DFA US 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Anyone lucky enough to have caught James Murphy and his entourage of highly talented musical friends live will attest that it's here LCD Soundsystem truly excel. And whilst this London Sessions album recorded in the aftermath of such a performance at last year's Glastonbury Festival does not replicate such an elation filled experience, the chance to hear some of the band's best tracks recorded live makes this worth investigating. It's basically a showcase for how tight a group of musicians Gavin Russom, Pat Mahoney and Nancy Whang are, most notably on "Get Innocuous" where Russom really goes to town on the synths and "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" which gets embellished with a liberal dose of tightness, tautness and spikiness. The band has such an all encompassing back catalogue that you could spend all day dissecting which tracks they should have included here, and it's a mark of the aforementioned tightness that even the somewhat risible "Drunk Girls" sounds markedly improved here.

Review: When DFA Records first released 'Compilation #2' back in 2004, the label was arguably at the peak of its powers, consistently delivering killer cuts that blurred the boundaries between post-punk, early '80s NYC no wave, and more traditional forms of U.S dance music. It remains a brilliant snapshot of James Murphy's label (and, to a lesser degree, NYC's alternative punk-dance scene of the period), as this surprise first vinyl edition proves. Slimmed down to 18 tracks, all of which are presented in full length form (the original CD edition was mixed), and stretched across four weighty slabs of wax, it contains countless highlights from LCD Soundsystem, The Juan MacLean, Black Dice and the Rapture, as well as a handful of classic DFA remixes and a banger from original punk-funk heroes Liquid Liquid.

Review: There was naturally a lot of excitement when James Murphy and company dropped 'New Body Rhumba' digitally in the summer of 2022. The track, which is the New York punk-funk outfit's first new music for over five years, was written and recorded for the soundtrack of hyped movie 'White Noise'. The track finally coming to vinyl is great news, not least because it feels like 'prime' LCD Soundsystem from the period in the early-to-mid 2000s when Murphy and his regular collaborators could do no wrong. All the familiar elements are present and correct - think crunchy, fuzzy punk guitar licks, funky no-wave drums, cowbells, vintage electronics and lead vocals from Murphy whose lyrics offer a weary analysis of 21st century life. In a word: essential!

Review: A few years back, legendary Alt-jazz saxophonist (and original Philip Glass Ensemble member) Dickie Landry handed LCD Soundsystem's Korey Rich a tape of a very NYC-sounding punk-funk track he recorded in his native Louisiana way back in 1986. Finally out, 'Hang The Rich' sounds like a long-lost downtown dub-disco gem that joins the dots between Patrick Adams' more eccentric disco productions, Bristolian punk-funk mavericks Maximum Joy, and McFadden & Whitehead after a fistful of psychedelics. Optimo's JD Twitch provides the obligatory 21st century dancefloor tweak - a stretched out, DJ-friendly revision blessed with bonus jacking drum machine rhythms and some trippy synth motifs. It's breathlessly brilliant, as anyone who has heard him and Optimo partner Jonnie Wilkes DJ over the last three years will confirm.

Review: "45:33" was originally recorded by James Murphy (aka LCD Soundsystem) as a continuous album-length disco symphony. It is the result of Murphy's desire to create a piece of music outside the typical commercial constraints. Don't miss this DFA release.