CD1: 1) Daft Punk Is Playing at My House; 2) Too Much Love; 3) Tribulations; 4) Movement; 5) Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up; 6) On Repeat; 7) Thrills; 8) Disco Infiltrator; 9) Great Release
CD2: 1) Losing My Edge; 2) Beat Connection; 3) Give It Up; 4) Tired; 5) Yeah (Crass Version); 6) Yeah (Pretentious Version); 6) Yr City's a Sucker (Full Version)
A slightly slapdash establishment of the basics of James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem, and some essential non-album singles bundled together to both support and carry the official debut.
Key tracks: "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House", "Tribulations", "Losing My Edge"
Much like Murphy's self-cultivated image as the guy who's slept in the same suit for a full weekend, the self-titled debut for LCD Soundsystem is stylishly unkempt. Murphy was a producer, a DJ and a label head who found himself to be above average age in the crowds he was hanging out with and then made a snarky one-off song about it for his own fun, which then ballooned into a full-time band. So, the self-titled debut album for that band isn't a cry of passion from a set of young hopefuls, but rather a producer mashing together collected ideas from the past three decades of dance and rock music, like a DJ mixing his own songs. It's irreverent, but that's also its charm. At this stage LCD Soundsystem was still more about singles than albums, and the debut is really just around because he found an audience that wanted one. No grand statements or glimpses into the inner state of its creator just yet: it's all about having a good time in a way only tragically cool urbanites can.
There's a real act of fan service here in that the second disc that is included as standard with the album collects all the loosies released prior to the album. The mix of foot-tapping indie disco, ragged garage rock and off-kilter pop hooks is something that would form the backbone of the actual album too, so both discs are kindred spirits in that regard, but the one-offs are naturally a bit more uninhibited and some of the essential LCD Soundsystem cuts are in fact gathered among them. "Losing My Edge" is the obvious one, of course: Murphy's debut single is a glorious seven-and-half minute sardonic rant sent to a slick groove, it's full of immortal and infinitely quotable lines and it culminates in the most beautifully manic listing of one's record shelf in a fit of madness dear and near to any music geek's heart. It's a perfect debut single in how it establishes everything there is to know about LCD Soundsystem right from the get-go, from Murphy's dry delivery and the wit in his words to the music built on repetitive but gradually intensifying jamming, all introduced clearly. The "crass version" of "Yeah" is another mainstay favourite, offering more of that extended jamming in what is one of Murphy's best long-form dance-offs, and with other highlights like the brilliantly punchy house deep cut "Beat Connection" or the 'pretentious' brother of "Yeah" (instrumental but longer and slightly fancier arrangement), the pseudo-bonus disc would be worth the price of admission alone. The only real below-par song is "Tired", a stab at grimy garage rock which later morphs into a more recognisable LCD Soundsystem form but never shakes off coming across as an ill-fitting set of clothes you're trying to force yourself into.
The difference between the one-offs and the actual album is that the latter is a little tighter in its composition, with its shorter songs steering clear of too much jamming and with some semblance of a cohesive structure in tow. Only some; the nature of the album is still more resembling of a curated mixtape, flipping between styles and sounds. Some of these would form the basis of LCD Soundsystem to come, e.g. the swerve, swagger and post-millennium ironic snark of "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" would form the pattern for many of Murphy's later lead singles. Others are curio snapshots of Murphy trying his hand out with different things without a greater plan in mind: the ragged near-punk of "Movement" is more of Murphy's early fascinations with something rowdier and "Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up" is a 90s alt rock ballad through and through, and neither sound would make another appearance again after this album. While those offshoots have their charms (I have a particular affinity towards the somber laziness and nostalgic guitar of "Never as Tired..." especially), the strengths of the tracklist lie clearly in the material Murphy would later choose to expand upon. The lightning-in-a-bottle feeling of "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" is enduringly exciting in its wonderful 'dance hit for people who are too cool to dance' aesthetic and the synth-heavy floor fillers "Tribulations", "Too Much Love" and "Disco Infiltrator" deliver the hooks like uppercuts, striking right to the nerve. Of these, "Tribulations" especially is a bit of a hiden gem: its urgency and a more fixated tone is a mile away from the rest of the album and it picks up steam brilliantly as it progresses until it sounds like Murphy is fighting to steer it.
If not already apparent, the accurate take to take away from the album is that's more of a blueprint or a template for later works. Whether or not Murphy foresaw himself taking the band beyond this in the first instance is one thing, but it's evident that at this stage he was still testing the waters and stretching his wings, operating on a more single-oriented mindset even within the actual album. They're fun waters and LCD Soundsystem has nothing to be ashamed of next to its more famous counterparts, but it's decidedly a little rough around its edges and while the Murphy trademarks are on full display, the overall sound is lacking the later albums' greater vision and realisation of how he can merge the extroverted and introverted. It's also an odd case where the "bonus" disc is just as if not even more essential than the album itself: the two really are rather inseparable even if they're ultimately independent works, and as a full package this is so much more because of its inclusion. Summa summarum, Murphy and co's debut is a lot of fun and is full of charm, but it's very rarely anything actually essential; it's a slapdash party album for music nerds who don't want to go to parties and doesn't set its sights beyond it, but it's got the hooks and grooves to make it a load of fun regardless.
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