S.F.'s Q Bar Plans LCD Soundsystem R.I.P. Party for Monday

When LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy announced his band's retirement, it signaled an end to the decade-long run that saw the project turn the worlds of independent and dance music on their respective heads. LCD, the flagship act of Murphy's DFA Records, revived the zeitgeist of guitars, disco beats, and even Krautrock in the club, sending twentysomethings everywhere a-jiving to standouts like "Losing My Edge," "Yeah," and "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House." The band's carefully orchestrated farewell show at Madison Square Garden, following four nights of NYC warm-up gigs, assured that it went out on top.

Murphy is a longtime New Yorker, so it's not surprising that he chose the Five Boroughs for his retirement party. For West Coast fans who couldn't make the 3,000-mile trip, or who missed the Pitchfork TV simulcast, there's still a chance to pay last respects. On Monday, Q Bar's WANTED dance music club night will hold a memorial of sorts with R.I.P. LCD, reflecting on LCD Soundsystem in sight, sound, and a little bit of good-natured competition.

The night came from an idea by San Franciscan Ryan Sands, who initially envisioned the elegy as a modest house party. "In the early 2000s, LCD Soundsystem and DFA were the quintessential soundtrack to every great dorm party and every crazy night out in S.F.," he says. "All of our friends out East got an entire week of farewell shows from James Murphy and Co., and it seemed like a travesty for the bay to not be able to get our chance to celebrate all those great jams."

Perhaps motivated by the terrifying possibility of having to clean postparty beer cans out of his Mission District apartment, Sands proposed the event to WANTED organizers and DJs Richie Panic and Danny Key & Kite. The pair immediately took to the suggestion. "We don't usually do many special events ... but Ryan's idea was too good to pass up," Panic says.

Festivities will include screenings of LCD Soundsystem videos, a James Murphy look-alike contest (tips: rumpled suit, five o'clock shadow, beer gut), and a heavy emphasis on LCD and DFA cuts at the DJ booth. Something tells us the event will look less like a somber affair and more like a dance-punk version of an Irish wake. Says Panic: "We're excited to celebrate the life, death, and afterlife of one of our favorite bands."

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