Music

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has designed a soundsystem

by Aaron Zorgel

image via Consequence of Sound

LCD Soundsystem disbanded in 2011 via an epic farewell show, but that doesn’t mean founder James Murphy is just twiddling his thumbs. Over the past year, he’s gotten into the gourmet coffee slinging business (and not as a Starbucks barista/owner), directed a film, and now he’s done something relevent to the name of his defunct musical project — he’s designed a disco soundsystem.

Murphy is orchestrating the soundsystem for the Manchester International Festival, with help from sound guru John Klett, who actually built Murphy’s DFA Studios. Titled Despacio, which is Spanish for “gradually,” it’s an homage to infamous disco clubs, like New York City’s Paradise Garage, and is intended to be a direct response to the Ibiza electronic music scene, specifically laptop DJs who just push play.

Despacio is built from stacks that will only play vinyl records, and will be placed in a circle for listeners to walk inside of. Murphy will spin jazz, rock, and other genres that counteract the “hyper-aggressive” dance music that’s popular today for four consecutive nights. Here’s what Murphy had to say about the project:

“It’s a simple, floor-standing series of giant stacks, comfortably doing full, smooth sound,” he said. “If you have a program that helps you mix every song, why would you ever not mix? I played at this thing the other day… there were people there that seemed almost too excited, like I had done something very creative or crazy. I was like, ‘It was literally a bunch of fucking songs, dude’. I don’t think I did anything exceptional. But what it wasn’t was the guy with a computer playing a seamless, pre-programmed festival set, with no adjustments for the crowd, who, at the moment they’re supposed to get excited, throw their hands in the air, but in between look kind of listless. That, to me, is really sad.”

Despacio will debut between July 18th-20th at the Manchester International Festival, where Murphy will be spinning with David and Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax/2ManyDJs. If you’re a superfan and want to make the trip, you can grab tickets here.