Originally Posted by Josef K

Sound of Silver is great, lots of the early stuff is good but the s/t is sort of inconsistent, and This is Happening is quite good, IMO.

Goofle, it's because (not that this is necessarily true for Machine) he makes music that's very accessible but with clear experimental influences, so fans (like me!) get to feel really snooty for liking what is actually pretty poppy music. In addition, he completely wears his influences on his sleeve, so a lot of the appeal is kind of listening for those - not just like "Oh look how many of the bands he mentions in 'Losing My Edge' I know" but also "Hey, did you guys notice that that one LCD Soundsystem song is basically ['Nightclubbing'/'White Light White Heat'/'Here Comes the Warm Jets'] because I totally did". It lets you feel like you're in on the joke. Also people like his lyrics.