11. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening - DFA/Virgin
12. Rogue Wave - Permalight - Brushfire
Fact: if LCD Soundsystem really is done, and James Murphy meant what he meant, they definitely went out on top. I do find it hard to believe, and he himself said they’d still create and release music just not in album form, but at least they have a legacy. Sure, they only have three albums and such career defining singles before them, but I’d be sad knowing I’d never hear any new music. I can’t lie - “Drunk Girls” was not my favorite song in the world at first, but it grew on me instantly. Songs like “All I Want”, “Pow Pow” and “I Can Change” have such this heavy late 70s feel to them, yet they sound like all their own. It’s as if, through the influences worn on his graying hair and sleeves, that Murphy has almost created his own genre. The music funky, the lyrics so personal, it’s a landmark. I listened to that London Sessions EP overnight and it was just amazing how all that’s going on on record is recreated live. Don’t you ever leave me, Mr. Murphy.
Zach Rogue had a tough year. He ended up laying down a lot apparently, pinching a nerve or hurting his back or something to the point where he couldn’t play guitar. After surviving this, along with drummer Pat Spurgeon’s documented successful kidney transplant, the duo set out to make a more upbeat record than Rogue Wave hath attempted prior. Permalight is a celebration of life, a record full of dancier beats, thicker guitars, and moments much more optimistic than the epic Asleep At Heavens Gate. ‘Now we’re born again’ Rogue sings at the start of “All That Remains” and it’s very true - who knows what is set in store for them, from here they can go anywhere.
