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Professor Murder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Professor Murder
OriginNew York City, New York, United States
Genres
LabelsKanine Records, RCRD LBL
MembersJesse Cohen
Andy Craven
Michael Bell-Smith
Tony Blankets
Websitehttp://www.professormurder.com

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

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Professor Murder was a character played by the British actor and model Sam Sarpong[3] in two comedy sketches on HBO's "Mr. Show with Bob and David"[4] 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. It has been said that this Mr. Show character's name inspired the band's name.

Discography

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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

References

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  1. ^ * Theakston, Rob. Biography of Professor Murder at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  2. ^ Professor Murder Archived 2007-07-13 at the Wayback Machine reviewed on Pitchforkmedia
  3. ^ Sam Sarpong at IMDb
  4. ^ Mr. Show with Bob and David at IMDb
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