Professor Murder is a

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984. Simon Reynolds.Faber an ...

quartet from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that mixes synthesizers and percussion-based compositions in a method that has drawn comparison to

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

and new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They released their critically hailed debut EP, ''Professor Murder Rides the Subway'', on

Kanine Records Kanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, ''NY: The Next Wave'', was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsign ...

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 Tanlines is an American electronic music and indie rock duo from Brooklyn, New York composed of percussionist Jesse Cohen and guitarist and vocalist Eric Emm. Their influence is drawn from various genres including pop, indie, dance and world mu ...

to create a new band, Restless People.

Name origin

Professor Murder was a character played by the British actor and model

Sam Sarpong Samuel Osei Sarpong Jr. (19 December 1974 – 26 October 2015) was a British-born American actor, model, and musician. He performed in over sixty feature films and fifty-five television shows, including such films as ''Carmen The Hip Hopera'', ' ...

in two comedy sketches on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's "'' Mr. Show with Bob and David''" 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

EPs *''Professor Murder on a Desert Island'' (2008) RCRDLBL *''Professor Murder Rides the Subway'' (2006)

*''Professor Murder Vs. The Magazine Culture (2004) Singles *"Dutch Hex" (2007) Brothers Label

References

External links

Professor Murder live on WOXY.com, July 18th, 2006Hear Professor Murder on the Low Slung Podcast
Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from New York City American dance-punk musical groups Kanine Records artists {{US-punk-band-stub