Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem had somehow escaped my attention until I read a review in Rolling Stone Magazine not too long ago. Everything they said pointed to me liking this CD. Sure enough, I ordered it and I love it! It's catchy, melodic, beat heavy and hook laden. In places it has strange electronic sounds and gimmicks that play with your ears and your mind. It has wonderful vocals and multi-layered harmonies, including an utterly charming female background vocalist that wails and yelps a few additions to a couple of the tracks. James Murphy and company presents a wonderful array of danceable electronica music. In listening, I'd say it is very modern and unique but it also has a retro feel. In places, it sounds somewhat like a friendly battle between Devo and Talking Heads, two of the quirkiest bands of the New Wave era.All the tracks are quite good and it would be difficult to rank them. My favorite track, however, is "North American Scum." Somehow it has a very amateurish sound, but it's playful, happy and uplifting at the same time. It's a wonderful combination and the vocals are especially good on this track. If I had to somehow pick the weakest track, ironically it would be "Sound of Silver," the song that provides the title to the album. One song that really stands out as atypical of the entire album is the melancholy "New York, I love You but You're Bringing Me Down." It's a great song and, strangely enough, provides a wonderful close to the album.Altogether, this CD provides catchy, quirky and uplifting dance music. It's fun. When I listen, I have a smile on my face. That's my kinda music.

Albums like Sound of Silver shouldn't be made anymore. Listeners of the indie generation lost a feel a while ago for a great straight-through album, even one composed of universally well made songs. Sound of Silver, though, doesn't remind me of other indie albums, despite its love of the modern-techno dance beats of the reinvented 80s-sound that's permeated indie music the last few years. Instead, it reminds me of the Stones' Let It Bleed or the Who's Who's Next for a new generation. Almost monolithically focused on the pains and pangs of aging and accepting adulthood, Sound of Silver is the type of album that forges an idea and pushes it so compulsively from one song to the next, you're almost immediately aware that you're in the type of album you never hear anymore - yet sonically, it's so advanced and up to the moment, lyrically so pointed and clever, it could only be made right now. "Get Innocuous," its 7 minute opener plunges you into beats so all-encompassing you don't notice what it seems to really, lyrically, be talking about - a fight to keep yourself from getting old. That theme pops up again and again - from the loss that clouds "Someone Great" to the pounding, brilliant manifesto "All My Friends" that separates the album into two. What are you to make of, say, "Sound of Silver" that has exactly one line ("Sound of silver talk to me/ makes you want to feel like a teenager/ until you remember the feelings of a real live emotional teenager/ then you think again") plunged into an absolute techno maelstrom? That you're happy to be a little older and wiser and more stable, and still capable of dancing all night. If any theme deserved a great album, it's that one, and it found its home.

I bought this album on a whim after hearing North American Scum on the radio, and fell in love with it ever since! Basically, if you enjoy indie/alternative/techno/experimental music, this album doesn't disappoint.What's great is that each song has it's own unique feeling. You've got your dance-driven tracks like Get Innocuous, Us V Them, and more mellow tracks like Someone Great, and the ballad-like New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down. Even after my first listening, I could distinguish songs apart, and it didn't all "blend together". I'm not familiar with anything off of LCD Soundsystem's debut album, but after listening to Sound of Silver, I'm looking into buying that too.At only $6.00 for the MP3 Album download, it's well worth the money!Best tracks: Get Innocuous!, Time To Get Away, North American Scum, Us V Them, Watch the Tapes, Sound of SilverIf you fall in love with this album like I did, I would also recommend LCD Soundsystem's A Bunch of Stuff EP, which contains great remixes of the songs on here.

I'm by no means an expert on how to appreciate music, but I must say I was really impressed with Sound of Silver's quality. There were a few songs that I enjoyed from LCD Soundsystems first release, but those took a bit of time for me to get into. Sound of Silver got me right from the start in a way I haven't experienced from a CD for some time. Normally I expect to have to give some time for a CD to grow on me, but this one didn't require any extra effort. Having said that, I know a few of the songs will not have a great deal of staying power in my "everyday playlist", but enough of them do that I would strongly recommend this CD. "Get Innocuous!", "North American Scum", and "All My Friends" all deserve the positive attention they've been given and I know I will continue to enjoy them for years to come.

Arrived on time but cd case was broken