James Murphy has conquered the hipster set with his tastemaking dance label DFA Records and indie band LCD Soundsystem. But where does he go from there?
Back to the clubs, of course. When he visits The Church on Thursday as part of the DFA Remix Tour, Murphy will be returning to the scene that first brought him widespread attention. He relishes the ease and relative simplicity of the DJ lifestyle over the scrappy existence of a touring band.
“LCD Soundsystem is such a time vampire,” Murphy said. “I get really sick when I go on tour, with the singing, the stress, drinking a lot and not sleeping right. You don’t get time to just play around and play records. You get to see the cities more when you DJ.”
A rotating cast of DFA’s DJ roster will accompany Murphy on the tour, including Juan Maclean (formerly of Six Finger Satellite) and Tim Sweeney. German DJ Marcus Lambkin will join Murphy for the Denver date, an open-ended dance party with no agenda to push his label’s latest release, “The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two.”
“We wanted to give Astralwerks, which is distributing the album, some kind (of tour) to work with,” Murphy said. “But it’s not a performance, it’s a party. If that means playing a bunch of techno records we’ll just do that. It’s not something to come stare at, like an indie rock band.”
Murphy certainly knows a thing or two about indie rock, a community that has embraced him with open arms since his label first exploded on the scene with the ironic, booty-shaking singles “Losing My Edge” and “Daft Punk is Playing at My House.” Murphy’s post-punk background and dissatisfaction with bored hipsters is what originally drove him to the disco-rock genre.
Since 2002, he’s collected a host of admirers, including Janet Jackson (whom he refused to work with, even after her request) and Britney Spears. The latter’s recording sessions never birthed a release-worthy album or single, but it didn’t phase Murphy, whose devotion to ear-catching music borders on maniacal.
“It doesn’t even matter if I like the song,” Murphy said of his remix ethos. “A lot of times we mix songs that we’re not psyched about. We just want to make something good. There just needs to be a way into the song.”
DFA’s current “Chapter Two” remixes, to be released on Oct. 3, contain tracks from Junior Senior, N.E.R.D., Hot Chip, Nine Inch Nails, Goldfrapp and UNKLE. Murphy sees his role as a sort of interpreter, making the songs more club-friendly and less rooted in pseudo-impressive instrumental complexity. The Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers,” DFA’s first 12-inch dance remix, is a case in point.
“When we made ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ we were obsessed with making it sonically functional for a house DJ to play,” Murphy said. “Or with Le Tigre – I went to Kathleen (Hannah) and told her I really liked their song and was frustrated because actual dance people wouldn’t play this out.”
Murphy is also an audio purist, preferring to lug around his vinyl records rather than work from a laptop or iPod. He sees the proliferation of digital technology as a temptation toward laziness for many artists that would otherwise find creative ways to create sounds.
Murphy was even unaware of Denver’s Beaport.com, the global answer to iTunes for most in-the-know DJs – surprising considering his overall knowledge of and influence on the dance music scene.
“A list of song titles on a computer just really bums me out,” he said. “I don’t use that part of my brain when I’m DJ’ing. I don’t like seeing laptops when I’m at a club or on stage. But when I do see them I want someone to totally blow my mind.”
With an energetic, honed performance style and intuitive grasp of beats and rhythms, chances are he’ll do just that when he hits Denver next week. Just remember to dance when the spirit moves you.
Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.
DFA Remix Tour
DANCE ROCK|DJs James Murphy and Marcus Lambkin; The Church, 1160 Lincoln St.; doors at 9 p.m., Thursday|
$10|GrooveTickets.com
