James Murphy Quotes
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My high-techness is pretty low-tech. I'm not wildly computer savvy. I'm a record person.
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I like clever lyrics, funny lyrics, dumb lyrics. I can never put my finger on what I like about them.
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There are some people who are just plain great at making music. That's not who I am.
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If I opened a record store, it wouldn't be all punk rock and esoterica.
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I love rock. I love the music that was born out of the latter part of the 20th century. It means a lot to me.
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I'm a very self-conscious person.
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I'm an underdog by nature, and I like to be fighting. I don't make music for myself. I make music to fight.
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Making people dance has another function that has nothing to do with art, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. It's like food - if you're not eating it, you're doing something wrong. If they're not dancing, something is wrong.
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You can buy $20,000 speakers, but put them in a room that's not right, and it sounds terrible. If you buy $20 speakers and put them in a room that's tuned right, it'll sound great.
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I am kind of, by definition, a hipster.
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I don't prepare very well. I'm always sort of wrapped up in what I'm supposed to be doing in the moment, and then I suddenly appear someplace, and I'm really not prepared.
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I've always been a good imitator. I love music. But I'm just not that original.
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Sound sounds are terrible in the city, but it's great to listen and to walk and listen to people talk to each other. There are birds. You hear spring. I like listening to the city.
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There's kind of a limitless amount of things I want to do, and when the path seems to open, that's when I try to do a thing.
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One of my favorite photographers is Ruvan Wijesooriya, who takes most of the LCD photos. His work is incredibly colloquial and raw.
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The vast majority of kids in my school went on to college. That's just what you did. And I remember feeling like, 'No, I'm not doing that.' The idea that college was next, that it was a given, meant it was of no interest to me. So I didn't go.
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I was into punk rock my whole life. I never listened to the Eagles. I never listened to things that were getting Grammys. So getting a Grammy nomination wasn't bad, it just wasn't meaningful.
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LCD live was set up to be an argument about what's wrong with bands and why bands should be better. I always thought that we were so obviously not a great band, comically not a great band. I was not a great front man.
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The plan is to keep on putting out records until someone shows up and tells us to stop.
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I actually want to write a treatise in defence of pretension. I think the word 'pretension' has become like the word 'ironic' - just this catch-all term to distance people from interesting experiences and cultural engagement and possible embarrassment.
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I'm a DJ, and I live in Williamsburg, and I run an independent record company.
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Ad Rock from the Beastie Boys gave me a present: it's a boombox with a keyboard and a beatbox in it. You can't make that up.
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I'm really focused and obsessed with writing things that are specific. I don't like big rock lyrics - I find them infuriating.
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After being in a 'professional rock ensemble,' there's a great joy in making music with friends, without any release plan.