CD reviews: LCD Soundsystem; DeVotchKa; 'Alligator Records: 40th Anniversary Collection'

LCD Soundsystem, "London Sessions" (DFA/Virgin)

James Murphy wasn't lying when he announced that he'd knock his post-everything punk-funk ensemble on the head in 2011 and cease LCD Soundsystem's quest to be the 21st century's finest example of rugged, woozy, wordy-yet-elegant electro-disco. LCD will hold its last shows in April. This intense, live taping at London's Miloco Studios shows how far the dynamics of a full band took Murphy's one-man recordings. In their original album form, these were hermetically sealed solo projects, finely focused but perhaps sacrificing passion and frenzy.

As with the expanded, concert-rockin' Talking Heads of the '80s, the rhythm section and guitarists preserve that fine focus, that tight lock, but add expansive propulsion. Along with Murphy's brash and bruised vocals, the rest of the group bops, doo-wops and chants all over the place. The heavenly "All I Want" is haughtier, "Drunk Girls" is frenetically naughtier and "Pow Pow" becomes a rapturous, holy rant, with gospel speaking-in-tongues its driving force. LCD doesn't make it easy to say goodbye.

A.D. AMOROSI, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

DeVotchKa, "100 Lovers" (Anti-)

Denver's DeVotchKa has developed a signature blend of European styles -- gypsy dances, polkas, spaghetti westerns, Slavic celebrations -- over the course of four albums plus the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine." But those elements recede on "100 Lovers" in favor of grand, romantic anthems.

The quartet seems to emulate Montreal's Arcade Fire in album-openers "The Alley" and "All the Sand in All the Sea," with Nick Urata in full-throated croon, buoyed by cinematic strings and galloping rhythms. "You're waiting for the drums to kick in / You want to free your earthbound limbs," he sings. The band is striving for transcendence, but it's the sense of striving that dominates.

STEVE KLINGE, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Various artists, "Alligator Records: 40th Anniversary Collection" (Alligator)

One of the nation's premier roots labels celebrates two decades -- no small achievement -- with this two-disc collection of its "Genuine Houserockin' Music." The 38 selections are not chronological, but the fast-moving set offers a representative sampling of the label's best work. It began in 1971 with Hound Dog Taylor, whose raw, rambunctious blues set the "houserockin'" template (although he's represented here by an uncharacteristically slow one), up to JJ Grey and Mofro, whose Southern-rooted "front-porch soul" is emblematic of the label's latter-day expansion of its original vision. In between are imposing blues stalwarts (Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, James Cotton), blazing blues-rockers (Johnny Winter, Tinsley Ellis), R&B hipsters (Rick Estrin and the Nightcats) and gospel-fired soulsters (Mavis Staples, the Holmes Brothers).