LCD Soundsystem’s ‘This Is Happening’ and More New Reviews
Prepare to “Dance Yrself Clean”: LCD Soundsystem’s anticipated third album This Is Happening arrives in stores today, just in time to soundtrack your summer dance parties. On the new LP, disco-punk mastermind James Murphy wears his Berlin Trilogy-era Bowie/Eno influences on his sleeve with a collection of nine supersized songs that make his midlife crisis danceable. “The long songs reveal Murphy’s bottom-line agenda: He’s still a dance guy at heart, and he knows it’s his job to ignite parties and clubs,” Jody Rosen writes in his four-star review. “But he approaches dance music more like a folkie singer-songwriter than a DJ, as a vehicle for storytelling and confession.” Standouts include the frat-rock first single “Drunk Girls,” the lovelorn “I Can Change” and the “Heroes”-inspired centerpiece, “All I Want.”
One of rock & roll’s greatest double albums is also back in the spotlight this week: the Rolling Stones’ reissue of Exile on Main Street . The original album would likely earn a five-star review on its own, but the reissue is stocked with 10 stellar previously unreleased bonus tracks. “The highlight of the bonuses is a striking variation on the closer, ‘Soul Survivor,’ sung by Richards instead of Jagger in an enraged bray, as if the guitarist just got up from a vicious beating. I would gladly pay extra to hear a tape of the two debating which version to use,” David Fricke writes in his five-star review. For much more on this masterpiece, check out the new issue of Rolling Stone .
The Black Keys are also back this week with Brothers , the Ohio blues-rock duo’s tightest album yet. “The Keys make a thick, dirty racket, overdubbed but never overstuffed,” Fricke writes in his four-star review. The formula is similar to 2008’s Danger Mouse-produced Attack & Release, “but Brothers, recorded largely in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with little outside help, has a higher ratio of compelling songs and distress.” While the album runs a little long, tracks like “I’m Not the One” are late-disc highlights. As Fricke notes in his review, it’s “a deep-fried wrong-love song destined for a payday cover in the straight world.”
This week’s noteworthy new releases also include Band of Horses’ third album Infinite Arms , Damian Marley and Nas’ Distant Relatives and Jamie Lidell’s Compass . Get Rolling Stone‘s take on all the hottest new CDs — and sample tracks from each release — in our Album Reviews section.