The mission was clear from the onset: LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and his buddies would play you their favorite disco tracks and you would become educated. It’s fortuitous, really, that Murphy’s sudden disco penchant (where fore art thou, electro?) coincides with a resurgence in disco-love nationwide. We credit fellow DFAers Hercules & Love Affair, maybe that Abba movie, and of course, the ease at which a hipster can sway to the disco beat. Ever the edifier, Murphy, along with Pat Mahoney and Tim Sweeney, took a weekend in Los Angeles to show Cali kids how to disco down. On Sunday, the 17th, the descended on the obnoxious Roosevelt Hotel for a pool party, but if you were really in the know, you found out the “secret location” of the Special Disco Version party the night before.

Billed as an “all-nite dance party,” the line outside the non-descript warehouse in the Brewery arts district certainly indicated a level of exclusivity. Once inside the fabulousness certainly outshone any difficulties we saw some people have at the door. Mingling in the crowd were the likes of Sam Sparro and Jesse Rogg, a Cobrasnake attaché (not the Cobrasnake himself, mind you), and even Murphy himself. To be sure, this was a scene to be seen, regretfully not so much to be heard. If you wound your way inside to the illegal all-nite bar, you were enveloped with a tropical wave of heat and sweat-made humidity that made too much dancing almost uncomfortable. And while clearly, the DJs were working hard to school the crowd, this could have been almost any other night in an LA loft where the venue’s owners wanted to skimp on cooling costs.

Co-presented by blackdisco and the Donuts crew, there had been a table of pastries early in the evening, but by 1am (four hours before close), all you wanted was to wash that Tecate down with some water because this disco was burning the crowd down.

No doubt, Murphy enjoyed bringing back some of the DIY sensibilities of his early electro DJ days and when he spins it’s easy to see the genuine enthusiasm and sheer knowledge he brings with him to the decks. Being there felt special, even if the Disco Version lesson was somewhat of an ancillary component.

Words: Zel McCarthy
Images: courtesy of The Cobrasnake