It started in the late nineties with James Murphy; punk rock drummer with a yen for listening to punk music with a dancey element to it. Cue The Gang Of Four, Can and an emphatic indebtedness to the ‘no-wave’ of 70s New York. A meet up with Tim Goldsworthy in Murphy’s studio being used by none other than David Holmes and before you know it they’re heading off to back to America for apple-pie and E’s with Murphy’s mother. Legendary parties at various New York locations followed and before long they had the now infamous quarantine house of funky rock music, Plantain studio built to spec’. And who was to define their ethic? Close friends, The Rapture – an influence, a spirit and a mode of being that similarly defines this compilation.
The birth of the DFA (Death From Above) production team is no real news thesedays, sought after as they are from everyone from Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to folks as weird and eccentric as Le Tigre. But just in case you’re new to the housey-housey clunk and clank of these funky punk heads and their jerky blending of beats and buzz-saws, Compilation#2 should set you straight, accommodating as it does a staggering range of bands and art-house devices across a whopping 3 CDs of punchy, E’d up club froth, including Pixeltan, LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Black Dice, Liquid Liquid, J.O.Y, the Juan Maclean and Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom.
There you have it: the DFA – the Neptunes of crazy punk-rock funk. It’s tough, it’s strong and it’s very very long.