I just got to see LCD Soundsystem play last week, my first time! I was surprised at the explosion of applause when "Tribulations" emerged. It's not a song I ever heard on the radio, but it's absolutely one of my favorites. Apparently the feeling is very mutual!

This song is everything that's great about LCD Soundsystem: Very little chord variation - just a quick, juicy 4-beat, a fantastic bass line, superb repeated singing lines - but the key is in the development of the instruments as the song drives on and on. Performed live, you cannot imagine the succulent saturation of that bass line. It possesses.

The difference between "Tribulations" and most LCD Soundsystem songs is the commitment to a dark, minor mode. It's spooky good. And for as many quick, fun 4-beats as the band produced/produces, most employ funky syncopation; there really isn't another one that stomps down so directly on the beat, making it so impish and insidious. I'm not sure if I should be dancing or headbanging. (I really didn't do either, just more listened and concentrated and savored into the deep recesses of my mind, because I had to work in the morning and didn't want to fatigue myself. The calculus of Adulthood.)

What's this song about? Social Security? Not a bad argument, actually. After this latest stretch, the nation is really gonna owe us.