''This Is Happening'' is the third studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. It was released first on May 17, 2010, jointly through DFA and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

in the United States and Parlophone elsewhere. It was recorded over the course of 2009 and early 2010 in the

Mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

recording studio in Los Angeles. The first single, " Drunk Girls", was released in April 2010, with a music video directed by

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

. The album is dedicated to Jerry Fuchs (1974–2009), who performed drums live with the band on occasion, as well as having a big part in associated DFA acts.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''This Is Happening'' received an average score of 84, based on 38 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". It also achieved an ''ADM Rating'' of 7.7/10 on another review aggregator,

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adju ...

. ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' reviewer

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

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 AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

, 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 him at the top of his game", while Jody Rosen of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' 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'' was named the second best album of 2010 by '' Pitchfork''. This album was number 10 on ''

''s list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010."

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel and credits adapted from album liner notes. ;LCD Soundsystem * James Murphy –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, claps ,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, acoustic piano , EMS VCS3 Putney , Korg Poly Ensemble , EMS PolySynthi , EMS Synthi A ,

Yamaha CS-60 This is a list of products made by Yamaha Corporation. This does not include products made by Bösendorfer, which has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation since February 1, 2008. For products made by Yamaha Motor Company, see the ...

, Casio MT-68 ,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, Simmons , cowbell , Roland System 100 , Synare ,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, tho ...

, Roland TR-606 , noise ,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The gloc ...

, EML 101 , Casio CT-410V , Fun Machine ,

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...

, Roland SH-101 , blocks , scraper ,

clapper Clapper or Clappers may refer to: Miscellaneous *Clapper, part of a bell *Clapper (musical instrument), consisting of two pieces of wood struck together *Clapper bridge, an ancient form of bridge * Clapper Post, urban postal service of Vienna (XV ...

Moog Rogue The Moog Rogue is a monophonic analog synthesizer produced by the original Moog Music in the early 1980s, but, was not designed by Bob Moog. Very basic in its design and use, the Rogue featured a 32-note keyboard and two VCOs. VCO number 2 is ...

, Moog CDX ,

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ...

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder ...

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

s , snaps , Wurlitzer SideMan ,

Sequential Circuits Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer; it became a market leader and industry standard, used ...

Prophet-600 , Casio MT-400 , EMS VCS3 Putney programming * Pat Mahoney – vocals , drums * Nancy Whang – yells , vocals *

Tyler Pope !!! ( ), also known as Chk Chk Chk, is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 1996 by lead singer Nic Offer. Members of !!! came from other local bands such as the Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Pope Smashers. They are curre ...

– bass * Phillip Mossman ;Additional musicians * Rayna Russom – EMS PolySynthi , vocals , whispers * Morgan Wiley – acoustic piano * Al Doyle – guitar ,

* Jayson Green – vocals * Jason Disu –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

* Matt Thornley – snaps * Matthew Cash – EMS VCS3 Putney ;Production * James Murphy – production, mixing *

Dave Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...

– mixing * Bob Weston – mastering * Matthew Thornley – engineering assistance * Gunnar Bjerk – engineering assistance * Alec Gomez – engineering assistance * Andy Brohard – mix assistance * Alec Gomez – mix assistance * Cameron Barton – mix assistance ;Release * Keith Wood – management * Michael Vadino – art direction * Brett Tabolt – design * Ruvan Wijesooriya – cover photos * Craig E. Averill – legal * Matthew Cash – human

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 ''Billboards Dance/Electronic Albums chart the same week of its debut, which dethroned

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

'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 Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. About 86,800 of those are physical copies, and about 124,500 of those are digital copies.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

* {{Authority control 2010 albums LCD Soundsystem albums DFA Records albums Virgin Records albums Albums recorded at The Mansion (recording studio)