Does anyone remember laughter?

It’s been a year of redemption for me and the musics, as several bands and artists I’d written off as overrated or underwhelming delivered finely transformative statements that forced me to relocate into their camps. Junior Boys, TV on the Radio, Jenny Lewis (the last Rilo Kiley record was a minor letdown), Hot Chip and even to a lesser extent Joanna Newsom, all made good on overeager coronations that had thus far proved mostly undeserved in their careers.

LCD Soundsystem belongs in that category as well. The debut showed signs that James Murphy’s flagship act was already capable of mastery (“Daft Punk is Playing at My House,” “Tribulations”), but much of the rekkid reeked of stale scenester snark and lazy classic-rock appropriations.

Well, the jaded quips and bald rips remain, only this time the jokes are less self-serving and the mimicry’s much more fun. Going from scamming Pink Floyd to biting Bowie is trading up in my book, though there are also exquisitely explicit nods to gooey New Wave (“Someone Great”) and lockstep post-punk (the title track) as well. The aforementioned “Someone Great” is indeed absolutely dazzling, positively heartbreaking in its willful absentmindedness. I can understand why everyone’s loving this song right now, though I’m not quite as crystal on why its immediate successor, “All My Friends,” is garnering equal raves. We’re all aware it sounds exactly like Secret Machines, right?

As I’ve suggested, Murphy’s hyper-aware banter is a little more bearable on The Sound of Silver, and he even made me chuckle once with that line in “North American Scum” about Europe being the place where “the buildings are old/and you might have lots of mimes.” Still, the fact remains that Murph’s not nearly as comical as he thinks he is. Toby Keith and Trace Adkins are still way funnier.

In fact, it got me thinking about how rare it is that a piece of music actually (intentionally) makes me laugh out loud. I get plenty of ROFFLES from TV, movies and reading (well, mostly from the internets). Certainly I recognize the limitations of the medium, but it’s hard for me to recall the last time a song (intentionally) inspired any healthy guffawing. Possibly System of a Down’s “Vicinity of Obsencity,” though I’m not entire convinced that belongs in the “intentional” category. Or maybe it was the answering machine skits on The Mind of Mannie Fresh. I know, I’m a 14 year-old. Either way, I had a tough time coming up with anything from 2006.