8 reasons why the LCD Soundsystem reformation matters

At once incredibly contemporary but also somehow a throwback to the Irish troubadour tradition of singer-storyteller and late-night sing-song, the big New Jersey bruiser is the closest we've ever got to a Springsteen of our own.

For something so intrinsically celebratory, it may seem odd that nearly all dance music is written in a minor key. But while you might find a core of downheartedness in many a party banger, no one does melancholia quite like LCD. From the empty longing of 'Someone Great' to the wistful 'New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down', by way of 'All My Friends', no one is going to have you wiping away a tear and longing for a hug with your best mate quite like Murphy. Let's hope they've got a Kleenex stand at Coachella this year.

LCD Soundsystem records haven't received much airing in the country's best nightspots lately, tragically being more likely heard dodgily mixed between Arctic Monkeys and The Killers tracks in indie clubs. Their music may not be conventionally clubby, but drawn for at the right time and it can induce special dancefloor moments, and they also have a wealth of more floor-focused remixes that will go down a storm at any point. We saw John Talabot draw for Carl Craig's version of 'Sound Of Silver' on New Year's Day and it was an undoubted highlight of the night. Here's hoping more renowned selectors take inspiration from LCD's reunion and dust off those DFA record sleeves.

Tracks like 'Daft Punk is Playing At My House' and 'Losing My Edge' identified a new breed of electronic music hipster before anyone else, while 'New York I Love You...' was a paean to the disappearing nightlife of NYC. James Murphy's brand of reflective songwriting is perhaps exactly what we need in the post EDM world.

Sure, no one really wants to turn back the clock to punk funk and new rave and get the Klaxons to reform, but guitars and live drums do have a place in dance music, and for too long now it's been Hot Chip ploughing a lonely 4/4 furrow. This is especially obvious in festival season: a live band sprinkled among the DJs and producers lifts an electronic festival to new levels, especially one with LCD's back catalogue.

Not many of us saw LCD Soundsystem getting back together this quickly; they did make quite a big deal over breaking up after all. There was some hopeful excitement when Consequence Of Sound broke the reunion story in October, but the general response was disbelief, and the optimistic few were crushed as we all fell for the DFA label manager's aggressive denial that same day.

Yet here we are: LCD Soundsystem are back together, with shows confirmed and new material reportedly on the way, and now anything seems possible. Will we once again see David Byrne dancing with a lampshade during a performance of 'This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)' with Talking Heads? Could Mark Wahlberg pack in his Hollywood career to treat us to renditions of 'Good Vibrations' with The Funky Bunch? Can The Smiths save us from endless, tiring reunion rumours by actually just fucking doing it? All that doesn't seem quite so implausible now.

If the reformation means new music, that also means new music videos and LCD Soundsystem have always pushed things forward with their videos that are pieces of art in themselves. From the zany clown torture of 'Drunk Girls' to the DIY one-take (and now heavily copied) set-up for 'Tribulations'.

Chances are, unless you possess the kind of encyclopaedic knowledge and irrepressible thirst for music of a Gilles Peterson or John Peel like figure, at some point you're not going to be as cool as you used to be. One minute you'll have an unnecessarily exhaustive knowledge of any label that's ever put out a decent 12", the next you'll be faced with someone 10 years younger than you going, "What, you've not heard that record?!" But don't worry, because it even happened to James fucking Murphy! LCD Soundsystem announced themselves to the world in 2002 with this defiant hymn to having one's edge blunted and made one of the decade's most important and startlingly brilliant records in the process.