walking upstream…
LCD Soundsystem
photo: andywallxyz · cc by 4.0 ↗LCD Soundsystem
sourcesNPR Fresh Air · Wikipedia
LCD Soundsystem began in 2002 as the solo vehicle of James Murphy, a veteran soundman and DFA Records co-founder who had spent years producing other people's dance-punk records before making his own. The debut single 'Losing My Edge' — a self-lacerating list-song about scenester obsolescence — announced a project fluent in both post-punk anxiety and club-music repetition, a duality Murphy sharpened across 'LCD Soundsystem,' 'Sound of Silver,' and 'This Is Happening' with drummer Pat Mahoney and keyboardist Nancy Whang. The band staged an elaborate 'retirement' in 2011 with a sold-out Madison Square Garden farewell, then reconvened in 2015, releasing the Grammy-winning 'American Dream' in 2017. Murphy's deadpan, talk-sung delivery over live-band-meets-machine grooves made LCD Soundsystem a bridge between guitar culture and the dancefloor.
the sound in question
2007
All My FriendsLCD Soundsystem
walk the tributaries ↓
Suicide1970s · Synth-punk / Proto-punk / Electronic
Murphy has called Suicide's debut the album he'd recommend above all others, prizing its 'sheer singularity of vision and generosity wrapped up in terror,' and praised how Alan Vega and Martin Rev used 'professional synthesisers' while keeping 'a lot of weirdness and toughness' in the mix — a description that doubles as a mission statement for LCD's own machine-plus-menace sound. After Vega's death in 2016, Murphy opened 'American Dream' with 'oh baby,' an explicit reimagining of Suicide's 'Dream Baby Dream.'
listen: upstream & heresource: Far Out Magazine ↗
1979
Dream Baby DreamSuicide
2017
oh babyLCD Soundsystem
listen forPlay 'Dream Baby Dream' into 'oh baby' — both hang a plaintive, repeated vocal phrase over a slow, hypnotic synth pulse that never resolves, patient and a little eerie rather than propulsive.
Talking Heads1980s · New wave / Art punk / Post-punk
Murphy has pointed to Talking Heads' 'Fear of Music' era as one of the records that made him fall into 'his' music, and named the band alongside Brian Eno, Steve Reich, and the Fall as shaping 'Sound of Silver.' Their nervy, paranoid funk — spoken-sung verses ticking over a tense, syncopated groove — is the clearest template for LCD's own habit of turning anxious, list-making lyrics into something you can dance to.
listen: upstream & here
1979
Life During WartimeTalking Heads
2002
Losing My EdgeLCD Soundsystem
listen forSet 'Life During Wartime' beside 'Losing My Edge' — both ride a jittery, funk-inflected pulse under a half-spoken vocal that's cataloguing a scene (parties, records, names) from a position of nervous exhaustion rather than celebration.
David Bowie1970s · Art rock / Glam rock
Murphy has said that Bowie and Eno's Berlin-era sound 'is just a big part of my musical life, from when I was a kid through now,' and 'This Is Happening' leaned directly on that Berlin Trilogy atmosphere — 'All I Want' in particular indebted to 'Heroes,' down to a guitar figure that echoes Robert Fripp's. The two later grew close enough that Murphy was working on Bowie's 'Blackstar' when Bowie encouraged him to reunite LCD Soundsystem.
listen: upstream & heresource: Far Out Magazine ↗
1977
HeroesDavid Bowie
2010
All I WantLCD Soundsystem
listen forLine up 'Heroes' with 'All I Want' — both build a long, gradually swelling arrangement around one sustained, keening guitar line that pushes against a steady rhythm bed, the emotion arriving through repetition and volume rather than a change in the chords.