Darkish Entries Information has launched 9 Patrick Cowley albums within the final decade, together with misplaced tracks, demos and archival re-releases of works that beforehand appeared solely in movies. Each is a sonic world unto itself.
Listed here are three suggestions to finest introduce you to Cowley, a San Francisco digital music composer and recording artist usually credited as a pioneer of digital dance music, who died of AIDS in November 1982. The next tracks are out there on vinyl, CD or streaming through Dark Entries’ website, and at its 910 Larkin St. record shop.
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Afternooners (2017)
Key tracks: “Take a Little Journey,” “One Sizzling Afternoon”
“Afternooners” options works recorded in San Francisco between 1979 and 1982, together with some that initially accompanied the homosexual porn movies of Fox Studios, in addition to demo recordings for “Thoughts Warp” (1982), Cowley’s ultimate launch in his lifetime, plus recordings found within the attic of considered one of Cowley’s teenage associates.
Stylistically among the many most numerous of the Darkish Entries releases, “Afternooners” reveals the depth and breadth of Cowley as a composer and artist. The partitions of artificial soundscape on “One Sizzling Afternoon” evoke the soundtrack works of Wendy Carlos (“A Clockwork Orange,” “The Shining”), whereas the hypnotic bass development of “Take a Little Journey” has a extra radio-ready sound, with shades of Cameo and Prince offset by Maurice Tani’s rhythm guitar and Cowley’s personal expressive synth explorations.
Muscle Up (2015)
Key tracks: “Anyone to Love Tonight,” “Don’t Ask”
That includes music recorded between 1973 and 1980, this report attracts extra from the Fox Studios movie vaults, in addition to reel-to-reel tapes lengthy saved away by Cowley collaborator Maurice Tani. For the Darkish Entries Information vinyl launch, label founder Josh Cheon included a replica of the unique promotional artwork from Fox Studios.
The 13-minute composition “The Jungle Dream” nods to musique concrete, and tracks like “Pigfoot” and “Don’t Ask” subvert intercourse soundtrack cliches, offsetting wah-wah rhythms with synth motifs seemingly beamed in from Pluto. The showpiece is “Anyone to Love Tonight,” considered one of Cowley’s best compositions: immediately distinct, memorable and surprisingly up to date. This track feels like a protracted, loping drive throughout the city valleys of San Francisco: Analog drum machines click on and thump alongside metropolis hills, expansive synths present a distant vista, with symphonic overlapping actions coursing by inside rhythmic modes.
Malebox (2022)
Key tracks: “Low Down Soiled Rhythm,” “Floating”
Six never-before launched tracks from the Cowley archives, each dance-floor prepared with a pronounced funk groove. These tracks echo the radio hits Cowley loved in his lifetime, resembling “Do Ya Wanna Funk?” (Sylvester) and “Proper on Goal” (Paul Parker), and provide a stimulating imaginative and prescient of Cowley as a grasp of digital pop songcraft.
Recorded throughout an extremely fertile inventive interval between 1979 and 1981, the songs on “Malebox” had been crafted for the radio and dance ground in equal measure. The centerpiece is “Low Down Soiled Rhythm,” an unstoppably danceable piece of late ’70s funk-sleaze, with vocals by Sylvester backing singer Jeanie Tracy. “Malebox” was launched on Nov. 12 to honor the fortieth anniversary of Cowley’s dying at age 32.
