Hand-stamped 12" limited to 1000 pieces. Among the depths of the DFA vault (really an assortment of poorly organized hard drives of varying vintages), we found this true hidden gem, a version of "pow pow" made all squirrely by master squirrels the Idjut Boys. Why we kept this a secret for 14 years will forever remain a mystery. It's a distant cousin of the original - vocals gone, drums looped out, synths and delay coming down like acid rain. A real chugger. What better to pair it with, then, than Rub-N-Tug's remix of "too much love," long out of print from its original pressing in 2005 and still a complete monster meant for dark rooms and smoke machines cranked up past 11. It lives on wax once again, now with a likeminded buddy. Both tracks were recut at 45RPM by Bob Weston and pressed with care by the good humans at Third Man Pressing in Detroit, MI

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pow Pow (Idjut Boys Remix)
B1. Too Much Love (Rub-N-Tug Remix)

Stretch 'em out and shake off the cobwebs - LCD Soundsystem have returned, in recorded form, from a 5-year hibernation. 'new body rhumba' was written and recorded for the new Noah Baumbach film, White Noise, which is an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel. It’s classic LCD, all tight and brash, with a coda headed for the second star from the right and straight on 'till morning.

Single-sided 12'' vinyl, mastered and cut at 45rpm by Bob 'Sparklebear' Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, pressed at MPO in France.

TRACK LISTING

A1. New Body Rhumba

Deep breaths...headphones on...needle dropped. LCD Soundsystem are back. Seven years after their last long player, and six years since their premature retirement, NYC's era defining, life changing indie-dance/alt-disco/punk-funk legends are back on wax with their fourth LP "American Dream". As the live hats and staccato pulse of "Oh Baby" give way to tender arps, dramatic synth bass and Murhpy's crooning vocals, all seems well in the world once more. Imbued with the same cinematic quality with which "All My Friends" and "Someone Great" stole our hearts a decade ago, this album opener is vintage LCD. One track in and I'm already hooked. "Other Voices" pushes the tempo and picks up the intensity, fusing low slung bass, sizzling 4/4 and buzzing synthwork into the kind of hypnotic, disco-rock groover the world's been crying out for. Backwards guitar solos and strange synth riffs lend a little psychedelic colour while Murphy's vocals, ably supported by Nancy Wang and Korey Richey, retain all the sardonic lyricism of a particularly arch Larry David. Closing the first side out with shimmering synths, slow rolling bass and a moody piano, "I Used To" details a midlife moment of clarity before the squawking guitar, loose groove and Bowie-styled vocals of "Change Yr Mind" bring the punk to the funkshow. Tumbling toms, immersive reverb and distant vocals march around nagging violin and spectral arpeggios on "How Do You Sleep?", creating a gloomy Joy Division ambience which soon bursts into a slo-mo technicolour via chugging percussion and big bass blasts - Far from your average drug ballad, this is gonna bring the house down live! Blasting through the speakers on a tank full of squelching synthbass, snapping electronic percussion and Murphy's trademark half spoken/ half sung vocals, current single "Tonite" picks up the electroid baton from "Yeah" and "Pow Pow" and treats us to relentless barrage of Murphy's needle-point self referencial wit. Hilarious, danceable and deeply on point, this could well be an album standout. Presumeably inspired by his time working on Bowie's "Blackstar", "Call The Police" pairs an achingly sincere, occasionally bleak lyricism with anthemic rock drums and buzzing guitars, relishing in the bittersweet beauty of life. Electro-pop ballad "American Dream" continues the quest for understanding and acceptance in the tough climate of 2017 as Murphy leads us waltzing through the richest synth tones of his career. As we arrive at the final side Murphy et al blitz through the punk inspired rage of "Emotional Haircut", a hair-raiser in the style of early !!! or Outhud, before embracing the existential melancholy of "Black Screen", the medicated lullaby which closes the set with buzzing synth tones and delicate piano. Though this album may lack the immediacy of its predecessors, it offers infinite emotional depth, sincerity and faultless songwriting. Leave your skepticism at the door, this is the best LCD Soundsystem LP to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. Oh Baby
2. Other Voices
3. I Used To
4. Change Yr Mind
5. How Do You Sleep?
6. Tonite
7. Call The Police
8. American Dream
9. Emotional Haircut
10. Black Screen 

