Click on the image to listen to the entire album for free.

In a recent interview, James Murphy, the mastermind behind LCD Soundsystem was asked what band he expected to fill the gap left by LCD Soundsystem’s retirement this weekend at MSG.  His response: Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis. That’s right, the kids are mining second-rate, late-70s TV shows for their band names now. Regardless, the real question is whether these Poncherello-worshippers can live up to Murphy’s accolades.

And the answer is a resounding YES!

“EECC,” the debut EP from this foursome from Knoxville, Tennessee, immediately calls to mind The Strokes‘ “The Modern Age” EP.  The similarity is not so much in sounds, but in the tightening of your gut as you realize you are listening to ‘the next big thing.’ Simply put, “EECC” is a game-changer – a band showcasing its raw talent for a hungry musical world. From the M*A*S*H-like opening salvo of “Untitled 1,” there is no mistaking that EECC could fill LCD’s shoes and more.

The circuitous guitar work that opens “Untitled 2″ showcases the technical proficiency of EECC, and the jaw-dropping harmonic-breakdown near the track’s end is little more than a band proving that they are better than you. By the time “Untitled 4″ switches from 6/8 to 4/4 time, you realize EECC is simply playing at the next level. There is no word on a full-length, yet, but rumor has it that the guys will hit the road with TV on the Radio later this year. I’ll show for the opener and leave for the nightcap.

Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis – “Untitled 1″
Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis – “Untitled 2″
Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis – “Untitled 3″
Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis – “Untitled 4″
Erik Estrada’s Career Crisis – “Untitled 5″

I can tell you how much fun it is to tell people how much you’re loving the new Shit Robot, but I think you’ve either already been saying it or you’re going to be shouting it from the rooftops in the very near future. Ahh yes, Shit Robot; otherwise known to his mother as Marcus Lambkin (but where’s the fun in that). Best known for his DJ’ing and his brolationship with James Murphy of the infamous LCD Soundsystem, just got a good remixing of one of my favorite songs off the album. The album was 20 years in the making and blasts ‘Take ‘Em Up” starring Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem. This dancey electronic album aptly named From the Cradle to the Rave (I so, so, SO MUCH hope based off the hit movie starring DMX and Jet Li), is definitely something worth checking out.

By the way, did you know that our beloved Shit Robot used to be a cabinet maker back in Ireland? I just really felt the need to volunteer that information. Also, how much are you loving this picture of him? Eat your heart out Deadmau5, homeboy’s got his 8-bit cardboard mask on.

Anyway, Shit Robot offers to us a great track and John Talabot goes ahead and speeds it up. Talk about some forces joining for good; John Talabot is a talented, talented man. Known as a house-heavy, Spanish DJ/Producer; John Talabot put a little spin on my beloved ‘Take ‘Em Up” and gave it a faster pace and a fresher face.

Giving Shit Robot’s track a little rumble in the jungle, there’s definitely a tell-tale signature once John Talabot has left his mark. The percussion beats and drumming add a layer of awesome on top of these and I LOVE it. Shit, he even made an XX song super exciting (yeah, I said it). I threw that guy in there, so you could see what I’m talking about. With our powers combined, not even Captain Planet could stop this dance party. This dance party’s about to get shitted on, and I think we’re all into it.

Connect with Shit Robot - Facebook | MySpace | Last.fm | Twitter

Shit Robot – “Take ‘Em Up” (John Talabot Remix)
The XX – “Shelter” (John Talabot’s Feel It Too Remix)

Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Hometown: New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Members:  James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Tyler Pope, Pat Mahoney, Gavin Russom, David Scott Stone
Formed: 2001
Released: 2010
Genre: Electronic, Indie, Dance
Label:  DFA Records
Singles: “Drunk Girls”, “I Can Change”

Connect: Facebook | Twitter | MySpace | Website | Last.fm

Buy The Album:

• Amazon - Vinyl | CD | MP3
• Insound – Vinyl | CD
• eMusic – Sign up for free and get $5 worth of free music (tracks are just $0.50).

Now that 2010 is being neatly compartmentalized into lists (speaking of, check ours out here), there is no harm in looking forward to 2011. And there is already hope that 2011 will be as musically fulfilling as the current year, particularly in terms of ‘new’ artists like Young Galaxy. Okay, Young Galaxy is not exactly ‘new,’ considering they have two albums under their belt, but they are new to me.

Young Galaxy’s latest offering, “Peripheral Visionaries”, comes from the forthcoming “Shapeshifting”, set to be released on Paper Bag Records in February 2011. The track slowly morphs from an homage to Studio (whose Dan Lissvick produces here) into an alluring group chant about “tears from the eyes of God”.

It is the kind of track that will force you to stop bickering over whether 2010 belonged to Matt Berninger or Bradford Cox; James Murphy or Joanna Newsom. Instead, you will be arguing whether you can squeeze ‘Peripheral Visionaries’ onto your best of 2010 mix; or should you save it for 2011?

