Monday's Long Song

On Thursday this week, 18th July, The Flightpath Estate DJs northern division (Dan, Martin and me) are playing some records at Head in Stretford, as guests of Club Solo. I've been going through my records, making piles and lists of probables and possibles, re- listening to some things and narrowing it down to something approaching a set. My recent Monday long song focus on DFA and  LCD Soundsystem led me to go through my LCD records and I pulled out the 12" of Yeah.

Yeah (Crass Version)

Yeah came out in January 2004, in two mixes, the eleven minute Pretentious Version and the nine minute Crass Version. I put the Crass version on the turntable and wallowed in James Murphy's attempt to tell the story of dance music in one track, a track that Murphy says was difficult to make. The whole thing is an LCD Soundsystem tour de force, New York clubland pressed on wax- driving art- funk bass, Murphy and Nancy Whang chanting the word of the title, and then 'Everyone keeps on talking about/ Nobody's getting it done', his intonation somewhere between wired and bored. The synths flutter, the snares crack, the bass pumps like a marriage between Talking Heads and Liquid Liquid. The Crass version piles up and becomes increasingly intense, like being trapped in a washing machine with a power drill, the ultra- distorted, raw acid analogue synths buzzing at the very edge of music, noise and rhythm combined in ecstatic union. Fuck yeah!