With the approach of Dance marathon, LCD Soundsystem couldn’t have chosen a better time to release their marathon track, “45:33.”
The song, which is actually about a half a minute longer than the title suggests, was commissioned by Nike and designed to be the perfect sound track to a workout. According to press materials, the group claimed that “45:33″ had been refined after several test runs on a treadmill, “to reward and push at good intervals of a run.” A claim that was later shot down when James Murphy, head of LCD and co-founder of DFA Records, admitted to British newspaper “The Guardian” he doesn’t run. The album also features three bonus tracks originally only available in some European countries, including a remix of “North American Scum.”
The track “45:33″ is broken into six parts on the album. It opens with what sounds like a scale of sorts. Almost like the sound effect that accompanied a jump in Super Mario Bros., but slowed down several times, and dubbed over itself again and again. After the piano, guitar and drum come in, angelic voices hum, and intermittently exclaim, “Shame on you,” reminiscent of the Shaft sound track’s “Shut Your Mouth.” From there it moves on to the next part, which is essentially an eight-minute-long, instrumental version of the group’s song, “Someone Great,” xylophone and all.
In the next part, the track turns toward another era, the sound track to some sort of contemporary disco party, complete with the seizure-inducing flashing lights and the platform shoes. The trumpet near the end proves to be the perfect segue into the next part, which is a more modern dance party. Very LCD Soundsystem, with the fast beat and the crazy synths. The distorted vocals throw in phrases, like, “is that a voice in my head?” It’s a beautiful combination.
The track enters its final part with the euphoric sound of gentle high-pitched synths, accompanied by an angelic hum. If there were an elevator to heaven, this would be the elevator music. The sound is maintained throughout most of this part, only to be joined by gentle drumming, beating like a heart as the song begins to fade away into its hypnotizing completion.
For 46 minutes, LCD Soundsystem was the sound track to my life. I was driving to Orange Country while listening to this track, and my driving style was directly influenced by each different part. Whether this is a good or bad thing is completely debatable, but during parts two through five, I was probably lucky not to have gotten a moving violation.
Whether you’re running, driving or dance marathoning, “45:33″ will probably be the most fun you’ll have had for 46 minutes straight.
““ Rob Kadivar
E-mail Kadivar at rkadivar@media.ucla.edu.