YES! Someone elso finally said it. I can't stand all this 'digital rock' and disco being propagated as if it's something special and super-cool. Yes, it might get the indie kids to cross over, but that doesn't mean that house & techno lovers (like me) are suddenly supposed to like it too. I don't like rock and I don't like it to start influencing 'my' music scene.

I agree with this article. I feel like "dance-rock" is such a pussyfoot way to commercialize electronic dance music.

I like my electronic music staying true to it's electronic origins and evolving as technolgy evolves.

'I like my electronic music staying true to it's electronic origins and evolving as technolgy evolves.'

Swap electronic for aryan.

You two sound like music eugenicists. When we start putting creative limits on music we only subject it to a slow death.

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Yes, it might get the indie kids to cross over, but that doesn't mean that house & techno lovers (like me) are suddenly supposed to like it too.

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why're you 'supposed' to like it? i don't really understand what the article is trying to say...it's not as if LCD are running around telling everyone that they are the true dance music and that you obviously don't like dance if you don't like them...

when the guy writes

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And yet, any dance music aficionado who can tell Louie Vega from Armin Van Buuren will scratch her head in puzzlement: LCD is the best act dance music has to offer?

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isn't he kinda misinterpreting the polls? the polls that LCD have topped aren't just dance music polls. they're music polls. it just looks like he's making this deliberate mistake so he can trump up this complaint about 'dance music'. its grammy nomination means nothing in terms of its genre.

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The LCD sound not only represents absolutely nothing fresh, it actually takes steps back to a time in clubland that bourgeois nerds like LCD fans wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot iPhone. It’s historical slumming.

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so the deep house revival should also be seen as a cynical appropriation by white middle-class clubbers of 2007, rather than what it actually is - people just really enjoying discovering a sound that they might not have been around for the first time?


what an idiot.

Woah! My reply wasn't meant to be taken that seriously. It was done rather tongue in cheek.

'Oh, and it's a pretty cheap shot about the Aryan too. Actually, a stupid one too, techno has always been racially intertwined. You're probably thinking Kraftwerk, but I just as much like to think Detroit.'

Er, I wasn't accusing you of being racist. I could of used any nationality or ethnic group, aryan simply came to mind first.

' Far better work came from Digitalism, Trentemoller, and Booka Shade last year'

errr, no it didn't.

Ha to the LCD Soundsystem haters.

It's a great album. And I think they (LCD/DFA) are really great for dance music generally. New fans, new sounds, people actually having fun. Yay to variety.

I disagree with the suggestion that its not innovative. Everything is about reinvention. Since when has dance music been about being exclusionary.

This article is classic "I don't feel as cool anymore cuz some hipster kids think they know my scene... and they don't even know cuz, like, I listen to REAL house/e-music."

i like LCD, they have a couple good tracks, a few great remixes, and a label (DFA) that is putting out some amazing stuff.

dance rock ..for me, ok but not so much.

disco .. hells yeah.

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Posted by JonGJones
Woah! My reply wasn't meant to be taken that seriously. It was done rather tongue in cheek.

'Oh, and it's a pretty cheap shot about the Aryan too. Actually, a stupid one too, techno has always been racially intertwined. You're probably thinking Kraftwerk, but I just as much like to think Detroit.'

Er, I wasn't accusing you of being racist. I could of used any nationality or ethnic group, aryan simply came to mind first.

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No problem, I can get a bit worked up over that kind of stuff

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Posted by Tomislav
' Far better work came from Digitalism, Trentemoller, and Booka Shade last year'

errr, no it didn't.

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...and even though I can't stand the LCD (or Digitalism or Justice) sound, I have to agree that 2007 really was THEIR year and not Trentemoller or Booka Shade's, both of whom had a much better time in 2006 (The Last Resort and Body Language)

'This article is classic "I don't feel as cool anymore cuz some hipster kids think they know my scene... and they don't even know cuz, like, I listen to REAL house/e-music."'

Your on the money there Zilla.

"The LCD sound not only represents absolutely nothing fresh, it actually takes steps back to a time in clubland that bourgeois nerds like LCD fans wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot iPhone. It’s historical slumming."

The LCD sound goes back to a time that LCD fans wouldn't touch?

The LCD sound goes back to a time that LCD fans wouldn't touch?

Erm...no, still can't parse that one. LCD Soundsystems fans actually don't like LCD Soundsystems music?

Except they do!

