shot.

^^ except that the soulwax mix is epic.

n.american scum.

have a soft spot for "someone great" cuz it sounds like heaven 17.

You're right, tipsy!

I learned to love "Us v Them."

'get innocuous' is the only one i like

surprising!

all my friends

yup

get innocuous

Get Innocuous.

someone great

I only like the first 4 songs on this, the first album is better

all my friends, easy

lcd soundsystem are only really worthwhile in dance-track mode, a total snooze when they're self-consciously doing "albums". the bonus disc of their singles on the first album >>>>>>> their actual albums

i think maybe the title track! the vocals are so goofy

though i don't really remember how the rest of it goes

Voted for NAS cuz it reminds me to listen to Homosapien.

SOMEONE GREAT. ultimately.

This is similar to the 1st Roxy Music record, with all the best songs packed on side 1.

All My Friends by a mile. The rest of the album really isn't that good

all my friends 4 sho - tho "time to get away" and "get innocuous" are right up there

i for one love "new york i love you"

what is the big deal about "all my friends"

it's a great little minimalist pop song.

what is the big deal about "all my friends"

― thom yorke in the stripclub (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, December 30, 2008 9:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

http://hunternuttall.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jerry-seinfeld.jpg

Time to Get Away, and Watch the Tapes, prob the worst on this. Get Innocuous is a great opener and Someone Great is.. pretty good. Gotta be All My Friends tho.

voting for "NY ILU" just because no one else will

what is the big deal about "all my friends"

bafflement seconded

:(

it sounds so middle-aged

i mean i'm not doing a "lex is young" thing obv, i don't think i can any more, but it just sounds...tired. and really dull. and deflating.

The fact that it sounds middle-aged is entirely the point. It's a song about getting too old to party.

james is old and fat

voted north american scum because all my friends needs some competition

old and fat are not good things to be

do you only want to hear songs about nice things?

I got innocuous btw

getting too old to party is a sad fact of life (or so i hear) but not one that should be anywhere near a pop song, like i don't want to hear about bowel incontinence in a pop song either

this fuckin guy

wow lex

it's also depressing that people seem to rally round a middle-aged song rather than a fun one, people are confusing "depressing & deflating" w/ "meaningful" here

sometimes people want to listen to depressing and deflating music

not sure i want to hear james murphy in happy mode really tho

i love songs about getting old & fat

What's Up Fatlip?

lex you like fun music so much

I mean Lex if you wanna talk serious let's talk serious: it's "depressing and deflating" because it's confronting an inevitable reality that we'll all have to face, and it does it by imbuing our current partying with the weight of impermanence. It makes us aware of the essential transience of the all-night lifestyle, and in that light even our fun party times are given an elegiac and more meaningful quality: this is our youth, and it's fun, and like everything else it slips away.

That's not a sentiment that belongs in "Get Innocuous!" per se, and it's fair to say that it's not something you want to hear in your pop music, but as is evident by the support here and elsewhere I think it's clear that this sadness can be just as compelling a subject for some as an ecstatic love tune might be for you.

ok being serious! i have as much time for sadness in pop songs as anyone really, but most of the sad pop songs which resonate with me evoke really specific emotional situations - my beef w/ 'all my friends' and its ilk is its vague mopeyness, i can't connect to that even though i "know" what it's about. everything about it is underwhelming - the production is great but it just sounds flat and sterile, as if james murphy decided that the best way to convey the boredom & disillusionment in the narrative was to make the song really boring too. (cf pet shop boys' 'being boring', which i love.)

it's "depressing and deflating" because it's confronting an inevitable reality that we'll all have to face, and it does it by imbuing our current partying with the weight of impermanence. It makes us aware of the essential transience of the all-night lifestyle, and in that light even our fun party times are given an elegiac and more meaningful quality: this is our youth, and it's fun, and like everything else it slips away.

uuuuugggghh

my words have broken the tombot FREEDOM AT LAST

you're never too old to party

hoos you are all right but that paragraph is like, oh fuck it dude I'm suggest banning you for that I think you just made me hate all music forever except a few novelty records

I mean, yeah I suppose there will come a point when you have to stop going to clubs because you don't want to be "that guy", but "too old to party"? never that.

http://www.rivervalleyslf.com/old%20people%20party.jpg

http://setxtrailerpark.com/bucksblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/old-people-bird.jpg

yeah i know it's typical ilm english major overreading bullshit but i'm just trying to tease out why the song appeals to me and thats what i pulled out of my ass

sorry if it stinks

nah, I think that nails it.

ya im down with you hoos... i guess the lex's problem with the song is that it doesn't seem to fall into a very narrow range of acceptable subject matter/tone, or satisfy some vague ideology of fun that's as meaningless as geir's insistence on melody above all else

"Us Vs Them."

