Thank God, the hipster-hater's most eagerly anticipated album to hate on is here! We have waded through a million singles' and magazine articles' worth of hype to hear what the fuss is about, and SURPRISE!, the album is really, really good. All this time, while the Rapture disappeared off the face of the earth (I think they died of oldness) and countless shitty disco-punk digi-funk imitators have materialized to cover "To Hell With Poverty," Death From Awesome guru James Murphy has been producing the end-all of hipster music manifestos, uniting people of all cultures, from Fader readers to 'Sup readers alike. How is this possible? For one thing, unlike other "now sounds" like Rio Booty Garbage and Grime, the LCD full-length can actually be listened to in the privacy of your home or iPod and be enjoyed as music (as opposed to shrieking noise). Consider: "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House," "Tribulations," "Movement," "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up" (which I have to include because every review of this album has to include it to show the record's "range"), "Disco Infiltrator." Yes, Murphy is kind of paunch and old, and yes, this album is produced and packaged to be EXACTLY what someone my age wants to hear, but fuck it! So is "Kung Fu Hustle" and I'm seeing that shit the day it comes out! 9 tracks total, all brilliant. 

• black vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• music label: DFA 2005

reviewed by the woodman 05/2005