by Taran M
There are not too many people I can say that I have watched from punter/ promoter to DJ as gracefully as one man and that is Simon Murphy. From the first time I met him, in an acquaintance’s house nearly nine years ago, it was clear that Simon possessed a didactic approach to his love of electronic music. At that time Simon was heavily involved with the MTM crew with PDT and Degenerator. It was clear this cat had the knowledge, a refined appreciation for everything from hard trance to his first love, that being techno. Before he was even DJing his ugly mug had graced the cover of “Play” Beat’s dance music centerpiece. Every undertaking that Simon has contributed to the Melbourne dance scene has been done with aplomb. Not one to name drop, or even more so big note himself, the focus for him is to always push the music. If anyone ever accused him of having his head up his ass, I and I think anyone who knows Simon, would glass them immediately and after explaining to the police why they glassed them, gain the order of Australia. Simon worked tirelessly for such crews as MTM and Smilepolice for the love. You have to remember back in those days he was not even DJing; There was no underlying reason other than his passion for electronica. When I think back on every action that I have personally undertaken in the EDM, Simon has always been in the foreground.
So when I found out he had started spinning and I was harvesting people I respected to work with me on Substance, it wasn’t hard to see that I would naturally ask him to assist. What Simon brings to Substance is only just beginning to be recognised in terms of being a DJ. If you have ever played a versus set with Simon the first thing you will notice nowadays is his precision in mixing, cutting and general demenour around a mixer and CDJ/ 1200’s. I can think of a number of DJ’s who are tricky, have great show pony tricks but when it comes to precision mixing, lightning accurate cuts and set structure there is only one person… Yup, you guessed it.
To be rivalled with his skill in mixing is his scary techno dictionary of tune knowledge. If you want to know who has done a remix, ask Simon…”That tune that goes da da da da ” Simon will know it. The tune knowledge that Simon has amassed into his little cranium defies logic, if he wasn’t Simon we’d think he is obsessive compulsive. If his knowledge was physical matter, we’d call him a hoarder. And it is also lucky that the digital medium has overset music consumption because Simon would have to be living in a 200sqm meter warehouse to accomodate the mythical amounts of vinyl he would now own.
So the points you have learnt in this article:
- He has done everything in the EDM scene and has not become the Dick Smith of it.. thus making him awesome
- His DJ skills are on fire…. watch out
- He is awesome
- Chuck Norris and Mr. T only concede defeat when arguing Adam Beyer to Simon Murphy
For those who like Simon as much as we do, ensure you add yourselves to his Facebook Fan Page!
You can catch Simon at our upcoming April Prognosis event!
