On his past two albums, James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem showed how to let loose without losing your cool; now he's figuring out how to break down without cracking up. This Is Happening is by far Murphy's bloodiest album-- a series of lacerating and strikingly bare manifestos about distance between people, set to the fizzing art/dance-rock greatest hits inside his skull. His encyclopedic knowledge of post-punk and studio craft are sharp as ever, and he employs them in the service of remaking essential 70s art-rock in his own hyper-modern, self-aware image. Murphy's vast perspective and all-knowing mein are invaluable assets to his success, and This Is Happening  plays host to some of his most striking and relatable insights to date. On earlier records, he could sound like he didn't really mean it while hollering on the fly, but here, more than ever, Murphy proves himself a top-tier vocalist and lyricist, capable of mixing heavy and light, lyrical and self-deprecating.