Very old British publishing house Hamish Hamilton has a literary journal, Five Dials, which pulls in heavy hitters like Raymond Pettibon, Iggy Pop, Alain De Botton, David Shields and the guy who used to be in Propagandhi. In their new issue, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem honcho, explains the genesis of his first single, discomforted aging song, "Losing My Edge." "I’m interested in how cool works. It’s a funny thing but I think about it a lot—the weird social currency of cool. I’ve thought about it ever since I was a tiny thing, and those thoughts ended up in 'Losing My Edge,'" says Murphy. "When I first gave the song to people I know, most of them thought it was horrible." Bummer. Fortunately things got turned around. Download the current issue, and all back issues, of Five Dials for free in pdf form on their site.
