James Murphy In A Post-LCD Soundsystem World

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 25, 2013 5:20PM

Photo by Jim Kopeny

When Stereogum subtitled one of their 2012 music retrospectives "Filling The LCD Soundsystem Void," this critic admits he experienced an immediate snort of derision. Then I stopped being so full of myself and remembered that for a generation of music writers, many of whom began clacking away on computer keyboards because of the blog explosion that accompanied all that dance rock of the early aughts, one of their musical tent-poles is LCD Soundsystem. Once I got over my knee-jerk old man-ism, I realized that while I've seen many bands important to me come and go, and LCD Soundsystem is certainly one of them, for many they are the first band they grew up with, so the loss is fresh and acute. And while I've always maintained that I believe Murphy will resurrect LCD Soundsystem at some point in the future as a studio project that doesn't tour, the idea of never seeing that band on a stage again is truly depressing. So that Stereogum writer is right to wonder how that void will be filled. Will anyone ever come across again who takes the irony of a generation and turns it into clear eyed honesty, all the while making you happy to be living life and dancing like there's no tomorrow? I guess we'll find out.

Via the artist's website

However all of this must make it incredibly difficult for James Murphy to be James Murphy. How do you follow up an act like LCD Soundsystem? For now, it appears as if it's to continue inhabiting his two favorite roles, those of producer and DJ. He's currently behind the board for the new Arcade Fire album, so it's obvious Murphy isn't exactly going to fade into the background, but his public face will be one many have been familiar with since before LCD Soundsystem was even a Casio beat as he continues to man mixers and turntables and keep the kids dancing.

Chicago will see Murphy in the latter role tonight as he mans the decks at The Mid. We've seen a couple Murphy DJ sets and feel he's at his best when not confining himself to a single genre. (I blame him for not being able to listen to disco for a few months following a set of his at Smart Bar.) The last few times we've seen him the musical selections were seamless but all over the map and incredibly enjoyable. So as long as this is the kind of set he pulls one twelve-inch at a time from his crates, tonight should be a really good time.

I mean, it's not gonna be an LCD Soundsystem party, but tonight should hold everyone over while we wait for the next band that will fill that void.