debuted with "Losing My Edge," a single that became one of the most talked-about indie releases of 2002. A self-effacing spoof of the outrageous pissing contests that often occur whenever music geeks cross paths ("I was there at the first
show in Cologne," etc.) laid over a puttering electronic beat with the occasional bursts of discoid clatter, the track was also one of the first released on the DFA label. Several magazines and newspapers would eventually declare
and DFA, to be one of the coolest people on the planet.
Years of obscurity and the occasional poor decision preceded this. Just before
Murphy began to cut his teeth throughout the '90s, first as a member of
Pony (an average post-hardcore band with heavy debts to its inspirations) and then with
Speedking (a much stronger, more unique band), he passed up the opportunity to write for the popular sitcom
Seinfeld. All the time spent toiling in indie rock took a toll on
Murphy, but he built his own studio and became increasingly adept at engineering and producing other bands. While working on
David Holmes'
Bow Down to the Exit Sign, he struck up a relationship with programmer/producer
Tim Goldsworthy that developed into a partnership. By the end of 2002, there were several releases on
Murphy and
Goldsworthy's DFA label, most of which involved the duo in some capacity.
LCD's "Losing My Edge," backed with an excellent neo-post-punk dance track called "Beat Connection," was one of them.
Murphy eventually scattered three other
LCD singles through the end of 2004 and released the full-length
LCD Soundsystem in January 2005. At the time of its release, the DFA label was more popular than ever;
Murphy and
Goldsworthy had remixes for
Metro Area,
N.E.R.D.,
Le Tigre, and
Junior Senior behind them, as well as failed sessions with
Britney Spears that might have benefited from an interpreter.
Janet Jackson was another unlikely admirer seeking the duo's assistance, but
Murphy didn't bother to follow up on her request.
Murphy did respond to Nike, who commissioned him to record a lengthy piece of music as part of a promotion. 45:33, initially sold as an iTunes exclusive in October 2006, was aimed at joggers, but
Murphy later confessed that he didn't jog himself -- mixed martial arts were more his thing, he claimed -- and was driven by the opportunity to make something in the vein of Manuel Göttsching's early-'80s electronic landmark E2-E4. (DFA would later issue 45:33 on CD, breaking the track into six parts and adding three additional cuts.)
The second proper
LCD Soundsystem album,
Sound of Silver, was released in March 2007. It contained
Murphy's most affecting songwriting and peaked within the Top 50 of the Billboard 200. Led by the single "Drunk Girls" and an accompanying Spike Jonze-directed video,
LCD Soundsystem's third studio album, This Is Happening, was released three years later. Riding high on the acclaim the album garnered, the band toured the world with fellow dance-pop group Hot Chip for much of 2010. While in London on June 29th of that year, the group recorded a full-band session at Miloco Studio. The freewheeling recording of the show was released by DFA as London Sessions in January of 2011. Right around this time
Murphy announced that he was retiring the
LCD Soundsystem name. The band played a farewell show at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York on April 2, 2011, and released the set the following year as The Long Goodbye: LCD Soundsystem Live at Madison Square Garden.
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Andy Kellman & Tim Sendra, Rovi