I just absolutely despise wistful longing-for crap in songs and you just summed up why
I had an irritating, overscheduled youth full of disappointments and retarded-ass self-pitying self esteem issues, thinking about young times as if it was some precious moments lost like tears in the rain is hell of self-deceit, I mean I went to parties and danced and shit but seriously I kind of enjoy being an adult. the prom queen and the quarterback might have a different perspective but fuck them.

actually dovetails nicely with why I don't have the time of day for that radiohead mess

ooh if only I could go back to being twenty years old and an asshole! I was so good at that!!

get innocuous (yes, this is one of those albums that starts with a flourish and goes out with a whimper)

anyway back on topic I vote for whichever one it is that's basically a remix of yr city's a sucker

i guess the lex's problem with the song is that it doesn't seem to fall into a very narrow range of acceptable subject matter/tone, or satisfy some vague ideology of fun that's as meaningless as geir's insistence on melody above all else

― s1ocki, Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:35 AM (5 minutes ago)

...or that it's just boring. I agree with Lex totally, the song does nothing and goes nowhere. I don't know if that's the point or part of the appeal, but the love for it really is baffling to me - it topped like every major "Best Singles of '07" Poll.

yeah honestly i just want to vote for "yeah (crass version)"

i agree that everything since that has been kind of a disappointment!!

hey tombot you are the quarterback of ILX

YESSSS

THERE GOES MY HERO

lex is the prom queen

WATCH HIM AS HE GOES

^ fuckin guy

get innocuous

tom it occurs to me given your point that the title track agrees

sound of silver talks to you
makes you want to feel like a teenager
until you remember the feelings of
a real live emotional teenager
then you think agaaaaaaaaaain

y'know i didn't even pay attention to the lyrics to "all my friends" the first however many times through the album. i just thought of it as "the new order song," and thought it was pretty good. then i started reading all these heartfelt things about it by 20somethings that sort of boiled down to "omg this song makes me realize i will someday be 30!" and i thought, haha, whatever, i'm gonna be 40 soon, suck it up kids. then i realized james murphy is gonna be 40 soon too, and then the song made a different kind of sense.

still like "north american scum" better.

"North American Scum" is the one that makes me go "WTF? Why do people like this?"

patriotism.

(also, catchy and funny.)

it takes "daft punk is playing at my house" and tightens it and brings up the energy xp

yeah. also, i think i've said this before, but i really like james murphy's singing. he's one of the few contemporary indie guys that i think has solved the irony problem. (indie women are better at this than indie men, imo. guys tend to go too much one way or another, where girls are better at meaning-it and knowing-better at the same time. murphy hits that balance pretty well.)

it takes "daft punk is playing at my house""homosapien" and speeds it up

xpost

and it made people remember that song, which was a public service. before "north american scum," you couldn't find that video on youtube. (i tried, repeatedly.) now:

it takes "daft punk is playing at my house" and tightens it and brings up the energy xp

Suggest Ban Permalink
― BIG HOOS is not a nacho purist fwiw (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, December 30, 2008 8:27 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've always viewed it as doing the things "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" does but not as well, and that's one of my less favorite LCD songs to begin with.

Haha, Tipsy, I just found that too! And it linked to the Members' "Radio"!

I don't mind "All My Friends," New Order's Joshua Tree with VU-era Cale piano, but the lyrics are too damn vague for me to OMG over it, especially when it's so close to "Someone Great," which is totally the best song about finding out your therapist died ever.

i really like james murphy's singing. he's one of the few contemporary indie guys that i think has solved the irony problem.

― tipsy mothra

This just broke my brain. Murphy's clumsy approach to the "irony problem" is the one thing that keeps me at arm's length from this band. Stop rubbing your fucking self-awareness in my face, guy.

tom it occurs to me given your point that the title track agrees

haha I thought of that too!! but it was after I got stuck with psycho late nite summarize-the-implications-of-the-latest-hole-in-internets at my satisfying adult work job so I'm glad you posted it for me

also helps re: my vote in this poll

gotta love lyrics

Stop rubbing your fucking self-awareness in my face, guy.

see i think he's totally comfortable with his self-awareness. (like lou reed, his most obvious model.) and is able to be funny and smart about it, in a way a lot/most indie-self-aware singers are not.

so basically he's self-aware about his self-awareness

oh holy shit it is like a musician went to college and studied humanities

is that my man humanities?

i guess the lex's problem with the song is that it doesn't seem to fall into a very narrow range of acceptable subject matter/tone, or satisfy some vague ideology of fun that's as meaningless as geir's insistence on melody above all else

no, this isn't correct, & i would appreciate it if you didn't impute narrow-mindedness to me where there isn't any. next time i'll just say "i don't like the song b/c it's really fucking boring" & leave it at that.

lex is the prom queen

:D

"North American Scum" is the one that makes me go "WTF? Why do people like this?"

