LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem's addictive dance-rock has been universally praised as the last word in "cool," mainly because James Murphy, the brains behind the operation, spends much of his lyrical time obsessing over the pointlessness of "cool" among music obsessives, thereby paradoxically earning his band extra "cool points." Crank up "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" and "Disco Infiltrator," and you'll know exactly what we're talking about. Remixes and session tracks abound in Next Steps.

LCD Soundsystem set out its stall in 2002 with the exceptional debut single "Losing My Edge," during which you'll be impelled to dance while giggling like a loon to the comical lack of confidence around which James Murphy builds his lyrics. Another collector's item is the cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Slowdive" (from a radio session), as is the strangely soothing Kris Menace disco remix of "North American Scum."

LCD Soundsystem founder James Murphy invests the full, ineffectual force of his self-deprecating, nervy, shambling, fearfully middle-aged persona into his music: the perfect lyrical foil for the decisive beats, meaty electronic squelches, and impulsive rhythms that demand nothing from the listener other than joyous, limber-limbed dancing. Murphy has created a 21st -century "disco" sound that rocks harder than flint and encases the most pathetic of human vulnerabilities. Genius. Apparently Murphy could, had he accepted the offer, have been a writer on Seinfeld, but the timeless sitcom's loss was superlative dance-rock's gain.