WIth the excellent Sound Of Silver, it seems that James Murphy has achieved the music he set out to make when he put LCD Soundsystem together. The record really is as great as most people seem to believe it is and for that I offer Mr. Murphy a hearty congratulations.

Doing double-duty as an acclaimed producer and label manager, Murphy has taken advantage of multiple opportunities to remix and cover tracks from a wide array of artists, so it's nice to see other bands getting the opportunity to record their own versions of LCD material. The forthcoming single for the Soundsystem's "All My Friends" lives up to its title and includes a few of Murphy's buddies lending a helping hand.

Three different versions of the single will be available on 7" vinyl, with each one featuring a different B-side. One of those sides will be a Franz Ferdinand cover of "Friends" produced by noted electronic dace figure Erol Alkan. John Cale will check in with his own version of the track and the third single sees LCD getting into the act themselves with a cover of Joy Division's classic "No Love Lost". Finally, the CD version of the single will compile the Franz cover along with a new track called "Freak Out/Starry Eyes". That's a lot to keep track of and it looks like the LCD sections of our collections will expand a little bit in the near future.

All of the above will hit shops on May 21. But hang on, that's not all folks! If you're a simple old fashioned sort and would just like a no-frills copy of the song to throw in your DJ bag, a plain old 12" version will be available the following week on May 28.