Professor Murder

Professor Murder is a dance-punk quartet from New York City that mixes synthesizers and percussion-based compositions in a method that has drawn comparison to post-punk and new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.^[1] They released their critically hailed^[2] debut EP, Professor Murder Rides the Subway, on Kanine Records in July 2006. Members of the band are Jesse Cohen (keyboards), Andy Craven (drums), Michael Bell-Smith (vocals, percussion, bass, keys), and Tony Blankets (bass, melodica). In 2009 Bell-Smith, Cohen and Blankets joined with Eric Emm of Tanlines to create a new band, Restless People.

Name origin[]

Professor Murder was a character in two comedy sketches on HBO's "Mr. Show"^[3] in the 1990s. He was a rapper who was featured in a sketch about the East Coast ventriloquists' feud with the West Coast ventriloquists, which mirrored the same regional divide in the world of rap music. Professor Murder made a second appearance in another sketch as a ringer brought in by the rich kids from the fat camp when they wanted to win a rapping contest against a group of Buddhist monks. Professor Murder was played by Sam Sarpong.^[4] It has been said that this Mr. Show character's name inspired the band's name.

Discography[]

EPs

• Professor Murder on a Desert Island (2008) RCRDLBL
• Professor Murder Rides the Subway (2006) Kanine Records
• Professor Murder Vs. The Magazine Culture (2004)

Singles

• "Dutch Hex" (2007)

References[]

External links[]

• Professor Murder live on WOXY.com, July 18th, 2006
• Hear Professor Murder on the Low Slung Podcast^{[permanent dead link]}