LCD Soundsystem - Yeah

The second ever 12-inch from LCD Soundsystem, repressed in the original artwork from the 2003 UK edition, and one of the great pre-album singles in the DFA catalog. Even the vinyl knows what it is: etched into every pressing of "Yeah" is the phrase "Not as good as Losing My Edge." James Murphy being characteristically, brilliantly self-deprecating about a record that is, in fact, extraordinary.

Released in 2003 in the wake of the verbose, name-dropping genius of "Losing My Edge," "Yeah (Crass Version)" took a deliberately different approach. Where its predecessor had been wordy and satirical, the Crass version strips the lyrics back to almost nothing, Murphy and his bandmates intoning the title word as a kind of hypnotic incantation while the track slowly, inevitably builds from a whispery disco-rock shimmer into what one critic accurately described as a terrifically obnoxious, out-of-control monstrosity. Over nine and a half minutes, a wild acid line emerges and escalates, and by the end the whole thing has transformed into something that draws equally from Chicago house, New York post-punk, and Berlin techno with total, thrilling conviction.

The B-side "Yeah (Pretentious Version)" takes a different approach, streamlining the aggression and noodling further with electronics, quieter but no less essential. Together the two versions represent LCD Soundsystem at their most playful and their most adventurous, and remain among the finest things James Murphy has put to wax.