Tracks

“Bye Bye Bayou”
LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy is a big, lovable record geek, and his LCD Soundsystem often comes across as little more than an expert pastiche of the übercool: Bowie, Kraftwerk and just about anything made with synthesizers in NYC during the late ’70s. It was inevitable that Murphy would cover Alan Vega, the art rocker who had far more influence and leather jackets than good songs. The frigid urban minimalism of Suicide, Vega’s former act, set the template for Murphy’s hipster disco. So even though Murphy digs deep and picks “Bye Bye Bayou,” an obscure rockabilly groover from Vega’s goofy solo debut, it sounds just like Suicide. Detached, head-cold vocals mumble over a funky three-note keyboard figure—for seven minutes. Not much else happens. Well, after the line “helicopters are coming,” some electronic squiggles rush in to mimic spinning blades. Spinning wheels might have been more appropriate.

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