For the most part, email interviews suck. The conversation is stifled by the medium, there's nothing really extrapolated because both parties are working in a vacuum, and it makes it fair impossible to bridge the distance between. Plus it's ultimately defined by whether the recipient is engaged on the day. What they want to answer and whether they're just ticking the boxes. A bummer all round really. (Especially when we here at TheVine much prefer the long and conversational style of interview). That said, we went and did an email interview with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (above, right). Because we couldn't get him on the phone.
As the helm of DFA records, Murphy has fingerprints on records by the likes The Rapture, The Juan Maclean, Hot Chip, Holy Ghost! and Black Dice. His own band LCD Soundsystem made waves with their 2005 self-titled debut, which boasted the track 'Daft Punk Is Playing at My House'. In 2006 they released
45:33, a record commissioned by Nike designed to be an ideal soundtrack to athlete's training sessions. Many of that records ideas found their way onto 2007's S
ound of Silver, which would go on to top most end of year lists, as well as receive grammy nominations, near universal acclaim, and be the soundtrack to nearly every cafe/party/gallery opening/idea shower in recent memory. To this day. More recently, Murphy released a single track for download, a cover of Alan Vega's 'Bye Bye Bayou', fueling the already fever pitch anticipation for the follow up to
Sound of Silver.
The band put Sound of Silver behind them with a Big Day Out tour and excellent set of sideshows in Australia near the start of 2008. Now Murphy and main cohort and LCD drummer Pat Mahoney (above, left) are returning to play the Pyramid Rock Festival, Field Days, Rhythm and Vines and Summadayze in DJ guise. Being embarrassingly slavish fans of the band, we of course jumped at the chance to pick Murphy's brains. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.
We're not in the habit of building articles around quotes at TheVine. We prefer the Q&A approach, so you can hear the artist speak in their own words, their own accent. We think it bridges the divide between a writer angling on reasoning, motivations and pull-quotes, and gets you closer to the artist. So in that spirit, here's what we got in return to our questions to James Murphy. Plain and simple. (Fingers crossed we can bring you a joyfully long-winded phone conversation closer to Murphy and Co.'s tour).
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Your recent writings seem to indicate that you're super excited - and surprised - about the next incarnation of LCD. How come? And what's the difference?
I think I've found what works and what hasn't over the past few tours, and I think we're going to be just, well, better. It's nice to be able to fix the things that have bugged me over the years and play with the best people possible is all.
If the 'band' idea of LCD is gathering steam, does it mean you're becoming a bit more democratic in your approach? Is it chipping away at your control freak tendencies?
No.
Does re-mixing for people, collaborating with that artist etc, feed that idea perhaps?
Nope.
When you say 'band', are you talking about the same people that were in Australia with you early 2008?
Definitely some of them. Others have other lives/bands to attend to, which is always the way with LCD. But most will be back.
Is donning white and being inspired by the original days of disco still the mantra for the new record?
Not sure what you mean.
(Um... - Ed). There's no mantra. White is functional in the summer. Disco is very very fun to dance to.
LCD Soundsystem - 'All My Friends' live on Jools Holland
How does the DJ set you're bringing to Australia differ from LCD Soundystem, material-wise? Is it whatever's doing it for you in your world at that point in time or are there a few standards that you build it around?
It's more the latter - what I'm inspired by - but it's also just good fun. I like to dance and play dance music - to get excited and turn the lights off, etc. That's what i want to DJ to, really.
What IS doing it for you at the moment? Music or otherwise?
Food. I'm pretty crazy about good food at the moment. Mainly because I just got back from a completely amazing meal with my friend. Otherwise, making music is great. My friends are great. Eating food and making music with my friends is really great.
How does the Australian tour fit in with the recording of the new record. Is coming here a deadline of sorts?
I guess. That makes some sense. Though I expect to be done with the record with a little more time than that.
To the observer, it seems like the seeds for 'Sound Of Silver' were planted by the Nike mix. Is this a fair assesment and what did you learn from that approach to making a record?
No - Sound of Silver was started before the nike thing. Only a small amount - the finishing - was done after 45:33, but that was definitely informed by working on that stuff. I learned not to worry so much, maybe. To just worry a lot, rather than a ton.
LCD Soundsystem - 'Daft Punk is Playing At My House' live on Letterman
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