Best LCD Soundsystem Albums: The Complete Discography, Ranked And Reviewed

7: ‘London Sessions’ (2010)

A joyous, crowd-inciting riot among the best LCD Soundsystem albums, 2010’s London Sessions distils the band’s stage magic into a heady artisanal spirit. Full of rich, zesty flavours that’ll have you licking the inside of the shot glass, it’s a dancefloor-ready whirlwind of hyper-charged electro grooves that pogo alongside James Murphy’s half-sardonic, half-transcendent yowls. Recorded in Miloco Studios during the group’s This Is Happening tour, the album mimics the feel of a long-lost John Peel session, as Murphy and his cohorts channel the past by revisiting the sizzling mania of Daft Punk Is Playing At My House and the reverb-heavy tempo shift of I Can Change. Confirming the group’s place as the world’s leading dance-punk outsiders, London Sessions is a delirious time capsule of wiry abandon, proving that James Murphy was plugged in to a fuse box of his own making.

Must hear: I Can Change

6: ‘45:33’ (2006)

Originally released as a long-form iTunes-only megamix, 45:33 is a foot-pounding fitness frenzy that sure gets the blood pumping. Originally commissioned by Nike as a workout soundtrack, it takes inspiration from German experimentalist Manuel Göttsching to serve up a runner’s dream of genre-defying gospel-disco swagger. Oozing gooey synth squelches and spacey funk flourishes, the collection finds LCD Soundsystem in a decidedly exploratory mode prior to the release of Sound Of Silver. From the ghostly glimmers of a voiceless Someone Great to the brass-infused funk spasms of Freak Out/Starry Eyes, 45:33 is like a never-ending treadmill for the ears. As unstoppably experimental – yet still limb-flailingly danceable – as the best LCD Soundsystem albums get.

Must hear: 45:33

5: ‘American Dream’ (2017)

Marking their audacious return after a seven-year hiatus, LCD Soundsystem’s fourth studio outing, American Dream, arrived at a point when the group’s legacy already felt enshrined. A mature patchwork of neon-lit existential musings, this comeback record is a jagged, anxiety-laden delight among the best LCD Soundsystem albums. From the lullaby-esque swoon of Oh Baby to the jittery cowbell-bashing of Tonite, it flits from synth-heavy ethereality to melancholy-laced beats like a cosmic apparition of new-wave phantasmagoria. With swirling tributes to David Bowie and Murphy’s trademark bursts of wry humour, American Dream proved that LCD Soundsystem could recapture their creative spark as they called time on their self-imposed exile.

Must hear: Oh Baby

4: ‘The Long Goodbye: LCD Soundsystem Live At Madison Square Garden’ (2014)

The last hurrah of LCD Soundsystem’s initial run – a career arc that turned James Murphy into the half-mad prophet of misfit Gen Xers – The Long Goodbye documents the band’s majestic “farewell” at Madison Square Garden in 2011. As if igniting a funeral pyre for dance-punk, this era-encapsulating live performance captures LCD Soundsystem at their absolute zenith. Leading us off into the sunset with a sprawling three-hour set, highlights include the tender heartbreak of Someone Great and the bongo-heavy shout-a-thon Yeah. Easily one of the best LCD Soundsystem albums, The Long Goodbye put a cathartic full stop on the group’s imperial first phase, capping off their reign with a postmodern disco meltdown that doubles as a bittersweet yet utterly euphoric therapy session.

Must hear: Yeah

3: ‘LCD Soundsystem’ (2005)

Feeling like the coolest basement dance party and the most hilariously erudite music seminar rolled into one, LCD Soundsystem’s self-titled debut album remains a quintessential blast of mid-2000s dance-punk. Then a scrappy underdog in the DFA scene, James Murphy arrived at a time when his band was more of an experiment than an institution, his mad-professor lyrics sizzling with self-aware irony over twitchy electro beats. The tongue-in-cheek gumption of Daft Punk Is Playing At My House remains obnoxiously anorak-y, while the catchy, frenetic pulsebeat of Disco Infiltrator is as incendiary as it gets. Rapidly crystallising into an era-spanning lesson on the rich histories of both electronic and punk music, LCD Soundsystem still ranks among the best LCD Soundsystem albums for unravelling the DNA of hipster cool and reassembling it into a defiantly genre-bending opus.

Must hear: Daft Punk Is Playing At My House

2: ‘This Is Happening’ (2010)

Standing tall among the best LCD Soundsystem albums, This Is Happening is more than a capstone to the group’s trailblazing initial trilogy of releases. Finessing James Murphy’s homemade recipe of nervy self-awareness mixed with time-warping dance-punk nostalgia, it’s an album that finds the LCD guru owning his status as a lovably cranky sage, flooring listeners with Dance Yrself Clean’s synth drop and pilfering Frippertronics for All I Want. From the frat-jock freakout of Drunk Girls to the bruise-filled sparring session of Pow Pow, This Is Happening features many of the best LCD Soundsystem songs, and it has only grown in stature over the years. Touted by Murphy as being the band’s “final album” at the time of release, its spongy mix of jittery rhythms and deadpan lyrics remains a compelling summation of a group that had their cake and ate it, too.

Must hear: Dance Yrself Clean

1: ‘Sound Of Silver’ (2007)

Gleaming like a disco ball spinning in an existential void, LCD Soundsystem’s second studio album, Sound Of Silver, took the “everything goes” credo of the group’s debut and refined it into a lustrous masterpiece. Sashaying between James Murphy’s sarky disco-denizen persona (Time To Get Away) and moments of surprising synth-pop tenderness (Someone Great), it also features Murphy’s finest hour as a lyricist, in the shape of the generational anthem All My Friends. A bedraggled social commentator concerned with the fault lines of aging and maturity, Murphy brings a bittersweet streak to Sound Of Silver’s litany of shimmering electro beats, while his love letter to the Big Apple, New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down, is as potent an experience as dunking your head in a cider barrel. A sterling achievement that remains a jewel in the group’s discography, Sound Of Silver tops our list of the best LCD Soundsystem albums with ease.

Must hear: All My Friends

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