Professor Murder

{{Short description|American dance-punk band}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist  | name = Professor Murder | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = group_or_band | alias = | origin = New York City, New York, United States | genre = {{Hlist|Indie rock|dance-punk}} | years_active = | label = Kanine Records, RCRD LBL | associated_acts = | website = [http://www.professormurder.com/ http://www.professormurder.com] | current_members = Jesse Cohen<br/>Andy Craven<br/>Michael Bell-Smith<br/>Tony Blankets | past_members = }}

'''Professor Murder''' is a dance-punk quartet from New York City that mixes synthesizers and percussion-based compositions in a method that has drawn comparison to post-punk and new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref>* {{AllMusic | class = artist | id = p820142 | tab = biography | label = Biography of Professor Murder | first = Rob | last = Theakston | accessdate = 2012-04-20 }}</ref> They released their critically hailed<ref>[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37571-rides-the-subway-ep Professor Murder] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713125446/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37571-rides-the-subway-ep |date=2007-07-13 }} reviewed on Pitchforkmedia</ref> debut EP, ''Professor Murder Rides the Subway'', on Kanine Records 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 to create a new band, Restless People.

==Name origin== Professor Murder was a character played by the British actor and model Sam Sarpong<ref>{{IMDb name|id=0765493|name=Sam Sarpong}}</ref> in two comedy sketches on HBO's "''Mr. Show with Bob and David''"<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q257643|id=tt0112084|title=Mr. Show with Bob and David}}</ref> 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) Kanine Records *''Professor Murder Vs. The Magazine Culture'' (2004)

'''Singles''' *"Dutch Hex" (2007) Brothers Label

==References== <references/>

==External links== *[https://archive.today/20070327000703/http://woxy.lala.com/music/loungeacts/index.php?id=117 Professor Murder live on WOXY.com, July 18th, 2006] *[http://media.libsyn.com/media/lowslungradio/Low_Slung_Podcast_Episode_6.mp3 Hear Professor Murder on the Low Slung Podcast]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Category:Musical groups established in 2006 Category:Musical groups from New York City Category:American dance-punk musical groups Category:Kanine Records artists