Connect with Young Galaxy – Facebook | Twitter | MySpace | Website | Last.fm

Young Galaxy – “Peripheral Visionaries”

Last October LCD Soundsystem released “Bye Bye Bayou” on vinyl, an almost 8 minute cover of Alan Vega’s 1981 song, and now, seven months later they’ve gone and done a video for it.  It’s pretty trippy, so before you drop that acid tab, watch this.  Then drop it, and watch it again.

Their supposedly last and stunning album “This Is Happening” is out now.

• Amazon: LP (Vinyl) | CD | MP3
• Insound: CD
• emusic: Register for the free trial and get you first 25 songs absolutely free.

Today’s review is a guest post by our good friend Stephen over at The Crosshair.  Check them out for some really great reviews of music, film, games and TV.

In 2001, James Murphy sang “I hear you have a compilation tape of every great song by every great group ever” on the reputation-cementing “Losing My Edge”. It seems now that that particular line was more of a manifesto within a manifesto than was originally apparent. Murphy’s mission over the past decade has been to synthesise all the greatest music from the last thirty years into one sound. On this album, that he claims to be the last LCD Soundsystem album, he comes closer than ever.

The first thing that is apparent is that vocally, Murphy has transformed almost completely from Mark E. Smith to David Bowie. What this loses in force and energy, it makes up for in melody and emotion. Neither are easy to pull off, but Murphy manages without ever feeling like he is trying too hard. It’s this quality that sets Murphy apart from his peers – the feeling that he is never struggling to catch the zeitgeist, but casually setting it as he goes and playfully mocking it as he sails past.

Opener “Dance Yrself Clean” takes the Nirvana/Pixies quiet/loud dynamic and transplants it into what is almost a disco sound. We then slide right into first single “Drunk Girls”, which is the most obvious Bowie homage, from the backing vocals to the guitar sounds, all sounding very Berlin-era Bowie. Crucially though, and perhaps this gives LCD Soundsystem too much credit , but it feels more like an intelligent artistic statement than straight plagiarism. It also includes such giggle inducing lyrics as “Drunk girls know that love is an astronaut/it comes back but it’s never the same.”

The centrepiece of the album though, is the 9 minute epic “You Wanted a Hit”. This is as close as Murphy has sounded to the aforementioned “Losing My Edge” since. It’s astonishing as it moves from icy space-synths into a stripped down guitar and drums groove over which Murphy delivers his new manifesto. It’s also incredible that after three albums and 10 years, a band can still make tracks thatsound like a manifesto. On this track and on “One Touch”, LCD Soundsytem marry the irreverence and experimentation of the first album with the craft and melody of the second.

If anyone has a claim to defining the noughties in the way that say Bowie defined the 70s, or Oasis defined the 90s, it’s LCD Soundsystem. The decade’s virtues and faults can all be found running through Murphy’s trilogy of albums. There is the mainstream postmodern cynicism, the constant recycling of the now archived and accessible past and the arch refusal to bow to commercial pressure, all the while making something close to perfect pop music.

Whether this is the last LCD Soundsystem album remains to be seen, but it will be very interesting to see what Murphy does next, whether he reclines back into his comfortable producers chair, begins something entirely anew or just quietly retires into the background. Even if that is the case, the legacy he will have left us is one as strong as anyone can lay claim to in the past ten years. If only he would leave us with one last compilation tape.

9/10

“This Is Happening” is released via DFA on May 17th in the U.K. and the 18th in the U.S.  You can listen to the whole album on their website.

Buy “This Is Happening” –  Amazon: LP (Vinyl) | CD | MP3 – Insound: CD – emusic: Register for the free trial and get 25 songs absolutely free.

Last week after their album leaked online they decided to put the whole thing up online for people to listen to and now they’ve released the video for “Drunk Girls” which can only be described as absolutely fucking awesome, featuring a shit-tonne of Insane Clown Posse wannabes (these ones have more talent) tormenting the band.

Buy “This Is Happening” – Amazon – CD | Insound – CD

Check it:

LCD Soundsystem’s latest (and quite possibly greatest) album “This Is Happening” is streaming in its entirety on their website.  The album leaked a few days ago and it’s spectacular, you should not only give it a listen, but give it 7 listens, and then go buy it.

Or buy it, and then just keep listening to it until it arrives. That works too. Below you can hear “Dance Yrself Clean” and “Drunk Girls”.

Listen to “This Is Happening“.

Buy “This Is Happening” – Amazon – CD | Insound – CD

The quality of the rip is a little on the poor side, but the quality of the music is not.  Ripped from NME Radio and sent to WeAllWantSomeone, it’s a brand new song that features on the upcoming movie “Greenberg” starring Ben Stiller.  The soundtrack features more music by LCD frontman James Murphy, so hopefully it won’t be too much longer until we get our grubby little hands on more.

Check it.