07/15/08
Text: Nik Mercer
LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge" is all about flaunting hipster cred in the most ironic and sarcastic manner: "I was there in 1968," says Murphy. "I was there at the first Can show in Cologne... I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City." Indeed, no one can beat that. The vision and uncanny, unparalleled ear of Murphy is what the song is all about (again, it's a joke, so don't take it too seriously).
Since this earth was graced with a smallish group of Parisian trendsetter under the Ed Banger umbrella, audiophiles, club-goers, and hipsters alike have been trying to figure out who was there first, who deserves credit for "finding" Justice et al, and when the whole crew jumped the shark. Thirty years from now, we can imagine Future Murphy spitting lyrics that go something like this: "I was there in 2003 at the first Justice show in a basement in a seedy part of Paris, the city of love. I was there."
Justice reached critical mass a long time ago—was it when the duo remixed Justin Timberlake or when they won Best Music Video at the MTV Music Awards? Maybe it was when they announced their clothing line—but that doesn't mean we can't look back at what once was and attempt to legitimize the glitchy wrath of a couple art school kids, Daft Punk's former manager, and a greasy crew of hangers-on. Hence Pitchforkmedia's thorough interview with Ed Banger patriarch, Busy P., a.k.a. Pedro Winter. Read the entire thing right here.
Some of our favorite bits:
Pitchfork: As Daft Punk's manager you earned a reputation to be tough to negotiate with.
Pedro Winder: Yes, but this is a misunderstanding. I mean, some people started to call me "the King of No" because with Daft Punk we were saying "no" to everything. Many people think if you say "no" you just do this to negotiate a better deal, and they didn't understand that Daft Punk really meant "no" because they didn't want to do certain things.
Pitchfork: Did Justice's success surprise you?
PW: Of course! We sold 250,000 albums worldwide, almost 100,000 in France alone. There's no other electronic dance act selling like that at the moment. It's crazy. It's incredible. We sold more copies of the Justice album in France than of the last Daft Punk album. This is just crazy. And I just met them at a raclette dinner that [Ed Banger's graphic designer] So-Me invited me to. I was the oldest one at the dinner, and they later told me that they were a bit impressed that I was there. At the end of the evening they asked me if they could play me a track, which was "We Are Your Friends". I took the track, told them to come to my office the next day, and signed a contract with them. That night I had a party at the Le Pulp club in Paris. I played the track, and the club went crazy. I knew I had something special. For me this record is a generational anthem, and I think it will be something that the kids of today will still like to remember when they are 30 years old.
