LCD Soundsystem (aka James Murphy, one half of achingly hip production duo DFA) finally gets round to releasing his third single. Last years ‘Losing my Edge’ set the scene. A record about obsessive record collecting, growing older and being usurped by the next generation (sample lyric: ‘I hear you have a compilation tape of every good song ever done by anybody’). A song to smile wryly to that also did the business on the dance floor. His second release ‘Give it Up’ also hinted at great things. And then nothing, for what seemed like forever.
There is a lot of anticipation around ‘Yeah’ and you’re not going to be disappointed. A side ‘Yeah (Crass version)’ is over 9 minutes long and still leaves you begging for more. ‘Everybody keeps talking about it / Nobody’s getting it done’ so states Murphy over the funkiest of bass lines. That’s about to change. As the bass line starts to build, Murphys signature crisp production really begins to kick in, stretching your speakers into shapes you didn’t think they were capable with.
About three minutes in he decides he’s had enough of creating one of the best disco funk tunes you’ll ever hear and starts building, layer upon layer of beats, bleeps and a vocal that repeats ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ that you’re not sure is emanating from the record or is some insidious voice in your head. By this point you’ll be strutting round the room willing that voice to tell you more but he’s got bigger plans for you. He’s about to introduce the acid.
|
It’s as if he’s taken ‘Higher State of Consciousness’, decided it was for lightweights and battered it into some evil new shape. It starts innocent enough, a few twist and bleeps and then builds and builds and builds. When you don’t think it can get any more manic without tipping into frequencies that will make you involuntarily shit yourself he manages to step up a gear. By the time you reach the last two minutes all hell breaks loose. There’s gonna be some casualties, mark my words.
Don’t bother with the b sides, these consist of a couple of lame remixes, which is a shame. Mind you with an A side this good there’s no point getting greedy. Murphys work with the likes of the Rapture and Radio 4 as DFA has produced some fantastic records (‘House of Jealous Lovers’ and ‘Dance to the Underground’ respectively to name just two). With ‘Yeah’ though he has surpassed both. Only 9 out of 10 then? I’m just leaving room for whatever comes next.
|
