[6] DFA Records began on a series of 12" single vinyl releases starting with The Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers" and The Juan Maclean's "By the Time I Get to Venus".

Notable releases include the twice-Grammy nominated, eponymous debut album of James Murphy's band LCD Soundsystem and its follow-ups Sound of Silver, This Is Happening and American Dream, and a number of compilation albums featuring artists such as The Rapture, The Juan Maclean, Black Dice, Shit Robot, Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom (also as Black Leotard Front), J.O.Y., Pixeltan, and Hot Chip.

As a production team, the DFA have produced and remixed artists including Radio 4, Le Tigre, N.E.R.D., Soulwax, Blues Explosion, Nine Inch Nails, Automato, Gorillaz, UNKLE, and The Chemical Brothers.

[15] The label's original name was Death From Above Records, dating from Murphy's nickname for the sound system he had helped build for Six Finger Satellite.

Murphy explained his side of the story in a 2005 interview with Pitchfork Media: We knew about them for a long time, the name thing wasn't a big deal.

[19] In addition to Murphy's LCD Soundsystem, the label is currently home to The Juan Maclean, Hot Chip (North America only), Shit Robot, Gavilán Rayna Russom, Prinzhorn Dance School, Shocking Pinks, Holy Ghost!, Still Going, Syclops, Planningtorock and Yacht.

[20] The label reissued the first two albums by new wave band Pylon on CD, previously only available on vynil,[21] and a retrospective collection of tracks by Peter Gordon and the Love of Life Orchestra.

[23][24][25] Rather than retread, however, the DFA have taken the live dance music of the time and infused the techniques and themes with a modern aesthetic—alternately faster, heavier, dubbier, noisier, and generally more intense than their influences[citation needed].