James Jeremiah Murphy (born February 4, 1970) is an American musician, DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem, which first gained attention with its single "Losing My Edge" in 2002 before releasing its eponymous debut album in February 2005 to critical acclaim and top 20 success in the UK. LCD Soundsystem's second and third studio albums, Sound of Silver (2007) and This Is Happening (2010) respectively, were met with universal acclaim from several music review outlets. Both albums have also reached the top 50 in the Billboard 200.

LCD Soundsystem has been recognized as a major force in recent music and on March 5, 2013 was named one of Rolling Stone’s New Immortals- "currently active (or relatively recently defunct) artists who [they] think will stand the test of time."[10] In 2011, it was announced that LCD Soundsystem would disband with a final show on April 11, 2011 at Madison Square Garden. In the following years, Murphy continued to pursue other artistic projects: some music related, others not. In early 2016, the band announced a reunion as well as an appearance at the 2016 Coachella Festival, with their fourth album American Dream and respective tour following afterwards in 2017.


Early musical projects
Murphy was born and grew up in Princeton Junction, New Jersey[11] and attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.[citation needed]

He has cited his influences as Liquid Liquid, B52's, Talking Heads, The Fall, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Velvet Underground, Yes, David Bowie, Daft Punk and Can.[12] Murphy was a member of Falling Man from 1988 to 1989, Pony from 1992 to 1994, and Speedking from 1995 to 1997. He was also the sound engineer for Sub Pop band Six Finger Satellite. (Former Six Finger Satellite member John Maclean is now on Murphy's record label as The Juan MacLean.)

Murphy attended New York University, where he was an English major but later dropped out.[13][14] At age 22, Murphy was offered a job writing for the sitcom Seinfeld which was then little-known. He did not expect the show to be successful and chose to continue with music instead.[15]

DFA Records
Starting in 1993, Murphy used the name Death from Above when DJing, a nickname that was given to his signature PA setup while he was the sound setup for Six Finger Satellite. Murphy engineered Northern Irish DJ David Holmes’ album Bow Down to the Exit Sign and was introduced to the record’s co-producer, Tim Goldsworthy (formerly of UNKLE). Goldsworthy and Murphy would DJ together on the Lower East Side, doing so with diverse genres of music. They went on to found DFA Records with Jonathan Galkin in 2001.[16] The name "Death from Above" led to a dispute with a two-man Canadian band also using the same name. In response to a legal threat, the Canadian group changed their name to Death from Above 1979.

LCD Soundsystem
Main article: LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
In 2001 Murphy started the electronic dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem. The band first came to attention with its first single "Losing My Edge". The band released its first album, self-titled LCD Soundsystem, in 2005 to critical acclaim.

Sound of Silver

Murphy at Route Du Rock in August 2007.
Murphy's second LCD Soundsystem album, entitled Sound of Silver, was released on March 12, 2007.[18] In its aftermath, he quipped to Mojo: "You don't have to work very hard to write an article about us. "Just use the words 'unlikely frontman', 'bear-like', 'unshaven', 'Talking Heads', blah blah blah..."

In October 2009 Pitchfork Media named the track "All My Friends" off Sound of Silver, the second best song of the decade, and a week later, Sound of Silver was ranked at #17 in The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list. He also has a CD in the Fabriclive CD series, Fabric Live 36, made in collaboration with LCD Soundsystem drummer Pat Mahoney, released in October 2007.[20] In late 2008 Murphy also announced he is to play bass guitar in Free Energy, a classic rock band, with LCD Soundsystem drummer Pat Mahoney and friends Scott Wells and Paul Sprangers,[21] although this was later refuted by Murphy as a misinterpretation.[22]

This Is Happening and disbandment

Murphy at Berlin Festival 2010.
In late 2009 Murphy moved into film scoring, writing music for Noah Baumbach's film Greenberg.[23] The soundtrack was released on March 22, 2010. LCD Soundsystem's third album This Is Happening was released on May 17, 2010 in the UK and May 18 in the US. The album was recorded over the course of 2009 and early 2010 in the Mansion. April saw the release of the first single "Drunk Girls" with an accompanying music video directed by Spike Jonze. The album is dedicated to Jerry ♥♥♥♥♥ (1974–2009), who had performed drums live with the band on occasion as well as having a big part with other associated DFA acts.

Murphy announced his retirement from LCD Soundsystem with the release of This Is Happening, and made his last television appearance under that name on February 14, 2011, on The Colbert Report. His last concert at Madison Square Garden was simulcast streaming on Pitchfork Media's website on April 2, 2011.

In July 2012, Shut Up and Play the Hits, a documentary film about James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem's final concert, received a limited theatrical release in the US and subsequently in UK cinemas and on Blu-ray and DVD. The film follows James Murphy over a 48-hour period, from the day of the band's final gig at Madison Square Garden to the morning after the show.[24] The film also features intermittent segments from an extended interview between Murphy and pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman.[25]

Reunion and American Dream (2015–present)
In October 2015, over 5 years after the band's third and previously final album, Consequence of Sound reported that "multiple sources" confirmed LCD Soundsystem's reunion in 2016 by headlining multiple "high-profile music festivals in the US and UK". The report was also confirmed by Billboard the same day, but quickly after these rumours, DFA Records label manager Kris Petersen denied the reunion of the band, with DFA co-founder Jonathan Galkin seconding the denial in a Pitchfork article.[26]

However, on December 24, 2015, the band contradicted these denials by releasing a new single, "Christmas Will Break Your Heart".[27] After the new single, on January 4, 2016, LCD Soundsystem confirmed that they would be headlining the 2016 Coachella Festival.[28] The day following on January 5, 2016, Murphy confirmed a new studio album in 2016 in addition to other unspecified appearances.[29]

On May 4, 2017, Murphy announced two new LCD Soundsystem singles entitled "Call the Police" and "American Dream" were to be released at midnight, coinciding with their performance on Saturday Night Live. He also said that the album was nearing completion.[30]

Other projects

James Murphy DJing at the 2013 CBGB Festival.
After the disbandment of LCD Soundsystem (between 2011 and 2015), James Murphy pursued other artistic projects including remixing, directing, developing his own espresso, producing, and putting out footage and audio from LCD Soundsystem's final show. Murphy has stated that dissolving LCD Soundsystem has made it possible for him to experiment with other projects. "So [these projects] [become] possible, which is incredible. I get to do all this crazy ♥♥♥♥ – and if I ever wanted to be in a band again, I can probably figure that out." He has also stated how much time the creation of an album takes and that time can be spent doing other activities. "I wouldn’t have a record coming out in April if I had done all [these projects]. It’s impossible. And if I had a record coming out in April, I would have been ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ invisible for two years.”[31] Though Murphy has illustrated a great freedom with his spare time after the band he also “miss[es] it a lot [at times]”.[32]

Reflektor
Jame