Skip to content

Vinylogue

Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy

Colleen Murphy’s lifetime of vinyl exploration and discovery has led her around the world. With Classic Album Sundays, she’s come back home.

Interview: Sam Tornow / Photography: Normski

In an era where most listening happens on streaming and via trending TikTok sounds, radio host and club DJ, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy decided to take a new approach to listening to music, opposite of what we typically imagine of a DJ — she sits the audience down, plays legendary records from front to back, with no transitions or distractions, adding commentary before and after to enhance the experience. 

“I never stopped buying vinyl. I haven’t stopped in 40 years.”

Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

There are no mobile phones, Bluetooth speakers, or conversations allowed.

It’s called Classic Album Sundays, a live listening event where Murphy plays iconic albums on the best audio system possible and encourages deep listening. According to Murphy, the show was started “as a stance against the increasing devaluation of music and to address how we listen to music in the 21st century.”

Since the show’s inception in 2010, it’s spread like wildfire.

Audience members cry listening to old favorites, become immersed in the hi-fi mix, and revel in the experience of giving the music their full attention. At points, Murphy has even found herself in tears while bathing in the sound. Specifically, she recalls an emotional listen to the song “Little Green” off Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album Blue. 

While Murphy still DJs clubs and hosts the kaleidoscopic Balearic Breakfast show every week on her Mixcloud, flipping the DJ format on its head has perhaps become what she’s best known for. However, the revelation to slow things down in a world where everything is speeding up didn’t appear out of nowhere. Initially, Murphy fell in love with radio because it allowed her to share music, something she has been doing since her early teens with her mixtapes (which she still has). With Classic Album Sundays, the experience of sharing music with others takes on a deeper meaning.

Colleen Murphy grew up in a sleepy small town in Massachusetts with a large extended family. As a kid, she was obsessed with her transistor radio and raided her aunt and uncle’s record collections. That curiosity introduced her to more “out-there artists” like Kate Bush. On her eighth birthday, her aunt gifted her an Elton John Greatest Hits record, the first LP she could call her own. But it wasn’t until she borrowed (and never gave back) her aunt’s copy of Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues’ that she first saw the potential of a full-length record. 

“It’s a concept album consisting of several suites with interludes, which segue these songs together,” she said. “From the first time I heard ‘Nights in White Satin,’ it enthralled me. I would listen to that entire album, beginning to end, because it documents a day. It starts with a ‘Dawn’ and ends with ‘Nights in White Satin.’ That was the first album that showed me what could be done with an album format. It wasn’t a bunch of different songs that were hits. It’s a whole artistic piece.”

At 14, Murphy got her first chance to appear on the radio, which her uncle had helped set up at her high school. Her cousin, who had a show, invited her on. When the mic got turned on for the first time, she panicked. “I freaked out and ran out of the room,” she recalls. 

“I thought if I had a radio show, I should be playing something different than what other people were doing. I wanted to serve a different purpose.”

Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

Despite the incident, she returned to the radio station. Admittedly, she didn’t speak often but loved the experience of playing her favorite songs for listeners. As her interest increased, so did the size of her record collection. 

“I never stopped buying vinyl,” she said. “I haven’t stopped in 40 years. All the shows were classic rock or Top 40. My shows never were. I started playing older stuff, but then I got into new wave, early hip-hop, and funk. I was all over the place. I thought if I had a radio show, I should be playing something different than what other people were doing. I wanted to serve a different purpose.”

Her interest in radio led her to New York University (NYU), which she chose because of the student station’s reputation and technical prowess (WNYU). She fell deeper into radio culture, essentially living in the station. In time, she became the first female programming director at the school. Upon graduation, a representative from Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting (CBC) Japan visited campus, searching for students to work abroad as DJs for several months. 

“CBC called the radio station to ask for men to audition,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to this audition.’ They chose a few of us, and I became the head DJ. We auditioned for a Japanese woman, who probably suffered quite a bit of sexism herself. When I did the audition, she said, ‘I’m gonna make sure you get this.’ That was the first time I traveled through music. It set the course for my entire life.”

