LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver

I doubt there's a person out there in the western world that hasn't heard "Daft Punk" being played at some point.

Whether it be at a club, a disco, on television, on radio, or even some strange country dancing shindig.

That exposure alone made the previous album a great success, leaving many lofty expectacions for the follow-up 'Sound of Silver'. However, it's certainly not a rare occurrence for bands who have had a hugely successful breakout floor filler to deflate the balloon with their follow up album. Take "Franz Ferdinand", for example, who struck gold with "Take me Out" only to leave many shaking their heads with "You Could Of Had It So Much Better" (we thought so too). Reasons are plentiful. The pressure may be too much, the egos may be too inflated or perhaps it was a creative fluke which is destined to leave them bound for the identity parade round on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks".

Fear not though, for this will not be a let-down to die-hard fans or the guy who once tapped his feet along with one of their older songs on the radio a few years ago. We have curtain puller "Get Innocuous" which at first audial glance may seem to be a sequel of sorts to the last album, (and that's 'sequel' in the "Empire Strikes Back" vein rather than the "Bring it On Again" sense).

Don't get used to it though, because after a minute or so it breaks out into a trance section, getting louder as a punchy undercurrent takes hold before twisting into something akin to a sci-fi soundtrack. Quite a journey, but that's only the first track. Slightly later on, released single "North America Scum" threatens to be the catchiest song with 'America' in the title since the one from that South Park puppet movie. It all seems to go splendidly well until we reach the title track "Sound of Silver" which almost succeeds in curing insomnia, before picking up a smidgin near the finish line. The experience is neatly rounded off with terrifically nostalgic, 1950's-esque closer "New York, I love You, But You're Bringing Me Down"

So will the "Sound of Silver" be the sole saviour of dance music as the haysayers proclaim? Doubtful, it has too many low points to make it a genre classic, but that doesn't mean it can't be a relatively solid album which might perhaps inspire the next wave of DJs to do something more productive with their turntables rather than the vapid backwash which floods the gates of popular music today.