This Is Happening is the third studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2010 and in the US on May 18, 2010 on DFA Records. It was recorded over the course of 2009 and early 2010 in the Mansion recording studio in Los Angeles. The first single, "Drunk Girls", was released in April 2010, with a music video directed by Spike Jonze. The album is dedicated to Jerry Fuchs (1974â€"2009), who performed drums live with the band on occasion, as well as having a big part in associated DFA acts.
Reception
LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change - Track 5 From LCD Soundsystem's 2010 "This is Happening"
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100Â to reviews from mainstream critics, This Is Happening received an average score of 84, based on 38Â reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". It also achieved an ADM Rating of 7.7/10 on another review aggregator, AnyDecentMusic?.
Guardian reviewer Alexis Petridis observed that the album did not contain Sound of Silver's "startling sense of mapping out new territories", instead sticking to a template that worked "incredibly well." In his review for AllMusic, Tim Sendra had a similar opinion, stating that while This Is Happening "doesn't quite reach the monumental heights" of the band's previous album, it still provided proof that LCD Soundsystem was "one of the most exciting and interesting bands around in the 2000s." Sendra also commended Murphy's expansion as a lyricist and songwriter, and said that his production on the album "reveal[s] him at the top of his game", while Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone said that it contained some of Murphy's "most earnest, lovelorn songs." Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal awarded the album a Best New Music accolade, describing it as "pretty perfect".
Accolades
This Is Happening placed third in Exclaim! magazine's annual Electronic rankings. In writing about the rumor that this may be the last LCD Soundsystem album, Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! wrote "If it's the 'end of an era,' at least he left us with his best." This Is Happening was named the second best album of 2010 by Pitchfork. This album was number 10 on Rolling Stone's list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010.
Track listing
Personnel
All personnel and credits adapted from album liner notes.
Charts
The album debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 in its first week on sale, selling approximately 31,000 copies. It also topped Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart the same week of its debut, which dethroned Lady Gaga's The Fame from its five-month reign on the chart for one week. As of January 2016, the album has sold about 211,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. About 86,800 of those are physical copies, and about 124,500 of those are digital copies.
Certifications
Notes and references
- Notes
- References
External links
- This Is Happening at Metacritic