I'm not that big a fan of LCD or much of what cropped up in that whole 'nu-rave' scene last year, but this article is just poorly written. Author's criticisms aren't specific enough, especially in terms of talking about the ACTUAL music that LCD are making- any asshole can listen to the Fabric mix and whine about it being too retro-disco.

What really gets me about it is his utter disdain for disco. If he knew what the fuck he was talking about, he wouldn't be insulting disco and relegating it to some sort of 'retro ghetto.'

'The LCD sound not only represents absolutely nothing fresh, it actually takes steps back to a time in clubland that bourgeois nerds like LCD fans wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot iPhone'.

yeah, because like when you go out and hear loose joints after LCD, everyone stops dancing. tool.

I appreciate that not everyone will like LCD's style, sound or fanbase - but at the risk of sounding dismissive - what's your point?

That a certain method of making dance music is has dominated the general "dance genre" over the past two decades does not give its partisans any ownership over dance music as a whole. Sub-genre stratification has been the rule rather than the exception in dance music and if this latest iteration of backward looking (while forward moving) disco house upsets you, you can always stick to the latest Paul Van Dyk mix.

That last bit might be misinterpreting your argument, so I apologize if I'm taking your words where you'd rather not have them go. I'll look at the more likely charge, which seems to me to be that music along the lines of LCD is by nature regressive and will be detrimental to the progression of electronic dance music. This argument is lacking in my mind for several reasons;

1. the fans that you subtly deride as the "cool-kids" are doing more to push dance music forward than any of the infighting club heads or euro club trash ever have; instead of genre-obsessed infighting, the DJs these "cool kids" seek out play everything. This is not a situation or genre that is genuinely at risk for overexposure or heavy "popular" dilution. If anything it is the electronic dance that I *think* you are defending that has been slowed by mainstream leanings (or at least longings.)

2. By exploring the history of dance music (especially in the context of bringing rappers back into the mix ala Kanye) acts in this present dance movement are allowing for a new understanding of what dance really means. The old sounds made new by LCD are pushing new dance fans to go back and examine the roots that got us here. Moroder, New Order, Donna Summer - everything that has pushed and pulled "dance music" through its history is now fair game for reexamination and reinterpretation; this is inevitably how all genres cycle and evolve.

3. Finally, the suggestion that the "cool kids" are ignoring more "traditional" electronic acts like Booka Shade and Trentemoller I think is misplaced. I am writing from Baltimore/DC and many of the people you are describing follow these acts as actively as a remote American audience can. I wouldn't argue they are anywhere near as popular as LCD, however they are achieving fans that they would never have found otherwise

The "cool kids" aren't monolithic, for as many kids spending time in American Apparel there are an equal number spending times on music blogs and in record stores. There are fashionistas, cokehead groupie girls, wannabe DJs, a new generation of ravers, the Dave Matthews fans that get dragged along to the shows and the hardcore music junkies who are listening to as much Dubstep as they are disco. The new dance movement that LCD has come to represent in America is forcing e music to expand and adapt. LCD and company aren't outsiders crashing the E Music party; they're just another guest in a much bigger where E Music is no longer the guest of honor.

THIS IS A REPRINT OF MY POST ON THE ACTUAL ARTICLE COMMENTS

not an attack on anyone else commenting - just fyi

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Author's criticisms aren't specific enough, especially in terms of talking about the ACTUAL music that LCD are making

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Word. Dennis Romero falls into the lazy music crit pitfall of attacking a style of music because of its fans. this is a straw man

Yup...2008 will witness the birth of the mighty HIPSTERTRONICA!
I think what might have pissed off this guy is that in the states LCD fans were many times the people that used to be OCD into Wilco and other more traditional groups and derided electronic music as "unemotional" and "repetitive".

For some kind of twisted evidence of this prior hating check out Pitchfork's review of Daft Punk's Discovery (6.8 - Ouch) and compare that with their glorious support for Daft Punk all throughout '07...I guess its tough for some original EDM fans to welcome these former too-cool-for-moogs haters to the party.
Then again, EDM aims for happiness and dancing so I'm cool with it. Like many have mentioned above, it does push the scene forward to have an avid new fanbase with different perspectives and backgrounds.

It also makes seeing amazing house/techno acts recurringly in America possible which is wonderful.

@ bigbernardo: right on the ball. I wouldn't even have a problem with them coming to the party, but too often they'll have come through associating 'minimal' dj's with this nu-rave stuff of theirs (after all, nowadays festivals cater to both scenes at the same time). Then, after a short while they'll be complaining that the music is boring, etc., and waste dancefloor space standing still, bringing down the whole atmosphere with their negativity. It's what would happen if I'd go see one of those nu-rave acts...but I don't.