'north american scum' could've been so excellent but james murphy just goes way overboard w/the goofy hamminess & makes it pretty much unlistenable

he's one of the few contemporary indie guys that i think has solved the irony problem.

i agree with both you and contenderizer here - i have a real love/hate thing with his voice, when he does that posey chant thing on eg 'losing my edge' i think it's terrific but when he tries to "sing" "meaningfully" it's sort of terrible. (i just tried to listen to 'all my friends' again and realised my actual fundamental problem with it is the awful quavery mess of a voice.)

indie women are better at this than indie men, imo. guys tend to go too much one way or another, where girls are better at meaning-it and knowing-better at the same time.

this is an interesting point which i think i agree with, care to expand? (i think girls tend less to manifest their irony via bad singing.)

I just absolutely despise wistful longing-for crap in songs and you just summed up why

i don't see it as pining for teenage days at all, which i usually hate too. murphy seems pretty comfortable with being old and fat. sorry he's not writing about how much likes his IT job and living alone with cats.

(btw i have an IT job and live alone with cats)

so basically he's self-aware about his self-awareness

― The Reverend

oh holy shit it is like a musician went to college and studied humanities

― TOMBOT

Rev OTM. Intelligence and complexity don't bother me. Hell, irony doesn't bother me; I like irony. What bothers me is that Murphy just won't shut up about it. Listening to SOS, I feel like I'm constantly being reminded of exactly how self-aware Murphy is, and how aware his is of that self-awareness, and how clever the resulting mess is supposed to be. It's irritatting, and the fact that it's supposed to be irritating makes the irritation worse, not better.

"irrittating"

then i started reading all these heartfelt things about it by 20somethings that sort of boiled down to "omg this song makes me realize i will someday be 30!" and i thought, haha, whatever, i'm gonna be 40 soon, suck it up kids. then i realized james murphy is gonna be 40 soon too, and then the song made a different kind of sense.

Seems to me to be the real draw of the album. Instrumental versions would still be great, but if the album was made by a 20 year old, I dunno if it'd have the same appeal? And he sorta corners a market here. How many great bands/artists in the 20th century were at their peak when they were Murphy's age? You're usually either retired from music, or a dinosaur at the bottom of your career. Bowie was at 'Never Let Me Down', Dylan was in his Christian phase, Prince was a symbol etc. etc. (I'm sure there are some great counterexamples. Springsteen made Tunnel of Love...which actually seems like a decent album to compare this to? 'Someone Great' could almost be on that album.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"How many great bands/artists in the 20th century were at their peak when they were Murphy's age?"

Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Miles Davis & bunches of other blues and jazz musicians.

God, if I were an astonishingly wanky US style mag writer I might, while particularly short on inspiration, write some nonsense about how North American Scum has been rendered obsolete by Obama or something. Thank fuck I'm not. It's still the best thing on here though.

You're usually either retired from music, or a dinosaur at the bottom of your career.

I read a Voice profile of Murphy where he basically says before DFA & LCD took off he was considering getting out of music because at 30 he had never done anything major and felt like a total failure.

for whatever that's worth to the discussion

Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Miles Davis & bunches of other blues and jazz musicians.

I'm pretty sure most people figured out that I was talking about rock music.

I really wish I could kill "All My Friends".

"Someone Great" got my vote.

I don't dislike a single song on this album, except "New York I Love You", which salvaged itself live, so I even like that one now.

Someone Great got my vote, too. I don't dislike a single song on this album either, although I'm less fond of New York I Love You than the rest. Get Innocuous! would have been my second choice; All My Friends third.

Actually, fucking hell, I love this album.

I don't like "Time to Get Away" or "North American Scum".

Haha, I especially love those! :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

votes for everything, how nice

weird, if I'd known about this poll I woulda voted watch the tapes btw

Exactly 100 votes.

New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down 4

oh come on

was great live

can't believe i missed this collaboration ...

http://vodpod.com/watch/1207726-kermitlcd-soundsystem

also, i think i've said this before, but i really like james murphy's singing.

I think I've said this before, but I really dislike James Murphy's singing. Kind of hard for me to believe that people would actually listen to the lyrics on his records but that's just me maybe. "Someone Great" and "Get Innocuous" are comfortably the best tracks on this album though the whole thing is pretty easy on the ears... apart from the vocals ... and WTAF with the last track on this album, what a load of shite!

Well 12 years on, I stand by my appreciation of Murphy's vocals. :) (Tho I was but a wee lad of 38 then, not well versed in the ways of the world.)

LOL I really have a problem with this guy's vocals.

I have absolutely no problem with Murphy's music or vocals - Sound of Silver is near the top of my list of favorite albums from the '00s. He can be an ass, to the point where you think he wants people to hate him.

most of the stuff that irritates me about Murphy's vocals went away after the first album