About
New Jersey native James Murphy started out as a drummer for such bands as Speedking and Pony, but he tired of the politics and posing of the American punk movement and developed an affinity for house. Teaming up with Mo' Wax founder Tim Goldsworthy, Murphy started making a name for himself as a producer for acts on their Death From Above (aka DFA) label, including the Rapture and Radio 4. As his expertise in fusing dance and punk-rock developed, Murphy began to work on his own compositions, resulting in "Losing My Edge" (2002). This amusing invective about musical elitism caught the ear of the critics and defined his signature sound: bleepy electronica with thick "real" basslines and Mark E. Smith-style vocals. Indeed, Murphy has been quoted as saying that "The Fall are my Beatles," even though he is worried that such slavish devotion to Smith's vocal technique will inevitably invite some form of castigation from the man himself. Such was the popularity of "Losing My Edge" that Murphy decided to release "Yeah" (2004), which is essentially him saying "yeah" over and over to deliberately confound fans expecting another clever lyrical diatribe. Challenging expectations is Murphy's manifesto: he sees LCD Soundsystem as "a laboratory for experiments on what a band should be."
- Nicholas Baker
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