Btw, any dj may play LCD's "I'm losing my edge" or the "disco infiltrator". Those really are fun tracks and do not deserve to be generalised into the nu-rave movement.

I couldn't care less what the "kids" (cool or not) are into these day, and not just because I'm 34. Trying to "out-hip" your peers is a fool's game. Listen to what you like, and don't let other people's negative opinions influence you (that includes RA's!).

I thoroughly enjoy the fact that LCD reference artists that first framed my impressionable teenage music-searching years (eg Talking Heads) and put them through a modern aural blender. Having been to see them live last week their is a clear passion in what Murphy and co. do that can't be denied.

It definitely didn't feel like an exercise in cynical bandwagon jumping or underground genre appropriation as a means of milking a few quick bucks.

To quote one of LCD's obvious influences: "let it be, let it be".

you clowns can whine all you want, but the new Hercules & Love Affair album forthcoming on DFA FUCKING RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULES!!!!!

go back to listening to your pointless and souless blipminimalsnoooooooore......

Completely disagree with the article. Dennis Romero's bitter tone, for one, is out of place in relation to its subject. Pardon 'cool kids' for trying to go out and listen to fun records and dance. Yes Booka Shade and Digitalism had strong LPs, so did SMD, Matthew Dear, MIA, and many more. While I personally listened to Asa Breed more than probably any other record in 07, its was obvious on first listen, more than a year ago, that Sound of Silver was going be a huge hit. And why is Romero writing about this now? 07 is over. Sound of Silver leaked in 2006!!!!!!!!!! We've all moved along. DFA has released a dozen records since LCD's came out. They've all been pretty great.

Romero, you're a hater. Plain and simple.

hahaha best line ever:

"Dance music resonates with the cool kids sporting mullets and tights."

I often envision news reports such as this:

Young man dies on the way to a MSTRKRFT DJ set after his jeans were apparently so tight they cut off circulation to his legs, causing him to loose control of his vehicle and crash into a telephone pole on Main Street.

that's hilarious, did you make it up yourself?

yea im prettyfunny

long live dfa great discopunkfunkelectrohouse!!

I get what LCD is trying to do but I dont think they do it that well.

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Posted by toggleaway

Young man dies on the way to a MSTRKRFT DJ set after his jeans were apparently so tight they cut off circulation to his legs, causing him to loose control of his vehicle and crash into a telephone pole on Main Street.

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You should write out the entire article and send it to the Onion.

If I had come up with that, bar none that would be the greatest thing I would ever say in my life.
It would only be downhill from there for me.

@ the haters! There is a lot more musical soul in what LCD have done, to most other things coming out these days. My tastes in music vary a wide amount and I have fully enjoyed what they have brought to the scene

Well, I think LCD are great. DFA have really quality releases.

Personally, I got into electronic music because it had new sounds and ideas and made you say "what the fuck was that!?" while dancing your ass off. I can appreciate danceROCK musically, but I feel like it's retro-fitting a forward thinking genre all the while being praised for doing something new. Operahouse anyone?

I like my electronic music staying true to it's electronic origins and evolving as technolgy evolves. I love technology and thank Mr Roland for making the 808 everyday.

I didn't like the fabriclive comp. mix album much, that james murphy put together. Still, I love their band stuff like the sound of silver great album.

yeah well slag the lcd/dfa if that's your want....i saw them in melbourne last week & they were great..triffic even...unlike some of yer wanky dj's noodling away ... a proper band....with guitars & a drummer...i like my electro techno house whatever & the lcd are lumped in there as well....so go on...can em & be dammed .....

LCD Soundsystem: badly dressed analog PetShopBoys on beer & with nothing to say.

Haters...it all STARTED with Disco and for you techno fans...Detroit. LCD and DFA were pioneers in creating a sub-genre and pushing creative limits. It's not making dance music mainstream, but opened the doors to BACK to electronic music lovers that have been matured. I'm sorry to say, but "dance-punk", "electro", or whatever you want to call it is here to say. It's exactly what someone referred to above, "it's what the cool kids listen to". All the other garbage out there is FOR the mainstream, especially in Europe. Just because these mega DJ's play in front of tens of thousands doesn't mean shit. Mariah Carey is the best selling female artist in the history of the world...point made. Long live DFA, Kitsune, GOMMA, Relish, Tigersushi, Modular, and even Get Phsyical.

Cut Copy rule.

hey flamman , you reckon the LCD / DFA type scenesters think people like you are "supposed to like " what they're doing ?????

