LCD Soundsystem / Art Brut

‘Modern Art makes me want to rock out!’ screams the portly Jarvis Cocker for 21st Century, Art Brut’s observationally astute Eddie Argos. When he’s not priming himself to run headfirst at paintings in the world’s most famous art galleries, he writes witty ditties that, in his words, ‘speak to the kids’. He openly acknowledges that he has no musical proficiency, making the set-opening riffs of AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ even more comically juxtaposed as they segue into cult hit ‘Formed A Band’. That’s not to say the man has no talent, far from it, he’s gradually carving himself out to be the voice of the current disaffected generation. Post-irony, post-post-modernism, so beyond self-awareness and so deeply self-deprecating that somehow everything he says seems to resonate a sense of distilled truth, Art Brut’s collected musical output paints a framed portrait of the life of the layman seeking thrills and spills in the straightjacket society that’s free of sentiment and imagination.

They’re cutting and humorous but people are here to dance tonight, not muse on the peculiarities of life, so it’s lucky for them that Argos’ Morrissey-on-Prozac ‘poetry’ is delivered over a roster of fantastic rock hooks twinned with embracing drum beats and dares to throw in chant friendly choruses that even the most pissed up in the audience can, with a bit of effort, sing along to. They leave a jovial spirit in the air, above the stickier-than-placenta carpet of the Brixton Academy, the perfect warm-up to the main attraction.

LCD Soundsystem’s eponymous debut is currently enjoying high placing in almost every end-year-poll currently published in the music press and with good reason. The innovative punk-funk fever of DFA Records’ main brain machine, James Murphy, laced itself across the album’s two discs with the grace and reverence of a reclining nude, creating a deep disco classic, pre-empting a dance-floor renaissance which is still gathering momentum.

Their live shows in the UK thus far have bordered on historic, from the year-opening club nights in smoky back-street venues, to the euphoric festival appearances at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, culminating with this, their biggest show, at the Brixton Academy. How they’d adapt to a hollowed out chamber this size seemed curious but not impossible, and whether they’d dare deviate from that same set-list they’ve had on the go all year was on the mind of almost nobody, as that would debase the band’s apparent modus operandi – hold your mouth, think with your feet, don’t try and be deep, just dance to the beat.

Still, just in case you are curious, no, they don’t open with ‘Beat Connection’, as has become custom… in fact, they don’t even play the damn song, which is a minor shame. Despite this oversight, the LCD canon remains intact, with ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ and ‘Tribulations’ in their moments sounding like the greatest songs to ever be emitted through the venues speakers. Confounding as it is, despite the new set-list, they still can’t find time to slip in former single ‘Disco Infiltrator’, a song yet to be performed on British soil. Dance masterpiece, ‘Yeah’ breaks the ten-minute boundary it sets itself on record, tonight seemingly going on for almost an entire fortnight, which, according to the sea of faces caught in a dance oblivion, is a very good thing.

Murphy warns from the stage that this is the last we shall see of them for a while - a shame, as it seems they’ve hardly been here with us for long in the first place. Whether they do or do not return to the fold (they are, after all, just this record label owner’s damningly successful side-project) they stand as testimony to the old adage, ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all’.... Ahhhh, how romantic!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.