One of the great debut albums of the 2000s, and the record that crystallized everything exciting about early century New York indie-dance into a single, magnificently cohesive statement. Released on January 24, 2005 on DFA Records and Capitol, LCD Soundsystem arrived after James Murphy had already spent three years building an underground reputation through a series of statement singles that name-dropped record collections and dancefloor obsessions with equal wit and self-awareness. By the time the album appeared, LCD Soundsystem were already regarded as underground hitmakers. The full-length confirmed they could sustain that energy across an entire record without losing a single ounce of it. Murphy is an encyclopedia of good taste and absolutely unashamed about it, filtering influences from The Fall, New Order, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Can, David Bowie, and Liquid Liquid through a sensibility that is entirely and unmistakably his own. The results encompass dance-punk, electronica, art rock, and indie dance with a fluid confidence that never feels like genre-hopping for its own sake. Lead single "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" is the mission statement, a buoyant, cowbell-driven anthem that reached number one on the UK Dance Chart and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. "Movement" is a gnarly, pogo-inducing highlight that rocks harder than most contemporary guitar bands managed at the time. "Tribulations" and "Disco Infiltrator" keep the dancefloor alive. "Great Release" closes things with hazy, melted-down beauty. Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album and certified gold in the UK, LCD Soundsystem remains the essential document of its time and place, the sound of Brooklyn hipsterdom at its most brilliant and its most self-aware. As one critic put it, the album is knowing and knowledgeable, inspired and inspirational, intellectual without being snotty.
