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LCD Soundsystem
 For a group that's had their latest release 'Sound Of Silver' appear near the top of just about all the important 2007 best-of lists, LCD Sound System manage to maintain a surprising air of anonymity. It's certainly not something that bothers drummer Pat Mahoney. "The whole best-of thing that's come up now seems kind of abstract to me, because we're totally anonymous in New York," he laughs, "which is pretty nice. The critical acclaim is great, but I don't know, I still feel like we are a very small band in some ways."
In fact, so under the radar have the band been that in the past they've often been mistaken for a British group, even in their own country - something that frontman James Murphy addressed directly on the track North American Scum. "That actually was a phenomenon that we all found really funny," Mahoney explains. "For a long time - I mean for years - even in American press, people mistook us for an English band for some reason, I guess we didn't sound like we came from the US or something. This is a mistake that was made all over the world, but the fact that it was being made in New York was something that we always found pretty hilarious."
Though the group cite influences like New York disco and prominent No Wave bands, there are certainly glimpses of the British post-punk sound in their music, not least in their willingness to turn punk into dance music by adding those disco influences. It's a sound that is very carefully constructed in the studio, frontman James Murphy playing many of the parts himself, and one certainly poses a challenge to replicate live.
"There were only 2 other members [in the studio], it was myself and Tyler Pope, who used to play bass for us and who plays guitar for !!!," Mahoney begins outlining the recording process before interrupting himself to add that keyboard player Nancy Whang also delivered some of the vocals. "He and I and James just laid down really basic grooves, and then the songs are built from those. So it was pretty informal, we just sat down with an idea and played something simple and tried to keep it as tight and as fresh as we could, and I think it comes across on the record - it's a lot more live-sounding than the first one, for example."
Nevertheless, the difficulties in transferring this to a live arena are something that the group was very aware of, and as a result the line-up is considerably different onstage. "[James Murphy] plays percussion and vocals. He made a decision at the very beginning that he didn't want to play any instruments, and just concentrate on vocals. I mean, we're five people, there's plenty of stuff going on onstage." Additionally, the sound itself has been somewhat transformed, though Mahoney is confident that it's still very much LCD Sound System that the crowd will be getting. "Live, it's kind of faster and louder and almost more punk than the studio stuff, and that's partly out of necessity and partly an aesthetic choice for what the live show demands."
As well as the live show, both Mahoney ad Murphy regularly expose their influences to fans more directly by playing DJ shows, often on the same day as their gigs, but Mahoney is wary of the tendency of promoters to tout these as LCD shows. "We've been pretty careful not to confuse the two things, because what we wouldn't want, if we're playing in a town where we're not well known, is for people to think that they're getting LCD Sound System when they're getting the DJ set. So we take care to be billed as only James Murphy, or myself, or if it's the two of us, just our names. And it might say 'from DFA' but we try not to let people announce us as LCD Sound System, because the possible confusion could be a disappointment for people." And as for the sets themselves, Mahoeny certainly believes that his role is to make people dance: "I listen to all kinds of stuff, but I play disco pretty heavily, and I feel that we definitely have in mind, if not the punk side, but the weirdo side of disco, the more synthy side."
Alexis Buxton-Collins
LCD Sound System play as part of the Big Day Out at Wayville Showgrounds on Fri 1 Feb.
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