James Murphy (born 1970, raised in Princeton Junction, New Jersey) is a musician, producer, deejay, and co-founder of dance-punk label Dfa Records. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem, who first gained attention with its first single, "Losing My Edge", in 2002 before releasing a self-titled album in February 2005 to critical acclaim and top 20 success in the UK.

Murphy's second LCD Soundsystem album, entitled Sound of Silver, was released on March 12, 2007. In October 2009 Pitchfork Media named the track "All My Friends" off Sound of Silver, the second best song of the decade, and a week later, Sound of Silver was ranked at #17 in The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list.

On February 23, 2010, the official LCD Soundsystem website announced that the band's third album had been completed. The first single is Drunk Girls. The title of the album and the cover were revealed on the DFA site on March 30. The album, titled This Is Happening, was released in the UK on May 17, 2010 and in the US on May 18, 2010. The album debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 in its first week of sales, selling approximately 31,000 copies. It also topped Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart the same week of its debut, which dethroned Lady Gaga's The Fame from its five month reign on the chart for one week. The album received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic, earning an 84/100 rating based on 38 professional reviews.

Murphy was a member of FALLING MAN from 1988 to 1989, Pixies-soundalikes Pony from 1992 to 1994 and Speedking from 1995 to 1997. He was also the sound guy for Sub Pop band Six Finger Satellite. Former Six Finger Satellite member John Maclean is now on DFA records as The Juan MacLean. In 1999 he formed DFA with Tim Goldsworthy (formerly of UNKLE).