They don't do nostalgia like they used to

I won't wax lyrical too long on this one, but allow me a moment of post-rave nostalgia. A few months back when I'd had a listen to LCD Soundsystem's 'Sound Of Silver' and then saw them live here in Amsterdam, there was one stand-out track.

While the hypnotic piano, New Order guitar riff and LCD beat are infectious, it was the lyrical content of 'All My Friends' that caught my viscera. Being a 32yo Aussie ex-rave kid that's been away from home too long and with friends scattered around the globe - I am a perfect target for Murphy's brand of melancholic nostalgia on this track.

From the opening lyric of "That's how it starts, we go back to your house" to when he lifts a little to "You spend the first five years trying to get with the plan and the next five years trying to be with your friends again" right on through to the carthartic crescendo of Murphy shouting "if I could see all my friends tonight", the track has me in the grips of an uncharacteristic wistfulness.

I very much live for the moment and my life is currently on a trajectory that doesn't lend to reminisces of times past, yet every time I listen to this track (a current release no less) I am taken back to the mid-nineties in Sydney and the people I shared those times with.

It conjures those 8am drives from the club back to Bondi via Rose Bay riffing on subjects and rattling around in the glove box for spare sunglasses for my mates; smoking a spliff with Johnno on the North Bondi rocks before diving in to the cleansing blue ocean - the only thing that could wash away the stale sweat and chemical residue of the night's excesses; going back to a stranger's place and discovering the most beautiful girl you've ever seen is actually interested in you and is so easy to talk to; when a mate puts a track on that so perfectly sums up the moment and the feeling among your crew that you get cheers, smiles and hugs all-round...

It gets lost in the telling, but the feeling and the memories are still there. And that for me is the genius of this track - those moments are gone and the people have moved on, yet you're so fucking glad that you were lucky enough to have had them. 'All My Friends'captures that essence.

Below is the shortened radio edit that was used for this beautiful video (replete with facepaint, lizards, mirrors and pyro pay-off) directed by MJZ's Tom Kuntz.

Hairybone pick:: LCD Soundsystem 'Sound of Silver'

"Like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion remixed by Underworld" was the lazy description I gave for LCD Soundsystem once. LCDSS's sound is of course a whole lot more than that. And now that I have listened to James Murphy's sophomore 'Sound of Silver' (released on March 19), the comment is almost redundant.

The album kicks off with the familiar low-fi DFA discopunk and moves into new ground as the album drives ever forward with echoes of New Order, Kraftwerk, Bowie and Talking Heads. Murphy flaunts his influences throughout the album (and if you're familiar with the lyrics of 'Losing My Edge', you'll know he has a few). On "All Of My Friends" James' vocals even venture into early Bono territory. I heard cries of woe as I just typed that, but fear not, it is excellent and his signature nasal and knowing delivery is still the main feature.

While the first album's mood was very much 'missives of an aging hipster', Sound of Silver is more 'on-the-road insights of a self-aware rock star'. James Murphy was never lacking in depth, yet he has ploughed it. His sound didn't need to mature, but it has. This man is a musical polymath with the soul of a hedonistic Buddha...and our ears are so much the better for it.

Buy it from Amazon

PS. My good man Barrington has secured me a ticket to see them live at the Melkweg here in Amsterdam on March 17. To say I'm excited would be a tragic understatement.