“Losing My Edge,” the 2002 debut single from New York’s LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, was a hilarious satire of hipsters who endlessly claim they were around for seminal moments in music history: “I was there at the first Can show in Cologne … I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.” But as the double-CD release LCD Soundsystem (DFA/Capitol) shows, the song also provided a list of the ingredients that inform maestro James Murphy’s auteurlike work. He’s trawled through three decades of music history: “Movement” does New Order better than New Order; “Disco Infiltrator” meticulously re-creates Afropop-era Talking Heads; “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” swipes its opening riff from “Super Freak”; and “Great Release” echoes Brian Eno’s early pop phase. Murphy is an incredibly savvy craftsman, however–he knows just what to do with all the elements he borrows–and he delivers lyrics stuffed with pop-culture references in a voice that sounds like Mark E. Smith with a bad head cold. The album isn’t very coherent–the second disc just compiles previously released singles–and it’s hard to imagine that Murphy’s approach has much staying power. But for the time being it’s the most irresistible display of 80s underground obsessiveness out there.
