LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem exist at the point of a Venn diagram where the loose grooves of disco bump up against the wiry spikiness of post-punk, and their songs hover between sharp-edged humor and heartfelt emotion. Their M.O. was note-perfect from the beginning and when they debuted in 2002 with the hilarious, hipster-spoofing single “Losing My Edge,” it set up the band and their label DFA, as the coolest things around. Driven by the vision of James Murphy, the band built on the dance floor impact of the song, releasing timeless singles like “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” and “Drunk Girls,” as well as albums like 2007’s Sound of Silver that put the band firmly at the head of the neo-disco class. Along the way, Murphy showed a surprisingly poignant side on songs like “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” which stuck a deeper emotional chord than their more up-tempo songs. The band also became a huge live draw, eventually selling out a farewell show at Madison Square Garden in 2011. The re-formed Soundsystem returned with the vintage-sounding American Dream in 2017, then sporadically returned to fill clubs and in 2022 cranked out “New Body Rhumba,” a dancefloor-filling single that had the same sharp edge as ever.

Victoryland

Victoryland is the Brooklyn-based project of musician Julian McCamman. His label-debut, My Heart Is A Room With No Cameras In It, out January 23, 2026 via Good English, is a triumphant, despondent, and ultimately fun experimental pop-rock album. Victoryland started in Philly 2023 with the release of tape, Sprain, which echoed more of what the Philly scene was dishing out: lo-fi, tape-recorded rock with a capital R. It was the collaborative efforts of producer Dan Howard that brought the new vision and sound into full focus.Dan and Julian previously worked on Julian’s now-defunct Texas-to-Philly based band Blood’s last LP, a collaborative effort between six bandmates. That experience pushed Julian toward a more personal process of recording, starting with home demos and then bringing them to Dan to shape into songs.

My Heart wrangles with heavy subject matter (love, disconnection, sexual frustration, emptiness etc.), but the terminal statement of the record is about the cleansing nature of pop music. That, if a song can force you to “bliss out” over a hook or a loop, or even make you dance, it can be the spoonful of sugar to swallow the hard pill with; this is what Victoryland strives to do: package the most exhausting realities of life, love, and the search for connection in a world starved of it, into a fun 2-5 minutes, and for the runtime of Victoryland’s first major statement, you might even feel like you’re not alone.