Over the course of 10 years and three superb albums, LCD Soundsystem were unquestionably the sound of post-9/11 New York. The group’s clash of musical styles made it possible for indie rockers and club kids to dance side by side and its lyrics documented early 21st-century
hipster culture with a knowing and often satirical slant.
And in LCD’s ultimate anti-
anthem, 2007’s “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down,” the group wrote a modern anthem for the city we all adore — no matter how badly it occasionally treats us. (“Empire State of Mind” may be fine for Jay-Z, but he’s got millions. The rest of us are just getting by.)
Then, just as its popularity was peaking, LCD Soundsystem disappeared. In February 2011, frontman, songwriter and all-around band mastermind James Murphy announced that he was going to play five more shows in March and April, and then end the band for good.
The grueling experience of life on the road takes its toll on even the youngest of musicians but for the 42-year-old Murphy, LCD Soundsystem’s never-ending schedule began to feel like a genuine health hazard and proved to be a pivotal factor in his decision to disband the group.
“Every time I go on tour, I get new gray,” he says in the documentary, “Shut Up and Play the Hits,” which opens Friday at the IFC Center. “I didn’t go on tour for two years and I got no extra gray. That’s a visible, funny sign, but what the f – – k’s going on inside? What’s going on in my liver or lower intestine? I don’t wanna die!”
Murphy, the co-founder of DFA Records (a k a Death From Above), started out as a DJ and producer. But in a fit of pique at feeling like he’d been superceded by a newer, cooler generation of musicians, he recorded an eight-minute diatribe in 2002, “Losing My Edge,” that turned into an underground hit and started, almost by accident, LCD Soundsystem.
Murphy, now 42, recorded almost all the group’s songs by himself in the studio. He recruited a host of musicians to flesh out the numbers onstage.
The film, which documents the last days of the group and its final, sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden, boils the demise down to this one statement by Murphy: “I wanna have kids and I want to have a life.”
That 3 ½- hour send-off at the Garden in April 2011 provides the bulk of “Shut Up and Play the Hits,” but the film also juxtaposes that adrenaline rush with the emotional limbo of the morning after.
In one scene, Murphy is filmed by directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern puttering around a storage space filled with the band’s soon-to-be-sold equipment. As he silently reflects on a decade of memories, the notoriously private Murphy begins to sob.
“You don’t see all of it, but that was the end of a 20-minute take,” says Southern. “Early on in the editing, James’ preference was to not have that in the film, but in the end, he agreed that it made a strong moment. We’re all glad that we got to keep it in.”
Not only is “Shut Up and Play the Hits” a testament to one of Gotham’s modern heroes, it has also turned out to be a farewell of sorts to a bona fide NYC legend. Just prior to his death in May, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch optioned the movie for distribution via his company Oscilloscope Labs.
“I think Adam understood that you can pinpoint where a band starts very easily, but there are hardly any bands that you can pinpoint where they ended,” concludes Southern. “That’s exactly what we wanted to do with this film and I think Adam appreciated that. Working with a band as great as LCD Soundsystem is amazing, but having your film endorsed by Oscilloscope is just as exciting.”