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Watch and Weep: LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Shut Up and Play the Hits’ Trailer

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LCD Soundsystem must be one of the most prematurely eulogized bands ever. Frontman James Murphy’s decision to announce the end of his hugely influential New York dance-punk group in advance, and to cap it all off with a four-hour farewell concert at Madison Square Garden last April, left plenty of time for TV victory laps and fond online tributes. By this point you might think you’ve moved on. The trailer for upcoming documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits will prove you’re wrong.

Read SPIN editor-in-chief Steve Kandell’s review of the final LCD Soundsystem show.

The two-minute video ought to bring back a flood of emotions for anybody the least bit invested in LCD Soundsystem. As a live recording of the band’s most powerful song, “All My Friends,” starts to lock into a groove, and longtime SPIN scribe Chuck Klosterman lends elegaic narration, we see Murphy wandering the streets of New York City, ecstatic fans crying and rocking out, balloons dropping, members of Arcade Fire making a surprise cameo, and even a particularly forlorn fan wearing what appears to be a panda mask. Never have we empathized so much with a furry.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_FAUyrFWDvw%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded

The film, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace and set to premiere later this month at the Sundance Film Festival, focuses on the final show and the events surrounding it. Southern and Lovelace previously directed and produced a documentary about Blur, No Distance Left to Run. Sundance is set for January 19 to 29 in Park City, Utah, and will also feature Murphy’s acting debut in Jagjaguwar co-produced film The Comedy. Murphy may have famously once turned down a Seinfeld writing gig, but like that show, LCD Soundsystem went out on top.

Read SPIN’s January 2011 Artist of the Year LCD Soundsystem cover story.