DFA Records

James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy met while working in New York on the David Holmes album ''Let's Get Killed''. After the recording was completed, Goldsworthy stayed in New York, and the two began to throw parties on the Lower East Side. They created the production duo, The DFA, but wished to grow The DFA into more than what it was. It was not until they met Jonathan Galkin, who subsequently quit his event-production job to work with James and Tim, that they turned DFA into a label. Many of the early releases of DFA's catalog were released in Europe through Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings. After completing production on The Rapture's debut full-length album Echoes, DFA began to shop around the album. Although The Rapture eventually signed to Universal Music Group, the DFA label secured a deal with EMI for distribution of its acts outside the United States, along with several distributors within the U.S. The label has grown steadily since. Notable releases include the twice-Grammy nominated, eponymous debut album of James Murphy's band LCD Soundsystem and its follow-ups Sound of Silver, This Is Happening and American Dream, and a number of compilation albums featuring artists such as The Rapture, The Juan Maclean, Black Dice, Shit Robot, Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom (also as Black Leotard Front), J.O.Y., Pixeltan, and Hot Chip. As a production team, the DFA have produced and remixed artists including Radio 4, Le Tigre, N.E.R.D., Soulwax, Blues Explosion, Nine Inch Nails, Automato, Gorillaz, UNKLE, and The Chemical Brothers. The DFA remix of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" appeared on A. R. Rahman's Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. They spent an afternoon writing a song with Britney Spears, and were also approached by Janet Jackson to collaborate. The production duo effectively came to an end when Tim Goldsworthy left New York to return to his native UK. The label was primarily run by Jonathan Galkin and Kris Petersen. Death From Abroad In 2007 DFA Records started an imprint label titled Death From Abroad. This offshoot is used to release 12" singles by artists not based in North America, such as Mock & Toof and ALTZ. The imprint also released a CD compilation of tracks released on the Berlin-based Supersoul Recordings. Name dispute The label's original name was Death From Above Records, dating from Murphy's nickname for the sound system he had helped build for Six Finger Satellite. This name was deemed inappropriate for a New York City-based label following the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequently shortened to its abbreviation DFA. In 2004, DFA Records forced the Canadian duo Death From Above to change their name to Death from Above 1979. Murphy explained his side of the story in a 2005 interview with Pitchfork Media: We knew about them for a long time, the name thing wasn't a big deal. It wasn't until they signed to a major label, which wouldn't release the record until we signed off on the name. That's how this all came about.... [Parent company of Death From Above 1979's label, Vice] Atlantic's not gonna release a record by a band with the same name as another entity in music.... We spent a lot of money because we didn't just wanna be total fucking assholes and just say no. We were trying to find a way for it to actually work.... I was like, "What the hell's wrong with Death From Above 1979?" But the copyright attorney was like, "No, that's not fine." And I said, "If they become a totally different name, and it delays their record, that's something I'm not comfortable with." So we just tried to make it work as well as possible. The band would later go on to change their name back to Death from Above in 2017 without any legal repercussions, reverting to Death from Above 1979 in 2020. Dispute over finances In 2013 Murphy filed a lawsuit against Goldsworthy, alleging Goldsworthy owed money from unauthorized bank account withdrawals and improper use of the company credit card. In 2020, Murphy dismissed Galkin, citing concerns about finances and artist relationships. The split was acrimonious and led Galkin to file suit to resolve an unsettled dispute over Galkin's minority ownership interest in the DFA label. ==Sound and influence==