Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy

“The community aspect is hugely significant. It is not a pre-recording of a DJ mix with a bit of announcing. Rather the show is hosted live on my Mixcloud Live and Twitch TV. The Balearic Breakfast family join me on the chat group, and they greet each other and talk to each other and form relationships on their own. I just pop in every now and then. It’s wonderful.”

Establishing this connection during the pandemic was a lifesaver she freely admits.

“I have had so many people… hundreds and hundreds of emails, people coming up to me at gigs crying saying the show got them through the pandemic. I tell them the show got me through the pandemic, too. It was the community. I’m proud and humbled by it. But it’s not all about me. It’s very similar to David. David knew that The Loft wasn’t just him. He owned it. He was the nexus. But it wouldn’t be there without everyone else’s contributions. It wouldn’t be Balearic Breakfast without ‘the Family’. It’s beyond me. It’s something bigger.” A second Balearic Breakfast compilation – following 2022’s sold-out first volume – was released to great acclaim in the summer of 2023.

Bringing people together is also the thread that underpins Classic Album Sundays, the event begun by Colleen in 2010 as a timely celebration of albums that demanded to be listened properly – on a high-end sound system, uninterrupted and in their entirety. The idea helped crystallise and legitimise the audiophile culture that has grown over the last decade and CAS is now the world’s biggest album listening event. Today it can be found popping up at one-off events at the V&A, the Royal Albert Hall and The British Library. Its legacy continues in a more regular iteration with Colleen’s monthly online Album Club for the Classic Album Sundays Patreon subscribers.

“Classic Album Sundays has brought together most of my passions,” she reflects. “Vinyl collecting, playing records, musical storytelling, deep listening, communal listening…”

Her unstinting work in this sphere has seen Murphy recognised by outlets such as The Guardian and the New York Times as both a pioneer of the vinyl revival and the resurgence of all things audiophile. Which in turn has propelled the ongoing proliferation of listening bars around the world. In many ways, this is Colleen carrying on the work of her great mentor. Many of her first lessons in sound – and its absolute importance – were provided by Mancuso (who himself was an avid fan of Paul Klipsch’s audio newsletters, Dope From Hope).

David’s faith in her was evident in an email he sent to her in 2011, when he told her: “You and I are the only two people I know in all the years that can cover as many bases [as] there are for the parties and who try faithfully and spiritually to get it right. You are a rare gem my friend.”

The audiophile qualities of Classic Album Sundays are also apparent in another of Colleen’s ongoing activities – the Love Dancin’ sound system. A collaboration with Trojan Sound System’s Daddy Ad, Love Dancin’ is a travelling, DJ-friendly take on the set-ups she employs at the London Loft parties. A permanent fixture at We Out Here, this gives Colleen the chance to really stretch her powers of curation, not only booking the likes of kindred spirits Mr Scruff, Charlie Dark, Gilles et al, but newer talent like Cosmo Sofi, Tina Edwards and Aletha.

“It’s our own DIY thing,” she says. “Again, more community building.”

Unsurprisingly, DJing is another core strand to Murphy’s storied life. She can be found playing back-to-back with her great friend François, playing for David Holmes (“I played at God Kitchen in Belfast recently and he told me my DJing was very emotional. I think that’s what it is – reinforcing emotions, creating emotions. Everything is threaded with that”), spinning disco at a listening bar in Canada or going on a vinyl-only seven-hour journey. No two nights are ever the same.

“I like that,” she states. “It keeps me intrigued and on my toes. I don’t present a planned and rehearsed performance via my USB stick. I still practice and I know when I practice, I’m better. I do my homework, as David used to say. I like to live on the edge of the moment in which anything can happen.”

Kervorkian is another to recognise a simpatico aesthetic in Murphy. When discussing his legendary 2000 Essential Mix compilation – a celebration of 25 years-worth of New York dance music – he admits that the roots of this joyous mix were planted when he guested on one of Murphy’s radio shows a few years previously.

“I squarely lay the blame for it all on Colleen Murphy for unleashing this passion for eclecticism which was first put on display during my spontaneous and improvised live mix for one of her WNYU radio shows back in 1995.”

As they say, game recognises game.

And then there’s her return to producing, most notably her astounding remix work. In the 00s, Colleen was a prolific producer. Backed by her Bitches Brew imprint, she released tracks under several guises: Wild Rumpus alongside former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas; the Latin-flavoured Bambú and the psychedelic disco of DarkStarr with Ashley Beedle. As Cosmodelica she remixed everyone from Horace Andy, Candi Staton and The Rapture to The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Cantoma and Planningtorock. Following her stellar work on Fat Freddy’s Drop’s ‘Mother Mother’ in 2014, this took a backseat to Classic Album Sundays and producing a series of radio documentaries for 6 Music.

At the turn of this decade, however, the need to produce – primarily in the form of remixing – returned. When Colleen heard her namesake Róisín Murphy’s ‘Murphy’s Law’ she knew she could transform an already captivating track into something new. Since then, there’s been incredible reworks of Balearic Aussies Midlife, A Certain Ratio, Manchester’s Secret Night Gang and 2022’s stylish overhaul of Lady Blackbird’s cover of Sam Cooke’s ‘Lost and Looking’ in which Murphy tapped deep into her musical psyche and brought disco’s vibrancy, house music’s relentless hypnotism and the transcendental joy and strength of soul into one infectious whole. No wonder renowned music lover Sir Elton John named it his favourite new track on his Apple Music radio show declaring it to possess a “groove that blows my mind”.

Recent makeovers include David Holmes for Heavenly Recordings, The Shapeshifters for Defected, FSQ for Soul Clap, Jacob Gurevitsch for Music For Dreams, Izo Fitzroy for Jalapeño Records, and Hard Feelings (Joe Goddard and Amy Douglas) for Domino Recordings.

A true music obsessive, Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy’s standing in the global dance music community has arguably never been higher. Whether she’s presenting, remixing, hosting or DJing, her belief in music’s redemptive properties shines through. And rather than downplay her eclecticism she wears her versatility as a badge of honour, ensuring she is constantly fulfilled creatively.

“I’m a music lover, a music curator and a music educator,” she concludes. “It’s about trying to transcend everyday life through music. When people say Balearic Breakfast got them through the pandemic, I think that’s because music has a healing quality. When people are on the dancefloor, I want them to forget about their everyday life. And similarly with Classic Album Sundays, when people are fully immersed listening to an album, it brings them out somewhere else. Those experiences have been very important to me.

“The quest is never-ending and that is what motivates me. I never set out to intentionally do any of this – it just happened because of my passion. One thing led to another which fed into another which fed into another. I will never stop discovering music. You always have to be looking ahead, expanding your horizons.” 

Written by Jim Butler, Editor ‘Disco Pogo’

Management: Adam at ad@tlcmusicmanagement.com

Bookings: Ali at ali@warmagency.com

“Given [Cosmo] Murphy’s history and achievements, she makes a perfect subject for the first edition of Full Circle, RA‘s new series of talks celebrating women in music. In conversation with Martha Pazienti Caidan, we hear about the process of becoming a great radio presenter, Mancuso’s philosophies on sound, the joy of DJing without headphones and much more besides.”

More details & download options on Resident Advisor