mp3: GLASS CANDY miss broadway
mp3: THE CHROMATICS in the city
mp3: MIRAGE lake of dreams
and electroclash begat cosmic disco. or did beardo disco begat its cosmic cousin? there’s so many obvious reference points in this developing micro-genre of cosmic disco, that you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s not even a genre at all. certainly there is a suspicious electroclash smell in the air, but as someone who actually enjoyed fischerspooner‘s debut album, i’m prepared to let that slide.
if electroclash took moroder‘s ‘i feel love’ template and drilled it into the industrial arena of cabaret voltaire, suicide or fad gadget, cosmic disco shines its light a little brighter, opting instead to find refuge in the leftfield edges of its seventies cousin.
i’m also prepared to give this genre some consideration as one its main blog champions is the excellent 20 jazz funk greats. hailing from my own former seaside residence of brighton, u.k., 20JFG is a blog unlike any other, relentlessly discovering new species of artists that are rarely found elsewhere. cosmic (or even kosmische?) is a word that can also describe the tunes regularly found therein, although they’re most certainly not all of the disco variety – you’re just as likely to find some experimental, abstract, cosmic noisecore as you are anything with dirty sequins. that said, over the last six months, they’ve been posting an increasing number of releases from the new jersey label, italians do it better – an easy target when seeking out some cosmic disco flavours.
[murdochspace.com/italiansdoitbetterrecords]
one the label’s best known signings is glass candy from texas (pic above), whose cool, minimal slo-mo kraftwerk variant ‘the chameleon’ contrasts markedly with the congo-funk of the slits-esque ‘nite nurses’ or their cover of ‘iko iko’. their latest recording ‘rolling down the hills’ tips their hat pointedly in the old-school disco direction with a nodding low-tempo sample loop and a pining glitterball vocal. [murdochspace.com/glasscandy]
the chromatics on the other hand are perhaps more emblematic of what the genre label strives to live up to. disco at a stoned 33rpm, when the lights have gone down on the dancefloor and we’re left in the corner, fucked up on something or other, wondering where it all went wrong. [murdochspace.com/chromaticsmusics]
as for mirage, i’m not convinced that they’re are actually italian, given that every other band from the label is from the u.s., but i’ll give their myspace the benefit of the doubt and soldier on, oblivious to the truth. ‘lady operator’ is most certainly midtempo disco kraftwerk, whereas ‘lake of dreams’ considerably ramps up the moroder or vangelis quota. [murdochspace.com/vocodermirage]
if you want go deeper, labelmates professor genius, invisible conga people and farah make it all sound a little more intense, a little less reassuring; mindless boogie (aka solo producer lexx) literally cuts up the past with a series of slow-motion re-edits; norway’s skatebard‘s recent b-side ‘disco nonstop’ provides a smart, scene-by-numbers template; whereas steve yenko’s ‘the boy’ takes ‘the girl from ipanema’ firmly into new galactic territory; and you could also check studio, white light circus, tj gorton and future force.
you’d be forgiven for thinking that lindstrom might have got here first – certainly the genre that lindstrom and prins thomas inadvertently initiated, absurdly known as ‘beardo disco’, is a genuine precursor. however, you need only catch lindstrom’s new 12″ with solale to hear exactly how he can construct a reversion of his former sound and sail it into cosmic territories. moroder’s lawyers should be also be listening, and listening very intently. [buy it at phonicarecords.co.uk]
it remains to be seen whether this is all just a passing ripple or the early signs of a sparkling tsuanmi, but there’s undoubtedly enough deep, dark disco in this catch alone to keep us all quivering through the night.