The Sound of 'Silver' is right

LCD Soundsystem is the musical project of a producer, James Murphy. Sounds of Silver was the second release from Murphy on March 12, 2007. It was highly acclaimed when it came out.
When I first heard about LCD Soundsystem, I thought it was just another techno album with pounding back beats and loud annoying noises. As you’ll read, I was terribly wrong:

Get Innocuous
This song is a great opener with a solid groove. It is complete with a catchy chant phrase in the middle of the song which is always. This first makes me beg the question, “Was this a B-Side to Ziggy Stardust?” I mean, you cannot deny the obvious David Bowie-esque way that this song flows with its almost lazy lyric lines. It’s a very good song with just enough variation on the main theme to keep the interest in the song for all seven minutes. Off to a good start. Favorite musical part: The slightly palm muted guitar riding the beat for most of the way. 4/5. (Yes, I looked up to see what Innocuous means: harmless. Let’s get harmless!)

Time to Get Away
In the first seconds of this song, my head immediately started bopping and didn’t quit. The lyrical quality mirrors the vocals of Bands like Ima Robot, where the vocals are merely another melody to this song and it doesn’t matter if you are a master opera singer. You have to love the attempt (and succession) of a solid high vocal part. The bass kicks it through this song and the extra percussion comes in at the exact time it should. It has a very classy fake ending to the song and rocks it until the end Not as good as its preceding song but not far behind. Favorite musical part: The keyboard accents that come in threes in the pre-chorus and chorus. 3.75/5

North American Scum
Ah, the single. It seems like the song is going to be exciting for the first moments (a very monotone, low, rumbling synthesizer). The very millisecond that the verse starts, this song stands out definitely as the single. It has that certain catchy radio quality. The post-chorus/ verse 2 has a great guitar part that keeps even the punk-rawkers interested. ::points to self:: The extra female vocals on parts add a touch of class and Architecture in Helsinki sound to it. Awesomeness, sheer awesomeness. Finally, we have an anthem for all of us, North American Scum. Don’t blame the Canadians! Favorite musical part: The aforementioned guitar part. 4.5/5.

Someone Great
Postal Service comes to mind. This song is the first one that actually had deeper lyrics and a message or story to tell. The lines that grabbed me the most is: “I miss the way we used to argue,” or “And it keeps coming until the day it stops and then it keeps it coming.” This song would have to be the stereotyped “ballad” of a CD and it is a damn good one. It keeps it slowly and doesn’t add anything fancy because it doesn’t need it. It’s hard to find a good electronically themed band that can keep it not complicated. Solid. Favorite musical part: The lyrics! 3/5

All My Friends
This song has a great piano part that begins to build up the song. It very reminiscent of the way “One Big Holiday” made me listen to music. (Remember those Sweet Sounds Vol. 6 days!) This has a brilliant reference to Pink Floyd. “Set the controls for the heart of the sun.” I kept waiting for this song to change unfortunately and it never really came. I mean, seven and a half minutes, c’mon. Favorite musical part: The repetitious music saved by the beautifully melodic vocals. 3/5.

Us v. Them
I know I shouldn’t constantly compare this band to another band for every song, but it’s a compliment (since the bands that are being compared are my favorites). This song screams Beck…and in a really effin’ sweet way. It is the Beck that I love. You know, the smooth and groovy stuff. A porn-ish silky bass line rides the majority of the song and makes me feel it all through my body. I find it to be a really nice party-feeling song. Favorite musical part: The killer toms beginning at 6:53 and the soft “bells” at 0:45 in the song. 4.5/5.

Watch The Tapes
This song caught me off guard. It has a classic punk rock introduction a la Johnny Ramone. This song, my friend, is a stand out track. It blend so many sounds together. It holds a very simple beat, and holds a certain “basement Indy band” feel. It seems to cram a lot of words into the shortest song on the album. Yet always keeping my favorite line in every verse, “We’re both high high high, high high on lemon sips,” and always replacing the second line with something more clever than the one before. Outstanding. Favorite Musical part: Lemon sips, duh. 5/5.

Sound of SilverNow, to me, a title track has some certain expectations it has to which it must live up. It should represent the entire album and it should be an amazing track. This song did not disappoint. Although all of the lyrics can be fit into a small paragraph:

sound of silver talk to me
makes you want to feel like a teenager
until you remember the feelings of
a real life emotional teenager
then you think again

Now the music is what the song is about. This is the first song that really made me remember that this was an electronic band. It has a psychedelic pseudo-jam blending right into the end of this track. It was quite the change of pace from the rest of the album. (Then again, does this album have a pace?) Favorite musical part: All of it (cop out.) 4/5.

New York, I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down
This song is about how disappointed he is in the city as a whole of New York. It is completely different than anything else on the album and from what I’ve heard; different from anything he’s ever done. It is a very well written song with some very witty lyrics. It is definitely a favorite on the album. Favorite Musical part: “New York, I love you but you’re freaking me out \ There’s a ton of the twist \ But we’re fresh out of shout.” 4/5.

By my calculation, this album received 35.75/45 or a 79.44% but in my class, I grade on a curve so I think this album would get a solid grade of 85% or a B. This is a great album and I would suggest it to anyone. Silver is the right metal to describe this album, not quite gold. Peace.