I dont know alot about you my friend , but I'm gonna take a big punt and guess that those types aint necassarily going to be trying toooo hard to drag your sort over to their kind of party !!! lolol !!! just a guess !

I think LCD Soundsystem has some solid tracks and James Murphy is a creative and important figure. I also really like a lot of the DFA remixes and definitely got into James Murphy and Pat Mahoney's Fabric.

But I think my experience at Coachella 2007 embodies the heart of the matter: LCD Soundsystem headlined the dance tent (occupying a time slot far better than Hawtin's puny appearance the next afternoon) and completely underwhelmed everyone. As a rock band trying to involve elements of house/disco, they couldn't get the crowd moving nearly as much as all the regular DJ's with inferior time slots. They even went so far as to finish with a ballad (NY I Love You for christ's sake).

I didn't even buy or still haven't heard the latest LCD album.

But the two times I saw them live convinced me that they are not just the best live band I've ever seen, but maybe one of the best for a very long long time indeed.

Maybe a bad day at Coachella?

Would everyone hate this music so much if it wasnt frequented by so-called nu-ravers?? Or if it wasnt liked so much??

I dont listen to any of this music really but i think its kinda wrong to tar everyone with the same brush. Not everyone who listen to it wears skinny jeans.

People need to be less judgemental.

I wanna know what's so fucking wrong with skinny jeans anyway. Shitloads of minimal DJs wear skinny jeans. I think the guy that sells me pineapple juice wears them. I remember the baggy jean years and have to say that skinny jeans are better because you don't go home at the end of the night with stale beer soaking the bottom 12 inches of your trousers. Hating on skinny jeans just implies you're scared to wear them cos you got weird legs.

Not to mention potential penis issues. (not the ladies, obviously)

I was actually going to mention that aswell. Loads of DJ's look like that, especially European DJ's.

I own skinny jeans. But i only wear them occassionally. But not because im scared i might look like a Nu-raver, its because i have meat on my bones and my legs cant get into the fuckers.

i have seen them twice other than Coachella and thought they were really good. There was no noticable difference at Coachella except the very unflattering juxtaposition with regular DJs, who had a much greater impact on the crowd. Thats what i'm getting at- i think in a dance/party situation, the DJ is fundamentally more effective than the rock band, even if the rock band is an especially good one.

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Posted by Tomislav
' Far better work came from Digitalism, Trentemoller, and Booka Shade last year'

errr, no it didn't.

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HAHAHAHA damn right it didn't!!! I'd prefer 48h of LCD over 5m of Digitalism. I can't even tell Trentemoller and Booka Shade appart. All of these artists seem to be making Goth electronics. It doesn't have a guitar, but how far does it go to beeing distinguishable from Evanescence in emotional content?

This whole rock=white in dance music is a load of bollocks, and LCD's outputs are very diverse, and DFA is a label that has put out many great and proper house and techno tracks. They know their shit, anyone can tell, but I can't say some of their tracks aren't lame - because they are... but they are just hits, play for a couple of times on MTV or the radio and anyone who buys an album will discover a lot more than what the silly teen-dance-rock single meant.

By the way, isn't Justice's album generator of a much greater disgust amongst hardcore house and techno lovers?? Or the aforementioned Digitalizm, isnt' that ridiculously BAD?! BENNY BENASSI!! ...


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(READ CAREFULLY NOW!!! explosive opinion below)


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In regard to what someone said, "trying to push rock down our throats",t here are countless acoustic tracks that are slammin - and if your electronic-music bias prevents you from enjoying them, too bad for you!

I find it far more ofensive when someone tries to push SHIT down my throat and say that it's quality music... what better example than the ubiquitous and ridiculous "Heater" by Samim?

cheers

am i the only one who has noticed how unbelievably formulaic and repetitive LCD Soundsystem are?

it seems that every track starts off with one looped instrumental track, then 4/8/16 bars later, another is added on top, then the next 4/8/16 bars another, then another, then another, until there are 5 or six looping layers, at which point the annoyingly arrogant-sounding voice of james murphy chirps. There is no variation for the whole song.

This has gotten to the stage where my brother, who is a massive lcd soundsystem fan, will try to trick me by saying, 'check this out i found this wicked new band', and will proceed to play for me an lcd song i have not heard before. Every time i can pick that he is in fact lying to me and it is lcd soundsystem before the vocals even kick in.

i'm all for electro music; but i just cant believe this ability to just layer looped tracks without any sort of variation is so hyped.

Love has come around...feels so good to me...