release date: Mar. 12, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: The DFA [Tim Goldsworthy & James Murphy]
label: DFA Records Japan - nationality:
Track highlights: 1. "Get Innocuous!" - 2. "Time to Get Away" - 3. "North American Scum" - 4. "Someone Great" (5 / 5) - 6. "Us V Them"
2nd full studio album by LCD Soundsystem in a Japanese edition including 3 bonus tracks.
It's really not that different from the debut album as they still make use of various influences - on the first three tracks one will hear funk and alt. dance / dance-punk pointing to a more standard rock-outing, but with the track "Someone Great" the album takes a turn towards indietronics and synth pop, which is nicely continued on "All My Friends" before returning to a funky rhythmic conglomerate of all their styles blending funk, electro-disco, synth pop and dance-punk in just one song: "Us V Them". The standard album closer "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" is another "weird"-styled track building on a singer / songwriter tradition that makes me think of Lou Reed.
The Japanese edition of the album continues with two (much alike) remixes of the album track "North American Scum" and "Hippie Priest Bum-Out" - all of which are danceable tunes without being really memorable.
The huge blend is really not bad at all - it's highly original, though you may need to reserve time to digest this fusion of styles. It strikes me that the band re-use bits and pieces one will find in the late 1970s varying from the disco sound to more new wave- and art pop-oriented artists - from American artists like Donna Summer, Blondie, Talking Heads, Devo and The B-52's to British David Bowie, Altered Images, Human League and Gang Of Four.
Sound of Silver was met by positive reviews and nominated a Grammy Award for Best Electronic / Dance album of the year [handed to We Are the Night by The Chemical Brothers], and it's included in "1001 Album You Must Hear Before You Die".
I really enjoy this album, although, I don't find it all that homogeneous, and "Someone Great" is a marvellous track.
[ allmusic.com, Spin 4,5 / 5, NME, Q, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
