Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2010

EMI Music Japan

LCD Soundsystem are the ultimate music geek band. Even if you can spot all of their reference points—Talking Heads, Can, Kraftwerk, etc.—James Murphy’s troupe are too sincere, too funny, just too damn good to be written off as pastiche. In This is Happening, they’ve made their most assured and coherent offering to date. It doesn’t get much more audacious than opener “Dance Yrself Clean,” which holds out for a full three minutes before unleashing its clomping disco beat, or “All I Want,” which manages to ape David Bowie’s “Heroes” and actually get away with it. Murphy’s lyrics are alternately scabrous (“Your time will come, but tonight is our night, so you should give us all your drugs”) and vulnerable (“This is what you waited for / But under lights, we’re all unsure”), embracing dance-floor hedonism while at the same time acknowledging how ridiculous it is. Expect them to be one of the highlights of this year’s Fuji Rock Festival.

Fuji Rock Festival
July 30-Aug 1, time TBA, ¥16,800 (one-day pass)/¥39,800 (three-day pass). Naeba Ski Resort. www.fujirockfestival.com