Released January 24, 2005 Label DFA | Recorded 2002–04 | |
Studio Long View Farm
(North Brookfield, Massachusetts)
Plantain Recording House
(New York, New York) Genre Dance-punk
electronica
alternative dance Length 47:08 (standard version)
100:29 (double-disc version) | ||
LCD Soundsystem is the debut studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem, released in January 2005 by DFA Records. Some editions contained two discs: the LP itself with new songs and a second disc featuring singles released since 2002. The album was nominated for the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
Contents
Reception
LCD Soundsystem received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 86, based on 35 reviews.
Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote that LCD Soundsystem "has few weak spots and unfolds smoothly as you listen to it from beginning to end." In his review for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters said that the album showed that LCD Soundsystem were "both underground hitmakers and bona fide album artists." Drowned in Sound critic Gareth Dobson called it "a disparate yet cohesive collection of songs" and said that "the majority of LCD Soundsystem is an excellent thump into 2005." Simon Reynolds, writing in Blender, wrote that the album's "influences meld to form a seductive — if clearly deeply conflicted — self." While expressing disappointment that the album did not fully meet the expectations set by the band's early singles and lacked "very many surprises here, either in the bank of sounds Murphy pulls out, or in how he uses them", Dominique Leone of Pitchfork Media went on to award LCD Soundsystem the website's "Best New Music" accolade, though still concluding that it contained "plenty of good-not-great stuff" and was "a tad unfocused". Assigning the album a one-star honorable mention rating, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice noted Murphy's alternation between "dance guy or rock guy, optimist or cynic".
PopMatters' Matt Cibula praised the inclusion of the second disc of previously released material, but stated that "the real gems are to be found on the new stuff" and called LCD Soundsystem "a great record." Rob Ortenzi of Alternative Press described LCD Soundsystem as "an album that will survive the fleeting tastes of cosmopolitan hipsters" and stated that "in two records' time, Murphy will be as respected as the Sugar Hill Gang, Brian Eno and Suicide." No Ripcord's Ben Bollig said that the album had "all the makings of a modern classic" and that "LCD Soundsystem is knowing and knowledgeable, inspired and inspirational. Intellectual without being snotty, encyclopaedic yet accessible, it takes the seemingly stalled electro model and kick-starts it into outer space."
Accolades
Online music magazine Pitchfork Media placed LCD Soundsystem at number 113 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. It was also named the fifth best album of the decade by Resident Advisor. No Ripcord placed it at number 63 on their list of the Top 100 Albums of 2000–2009.
Disc one
All tracks written by James Murphy.