LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends”
in One-Track Mind, ed. Asif Siddiqi (Routledge, 2022)
This essay takes LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” (2007) as a starting point to explore the post-9/11 indie music scene in New York City. In both lyrics and sound, “All My Friends” reassembles the past to engage with the present: frontman James Murphy draws on musical styles that range from synth-driven new wave sounds like New Order, the bass-heavy style of younger indie groups like The Strokes, and the four-on-the-floor disco rhythms of Donna Summer. Ultimately, Murphy’s song is as much a critique of coolness as it is an attempt to dance away reality—a tenuous balance the musician keeps throughout much of his work. Positioned within the “retromania” (Reynolds, 2011) of the first decade of the new millennium, “All My Friends” plays with notions of aging, fashion, and nostalgia to compelling—and very cool—ends.