After her stint in Tokyo, Murphy returned to NYC to continue DJing. She performed live and was asked to return to WNYU as a host, where she started Soul School, which featured dance music classics. As a DJ, her record collection continued to grow. Still open-eared, she was a frequent crate digger and received plenty of records through her work. 

Then, in 1992, a party invitation changed her life. A friend invited her to attend one of David Mancuso’s Loft parties. At the time, she was unaware of the party’s significance. 

Starting in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Mancuso’s Loft grew into one of the first and most influential party spaces. His parties were invitation-only, took place in his home, had no food or alcohol sales, and were LGTBQ-friendly. His eclectic mixes helped popularize several tracks in the dance music scene, like Babe Ruth‘s “The Mexican,” and Barrabas‘ “Wild Safari.” The sought-after events attracted artists like Frankie Knuckles, Larry Levan, and Nicky Siano, meaning the influence of the space played a role in the creation of historical clubs like The Warehouse in Chicago and NYC’s Paradise Garage.

By the time Murphy had arrived on the scene, Mancuso and The Loft had moved around the city several times and had gone through fits and starts in popularity. Still, Murphy fell in love with the selection of positive, rhythmic tracks and sound system. She knew from their first meeting that she had found someone special. She invited him to guest on Soul School.

“We hit it off immediately on every level — personally, spiritually, musically. David came to the radio station and didn’t speak [on the air], but we played the records. Then he asked me if I wanted to DJ at The Loft, which blew me away. [That idea] never even occurred to me. It was an honor, even though I didn’t know the history at the time. I had never gone to the Paradise Garage. I moved to New York in 1986. I was more of an indie kid, psychedelic rock and all that.”

“I can’t put it into words, but listening to records for hundreds of hours with David [Mancuso], I can hear it now, whether or not something has energy or not.”

Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

While DJing at The Loft, Murphy continued to hone her skills, soaking up everything Mancuso had to offer. Often eschewing the term “DJ,” Mancuso spoke of himself like a party facilitator, with a focus on curation rather than technical mixing and scratching skills. In an interview with Dust and Grooves, Murphy recalled loving to spin tracks like Romanthony’s “Bring U Up,” Joe Claussell’s Ten City remixes, and Dexter Wansel’s “Life on Mars.”

Their partnership blossomed. Murphy and Mancuso DJed together, and she would fill in for him at The Loft and advertise his parties on the air. He became her mentor and close friend until his passing in 2016.

“He taught me a lot about sound and sound systems,” she said. “I will have multiple pressings of a record because I want to find the best-sounding one…The other thing I learned from him was picking the right music to uplift people, and there were records that I would play that sounded cool and stonerish but would bring down energy levels. I can’t put it into words, but listening to records for hundreds of hours with David, I can hear it now, whether or not something has energy or not.”

Murphy has been active in spreading Mancuso’s legacy and influence. In 1999, she moved to London, hired her first manager and began working with Nuphonic to co-produce two versions of the compilation David Mancuso Presents The Loft in 1999 and 2000. The compilations introduced his mixes to those who never made it to the sacred space. Similarly, Murphy worked with Mancuso to create the The Loft in London (known as the London Loft party). To this day, Murphy spreads Mancuso’s vision throughout her sets and shows.

“There were no listening bars [in London] at the time. The two that started came off the back of Classic Album Sundays, the creators are friends of mine who came to the first events.”

Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

Around 2010, Murphy began hosting friends for dinner and playing them full-length albums on her audiophile-grade setup. According to an interview in Time Out, she jokingly called these dinners “Classic Album Sundays.” Oftentimes, her guests would comment on the environment she created and how great the records sounded.

