Being passionate about music in the era of iTunes and American Idol tends to be a lot harder, in my opinion. Granted, the fractions of my skull are probably pretty well-fused compared to a decade ago, but sequestering myself in an upstate New York suburb and addicting myself to the masochism of right-wing talk radio doesn't help either. Being removed from urban culture also can mean being the last to know about something good.

For this, I apologize that this review is probably quite belated, and a bit deluded, in the eyes of some of my peers. But when often lamenting about the lull I feel music has been in, I often would try to imagine how the next turn of the circle would be initiated. In particular, I'd conjecture as to what a Velvet Underground/Talking Heads of a post-Guiliani/post-9/11 New York City would look like. Could gritty self-induced music really arise in the shadow of a Disney-fied Times Square and in the national wake of Clay Aiken?

In James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem, I feel we may have a candidate. For one, they say that Velvet Underground only sold 300,000 copies of their first album; But everyone who bought it went and started a band. Respectively, after listening to LCDSS's albums and singles for two days, I was suddenly energized to finish some neglected musical projects in my basement.

Murphy is apparently already known as one-third of dance label DFA Records - another testimony to my ignorance.

LCDSS's electroclash-infused rock is the first new sound I've heard in a long time. Is it derivative? Of course. But in a baton-passing fashion similar to past seachanges. I know I've been living under a rock, but hearing live drums and drum machines together was a novelty that made me giddy. Also, their trademark of synthetic cowbells would gain them Christopher Walken's approval I reckon. And while Murphy's voice could be grating to some, I think his stuffy-nosed Snagglepuss drawl is a lot of the charm.

The lyrics really formed a connection for me - which is rare. I usually don't give a crap about lyrics as much as melodies and sound. But their songs have played out to be a soundtrack for the collective experience in my sphere over the last few years.

2002's debut "Losing My Edge" vaguely echoes the sentiment of being Gen-X and growing older.. But, for me, it specifically seemed to mirror a recent experience at an ex-girlfriend's party that was a bit of a Big Chill reunion, where I joined in a circle of thirty-something indie rockers trading 90's hipster trivia in an exercise of nostalgia. Similarly, Murphy's (or whomever this song is figuratively speaking for) past itinerary builds up to a fury of remininscence concluding like a General Foods International Coffee commercial ("GIL! SCOTT! HERON!"). A potential influence that comes to mind for this track is Renegade Soundwave, but I also had the suspicious inclination to make a chopping motion along the length of my arm.

"Daft Punk is Playing My House", from their self-titled album, is the most American-radio-friendly of their tracks. It's a bouncy/poppy/catchy track about your average Williamsburg punk rock house party in the early 2000's, with one exception - Daft Punk is headlining this theoretical party. I definitely connected this track with memories of vicarious times spent visiting friends who had relocated to this part of Brooklyn.

"New York, I Love You", their one ballad, resounds the sentiments shared by myself and many of my contemporaries who made New York City their playground in one way or another, one time or another. Murphy pines for the culture that came with a gritty, unforgiving New York while facing the conflict that comes with the safe, homogenized New York and present day. Personally, it plugs into a nagging question that lurks within me - should I go back and confront the city that once smited me? Or just a general burgeoning desire to move to some larger metropolis.. It also reminds me of recent times seeing that clubs like Irving Plaza were now playing host to the likes of Ashlee Simpson and wondering how this could have happened..

I started to feel regret for cloistering myself upstate. But I found comfort once recently learning that Murphy and friends had themselves retreated to an upstate New York farm in order to record their next release. I guess it's just time to submerse into the basement for now, to emerge another day for what's next. Other recommended tracks: "Tribulations", "Beat Connection" and "All of My Friends". The forthcoming "Sounds of Silver" is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2007.

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