James Murphy may just be the biggest geek in the music industry right now and lord how I wish there were hundreds of others just like him. Just when you thought good Dance music had gone and died at the turn of the century, Murphy pulls it back in and gives it a much needed retooling. Anyone who thought that his 2005 double disc debut masterpiece was putting all his eggs in one basket will be pleased as punch to find out that ii looks like Murphy is here to stay and will be entertaining and surprising us for years to come.

What makes Sound of Silver LCD's second masterpiece in a row is that it doesn't simply press the repeat button on its previous album's merits. Murphy is a nerd of a thousand influences and it's challenging as a listener (and a fellow music dork) to see where he fits them in to each track. Where the self-titled debut had musical influences ranging from Gang of Four and Brian Eno mixed with the vocal influence of an over-enunciating style of someone like Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Silver seems to take its major music cues from the likes of Underworld and the vocal stylings of Station To Station/Low era David Bowie.

Murphy's sense of humor is still thankfully in tact as well. Most prevalent to this is first single "North American Scum" in which Murphy pokes fun at how the rest of the world perceives us. Album closer "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" is also Murphy taking a playful jab, but this one is at the expense of his hometown and how he misses the old seedy feel of decades long gone. Murphy has set the bar high here with Silver for the rest of the Dance music scene and for himself as well for years to come. I highly doubt any of his contemporaries will come close to matching what will surely end up as one of the strongest overall releases of 2007.