Every month this year, I’m dedicating myself to getting into a new band.  By ‘new band’, what I really mean is an old band who I’ve known of for awhile but have for one reason or another never checked out.  Maybe they were a genre I wasn’t into, maybe they were the favorite band of someone I didn’t like, maybe I was just lazy.  Whatever reason, I’m going to spend the month trying to get into them.

If, at the end of the month, I find myself enjoying the music I’ll buy an album.  And if not, I’ll save my money for something else.

My New Band for March is:

LCD Soundsystem

From the wiki page:

LCD Soundsystem was an American-based dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records. The group released three critically acclaimed albums – LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver and This Is Happening with the last charting in the Billboard Top 10.

My personal history with LCD Soundsystem:

This is a classic example of why I started this feature.  LCD Soundsystem is one of those groups that has existed in my sphere of musical taste for years, yet I’ve never really given them much of a try.  That is largely due to the fact that they have been so revered in the Indie Music scene that they always felt a bit impenetrable.  They aren’t nearly on the level of the Pixies or Pavement (yet), but there is still this sense that LCD Soundsystem is Important Music, even while it seems simply to be poppy dance music with a darker edge.

As an act that is prominently featured on Pitchfork (and that ilk of website) whenever James Murphy sneezes, I’ve had some unavoidable exposure to their music.  In fact, I quite enjoy “I Can Change” and “Daft Punk is Playing At My House” so I fully expect to be a fan once I give them the chance.  I just haven’t yet, so that’s what April is all about.

I won’t have nearly the thrill of first exposure as I did with, say, Digable Planets, but in contrast I feel like I have enough knowledge of the group to have a solid jumping in spot for the music.  I’m excited for the prospect of finding out that I’ve been missing an integral part of my music library all these years.  But maybe I’ll come to the end of the month and feel all the hype was for naught.

Feel free to explore with me, or rediscover them if you’ve always been a fan.  And if you have suggestions for future bands I should feature, please mention them in the comments.

Past Months:

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Digable Planets

Fugazi