“Since I got into audiophile culture and sourcing great pressings, when people would come over and listen to a record here, they heard nuances they never heard before,” said Murphy. “Plus I knew the stories of these records since I’ve interviewed all these bands before. It enabled people to listen to the record in a different way.”

At the time, her acquaintance Greg Wilson started the blog, Living to Music, based on these dinners. The blog tried to replicate deep listening by encouraging people to listen to the same album at the same time with full attention and then chat about it online. Murphy hosted early sessions, based around Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. Afterward, her head started to spin about an in-person event.

During the same period, Murphy began thinking about how listening habits had changed since her childhood. More people were listening to music with headphones, including herself, and outside of live settings, there wasn’t much in-person community surrounding music anymore. For most people, gone were the days of listening to a record and giving it our full attention. 

With this in mind, she hosted a one-off event at a friend’s pub, Hanbury Arms in Islington, London, where she played The Beatles’ Abbey Road record front to back on her hi-fi system. After a successful first event, she decided to do a few more, initially at a financial loss with no plans for its future. However, that all changed when BBC Breakfast Hour reported on the recurring event, broadcasting her, at the time, unique idea to millions, and skyrocketing the event overnight thanks to its outside-the-box, yet simple premise. 

“There were no listening bars [in London] at the time. The two that started came off the back of Classic Album Sundays, the creators are friends of mine who came to the first events.”

Each event starts with a period in which Murphy plays records from around the chosen record’s era, followed by a short presentation to add context. Then she plays the record, occasionally lighting candles, but otherwise avoiding the use of visuals. As for the album selection, In the early events, Murphy dug into her collection of over 10,000 records and played a wide-variety of classics like the KLF’s Chillout, John Coltrane’s Blue Train, Nick Drake‘s Five Leaves Left, as well as deeper cuts like those by Scott Walker and Syd Barrett’s solo material. While she does still make the selections, she often pulls from fan requests.

“Since I got into audiophile culture and sourcing great pressings, when people would come over and listen to a record here, they heard nuances they never heard before.”

Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

It’s not surprising that the concept caught on so fast. Murphy claims that the events are often emotional. She recalls one memory where an attendee broke down while listening to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here because they were thinking of a lost loved one. In another instance, she had someone come up to her and describe the experience as “audio yoga” due to the meditative nature of sitting still, closing your eyes (which she encourages), and soaking in the sound. 

“I think it’s part of a larger movement, like slow food and mindfulness,” Murphy told The Guardian in 2019.

Now Classic Album Sundays events take place around the world in places like Australia and Japan, and in venues such as The British Library and The V&A Museum. Guests such as Thurston Moore, Nile Rodgers, members of Primal Scream, and more have also attended listening events, adding context to the records. During the pandemic, she also started a monthly listening club where listeners discuss chosen albums as a group, similar to a book club. 

It’s a world away from The Loft, but the influence of Murphy’s mentor, David Mancuso, looms large on Classic Album Sundays — the hi-fi sound systems, the promotion of deep listening, not beat matching and instead letting songs fade out, and the uplifting, welcoming energy that Murphy visibly exudes in all her sets, regardless of the show. 

It started as a passion project to focus on listening to vinyl records, and in the time since, it’s become a worldwide phenomenon, with satellites in four continents, a website, social media channels, and content that includes interviews, videos, playlists, and more.

Classic Album Sundays is also a reminder to practice what she preaches. 

Recently, Murphy had the chance to DJ at First Light Festival in the UK, an event that celebrates the summer solstice on the most easterly island in the country. Noting the thematic similarities, she returned to the same Moody Blues record that changed her perception of vinyl records as a child.

“I was playing a set starting at five in the morning just after sunrise, and I played ‘Dawn is a Feeling,’ one of the first songs on that album, and it just fit perfectly,” she reflects while sitting in her office, surrounded by a lifetime of records and mixtapes.

Interested in reading more editions of Vinylogue? Check out our features with The Black Keys and Peanut Butter Wolf.

Mentioned in this article

KEEP DIGGING

×