Pitchfork Media is a popular online magazine, famous for giving 'hard ass' ratings to indie bands, serving as gatekeepers to authentic blog buzz / critical acclaim. LCD Soundsystem's latest album This Is Happening leaked several weeks ago, but it will be formally released tomorrow. Pitchfork must have obtained the leak, because they reviewed it, giving it a 'controversial' 9.2.

Did this album really deserve a 9.2 or is this LCD Soundsystem's 'weakest top-to-bottom' product?

Many LCD Soundsystem purists respect James Murphy, but claim that this album 'leaves them wanting something more.' Some say that LCD Soundsystem has already made the revant catalog that they need
"I spent my whole life wanting to be cool... but I've come to realize that coolness doesn't exist the way I once assumed," said Murphy in a recent Guardian feature. This realization probably has something to do with his rising cultural cache. After all, Murphy has done what all other music fiends only dream about-- he's flipped the system and become the embodiment of coolness. This is a phenomenal coup. And he's quick to rationalize his current status to the New Yorker: "I understand that if someone's going to make me his idea of cool I can't control that."

It's somewhat ironic, then, that Murphy's reign as New York's ambassador of post-hip-everything finds him nearly losing his cool on This Is Happening. His early singles and first album were him joking to himself, Sound of Silver was a collective rush of us vs. them, and now it's about him and her. This is also by far the bloodiest LCD Soundsystem album-- a series of bare, lacerating manifestos about distance between people, set to the fizzing art/dance-rock greatest hits inside Murphy's skull. "Love is a murderer," he sings on "I Can Change". He's not kidding.

I feel like LCD Soundsystem's generic press coverage focuses on James Murphy being an old, self-aware dude, so then music magazines will talk about 'how trends have such a short lifespan', but James Murphy is the one authentic thing that lasts 4ever that 'every1 can agree on.' Not even sure if this album was that good, or if it was just sort of a 'victory lap' type of album.

Basically, James Murphy has alternative tenure where he is 'grandfathered in' to favorable reviews, but he is not all artsy and weird like the Animal Collective dudes, so articles/reviews about LCD Soundsystem 'bring out the worst' in music journalism/writing because people have to get all historical + weave in some sort of timeline of social/musical trends.

Feel like the previous album is 'better' than this album (because it had a few more 'good mp3s'), but it also received a 9.2. Feel like maybe they 'didn't have the balls' to drop him a few tenths of a point, or possibly 2k10 is just a mad weak year.

If James Murphy was 10-20 years younger, would LCD Soundsystem be 'perceived' the same way? Would he be 'marketed' like some sort of young Brooklynite who immigrated to the buzzcubator? Would LCD Soundsystem have a higher commercial ceiling? Would they be marketed like Passion Pit?

I feel kinda better about listening to Animal Collective, because they are singing about being husbands + dads. I'm not even sure what James Murphy is singing about, seems like it is some old bro singing about 'taking advantage' of drunk girls, then spending tons of time reflecting on the totes dated social concept of 'cool' / how 'fleeting' trends + 'the scene' can be. Feel like maybe James Murphy should make disco jams about being a solid life partner, and wanting to provide shelter via adobe-wave architecture for his family.

Is the rating 'too high' because this album is overrated, or have 'the numbers become all inflated in the 2k10 economy? Worried that there will be some sort of historical collapse of the strength of the Pitchfork currency. We need to stop giving out buzz loans to bands that don't qualify as being genuinely 'buzzworthy' and getting a 1-2 point boost for being 'new and exciting.'

Feel like maybe Pitchfork has been 'handing out a shit load' of 8.4-8.6es over the past year to 'cool bands' that people feel comfortable liking, so then albums like this have to get inflated. Guess this means it is a 'frontrunner' for 2k10 album of the year for people who want to brand the year as belonging to James Murphy.

Did LCD Soundsystem deserve a 9.2?
Have the 'progressed' musically?
Should they write more songs that sound like "Kids" and "Electric Feel"?
Was this album a 'let down'?
Do u feel comfortable with this being 1 of the best albums of 2k10?
Is James Murphy a chill bro, or does he need to sing more about family values?

Is James Murphy the electro James Taylor?

LCD Soundsystem

Buzzband

LCD Soundsystem is a post-disco electro band.

Lists: received above a 9 from Pitchfork, alternative tenure, critical darlings, Brooklyn-based buzzbands

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