The drip-feed of LCD anticipation ("Bye Bye Bayou", "Pow Pow") is over and "This Is Happening" has finally arrived. A natural extension to previous long player “Sound Of Silver”, this new set contains everything we love about LCD (shouty indie-disco, killer pop hooks, James Murphy's witty musings, big fat electronic noises, proper sing-along anthems and hummable tunes), and is the perfect circle closer on the outfit's trilogy of albums. And if "This Is Happening" is "Sound Of Silver Part 2" (in the best possible way), it is also packed with influences and inspirations from the golden era of music - the late 70s and early 80s (well, that's my golden era anyway!). Murphy's subliminal magpie-like tendencies seep through as Berlin era Bowie and Iggy ("Drunk Girls" and "All I Want" bear more than a passing resemblance to "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Heroes", while "Somebody's Calling Me" hints at "Night Clubbing"), Eno circa "Here Come The Warm Jets", Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra electronics (check that motorik chug on "I Can Change"), disco and classic US new wave radio bands (all skinny ties and drainpipe jeans) all get fed into the LCD song machine. But while other bands might turn out poor one-dimensional pastiches of the music they love, no matter who or what LCD Soundsystem reference, the resulting songs could be by no-one else but themselves. As everyone knows, all the best bands quit while they're still ahead, and as an album that calls time on the LCD Soundsystem idea, "This Is Happening" bows out on a high. As if it was going to do anything else?!

TRACK LISTING

1. Dance Yrself Clean
2. Drunk Girls
3. One Touch
4. All I Want
5. I Can Change
6. You Wanted A Hit
7. Pow Pow
8. Somebody's Calling Me
9. Home

THE PICCADILLY RECORDS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2007

Recorded in upstate New York over the summer of 2006, "Sound Of Silver" is an ambitious step up from LCD Soundsystem's eponymous debut album. Not only does it drop all those stylistic references we love here at Piccadilly Records (punk-funk, Krautrock, early 80s Euro-disco, post-punk guitar music etc), going far beyond the simple pastiche of many bands around vying for the LCD crown, but then combines these with some excellent song writing from James Murphy. So, the expected disco-pogo guitars-meet-synths club anthems of "North American Scum", "Us V Them" and "Watch The Tapes" mingle with emotive home-listening songs like "Someone Great", "All My Friends" and "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down". Where "LCD Soundsystem" came across as a collection of singles (albeit brilliant singles!), "Sound Of Silver" feels like a proper, well thought out long player. In short: Same sound, better songs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Get Innocuous!
2. Time To Get Away
3. North American Scum
4. Someone Great
5. All My Friends
6. Us V. Them
7. Watch The Tapes
8. Sound Of Silver
9. New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

What we said way back in 2004: 'The debut album from James Murphy and his DFA buddies finally arrives and it's well worth any hype that's surrounded it. Along with Tim Goldsworthy, Nancy Whang, Phillip Mossman, Patrick Mahoney and Tyler Pope, Murphy has created a brilliant LP that not only rides the top of the zeitgeist wave of current post-punk / punk-funk revivalism, but goes way beyond there too, taking in loose electro-acoustic disco-not-disco, anthemic electroclash, fierce guitar-driven hardcore and intimate melancholy. Not to be missed!'

TRACK LISTING

1. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House 5:16
2. Too Much Love 5:42
3. Tribulations 4:51
4. Movement 3:03
5. Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up 4:50
6. On Repeat 8:02
7. Thrills 3:43
8. Disco Infiltrator 4:56
9. Great Release 6:35