The rumble-slash-squall-careen-yelp (plus cowbell) of
the Rapture
's
"House of Jealous Lovers"
along with the puttering,
Mark E. Smith
-like hectoring of
LCD Soundsystem
"Losing My Edge"
(aka "You might be a hopeless music geek if...") helped put
DFA
over the top as an underground phenomenon in 2002.
James Murphy
and
Tim Goldsworthy
's small label released three other vinyl singles that year that, for all their references to scenes past, also found ways to look outside of the normal indie parameters for their sounds. It's not that the label's "revolutionary blurred line between
rock
and dance" -- a journalist party-line that was almost as overused as "
Radiohead
are saving
" -- has been its true drawing point. The fusion isn't all that revolutionary; obviously these tipsters never saw
Molly Hatchet
in their prime, and perhaps they forgot more fitting and unobscure precedents like
Gang of Four
New Order
. While
has often traded on mixing and matching different strands of dance and
, the label's early success has had more to do with a dynamic, bottom-heavy production sense, informed by that well-studied diet of
post-punk
,
no wave
disco
house
, and
techno
.
Murphy
Goldsworthy
, the in-house production team that also operates as
the DFA
outside of the label, is either directly or indirectly responsible for this sound in every case.
DFA Compilation #1
culls highlights from the label's first five singles, all the while throwing in the two best moments from their affiliation with the unpredictable
Black Dice
. The two
inclusions are just as crucial to the disc's brilliance as
; the 2003 A-side
"Cone Toaster"
is particularly jarring, a thumping
Big Black
update filled with an assortment of panned scrapes and electronic mites. The other major moments are
the Juan Maclean
's first two A-sides, both of which function as sleazoid
electro
-
at its most addictive. The only gripe with the selection is that
's relatively tame
garage rock
A-side
"Give It Up"
is included in favor of the far superior
B-side
"Beat Connection"
; the label brass either wanted to showcase as much range as possible here, or they willfully left out one of their best moments in true collector-scum fashion. ~ Andy Kellman