Returning to the fold with new music for the first time in five years, LCD Soundsystem hit their recent groove and mood with a White Noise soundtrack addition. New rave aesthetics for a final dance number in the latest Noah Baumbach movie. With new body rhumba, there is an essential old-style quality from LCD Soundsystem, whose upbeat charms are extended, amplified and consistent. Its drum beat brings about a lighter quality that steers new body rhumba away from harsher, faster or better pacing. Still, with James Murphy back on vocals and synthesizer duties, it is hard to knock LCD Soundsystem for another lengthy hit that rounds out a quality Netflix film.
A desire for a new body pushes LCD Soundsystem to a new level, Murphy croons over that need for a remake well. It is a track that is over before it starts, never quite getting into the groove but never switching off. Murphy experiments once again with great mixes, but the darker side of LCD Soundsystem is nowhere to be found. Stylish and sitting well with the new aesthetic of the band upon its return, new body rhumba provides that new shape of the soul but does so by sacrificing the tougher intensity found in their earliest works. A move away from that grime and grit felt inevitable, but the cushioned style of new body rhumba detracts somewhat from the core of the track. It picks itself up with a soundscape-style electronic mix close to the end of the song, but the high is all too brief.
Muddied mixing is a bit of a downturn for new body rhumba though, its synthesizer and drum drowning out any chance of Murphy truly expressing himself. Nancy Whang interjects occasionally throughout, with solid backing vocals to stand up the lead Murphy takes. If only it could be heard. Their noisy production style works for lower bars and notes, check Beat Connection as the best example of that. While new body rhumba has a very different pacing to it, the comparison made profiles LCD Soundsystem as a band that tries to return to the quality, anthemic roots. They do so with new body rhumba but leave something out, something desirable that goes beyond a relatively shaky production mix.
Hearing new body rhumba round out the end of White Noise at Venezia 79 was fine enough. It was as muted a response as expected for those in attendance in the early hours of some nondescript morning. Were people there to enjoy the first taste of a new track from LCD Soundsystem, or were they just too tired to get up? Who knows. new body rhumba will shake the soul a little, but its effectiveness is weighed down by the cleaner image it strikes. Funk basslines and backing vocals of nondescript qualities are there, Murphy warbles away with that usual intensity and skill but it feels a tad empty. A mid-track pause to shift gears, a break in the brilliance LCD Soundsystem once provided.
