Punk-funk hero LCD Soundsystem shows that he still loves classic rock with All My Friends….
LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends (the official version, as EMI have been sensible enough to set-up their own YouTube channel)
James Murphy has made a career out of fusing his love of all things new with the best of the old (and it was his playing of a remix of an old Chicago song at a club in New York that first got me blogging). He first hit the big time as LCD Soundsystem with the single Losing My Edge which detailed a 30-something hipster’s fears that he was no longer cool; it sounded like something knocked out by a teenage rapper in his bedroom yet name-checked bands like Can, Suicide & Captain Beefheart.
All My Friends is the stand-out track from LCD Soundsystem’s new album Sound Of Silver and is another stunning example of this wilful mix of influences past & present. It bears all the hall-marks of the man who more or less invented the New York punk-funk sound of the mid-noughties, but at the same time sounds a lot like something from about 30 years ago. If the repetitive piano loop was on a guitar it would bear a scary resemblance to Television’s Marquee Moon. As he shows when DJing, James Murphy can always find something new in something old.
Like the best of Murphy’s work it is somehow both incredibly downbeat and yet very uplifting at the same time. As the infectious beat and piano encourage you to dance like a kid, the lyrics deal (again) with the very sobering issue of how this generation of Peter Pans deal with ageing:
So, whether you’re looking for something to get you dancing like it was 1999 (or even 1979), or want something to listen to alone in your ridiculously over-priced flat as you fall into another bottle of Pinot Grigio, All My Friends is one song that will always be your friend.
Televison – Marquee Moon (it does sound similar, doesn’t it?!)