LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver

LCD Soundsystem's second album, SOUND OF SILVER, picks up the rock-electro-disco torch of their first, eponymous album, and continues to run with it. Certainly, "Get Innocuous!" kicks off with a New Wave synth line gives way, almost imperceptibly, to some guitar work. "North American Scum" begins innocently enough, until it becomes a bizarre chant in of the entire continent. And "Someone Great" starts out like a long-lost Kompakt track, before the bright bell that follows the vocal line reminds us that we're still in North America. They also leave room for some funky political commentary ("Us V Them") as well as a heartfelt torch song to the city that never sleeps ("New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down"). But the track that's (rightly) gotten all the buzz is "All My Friends." It's a comedown song for the entire Xtasy generation--what happens when the party generation has to grow up. With the throbbing bassline and quiet longing synth line in the chorus (a heavy debt to New Order here), it melds happy nostalgia and sadness effortlessly into a swirling sonic concoction. Massively moving.