Cosmic Carnage

Since there was a request for a few more cosmic delights, I thought I’d do a nice little bank holiday cosmic special for you all. To kick things off we’ve got a track that I pinched from over at Daughters of Invention, a fantastic little blog that I’ve been checking out for quite a while now. Go there now to pick up the Rub’n’Tug mix of Sly Mongoose, realise it’s fantastic, then go and buy the 12”. Jaime, the girl who runs it, posted this track from Lee Douglas' debut release on Rong a few months ago, and it’s a wonderful bit of vintage cosmic. Check here and here for more info.

Download:
Lee Douglas – Same Changes // Rong

So where did cosmic disco get its name from? Apparently, it was all started near Verona by an Italian named Daniele Baldelli (pictured above) who ran the ‘Cosmic’ night from '79 to '84, and played as a resident DJ in a few of the big clubs at the time. Mixing strange jazz and classical records, with disco grooves (many of them at the wrong speed), he was a Djing pioneer at the time, pushing the limited technology to its limit. People even turned up to where he was playing and wouldn’t even go in! They’d just park up in their cars, take drugs, and listen to Baldelli’s tapes that were circulating at the time. What I’d do to get my hands on some of those!

Download:
Daniele Baldelli - Pluton

You can’t really talk about cosmic disco without mentioning the Nordic kings of contemporary cosmic, Hans Peter Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. Once Lindstrom’s ‘I Feel Space’ worked it’s way onto both Pitchfork and Earplug’s readers’ iPods, the Balearic ball was finally rolling for the duo. Their album was a surprise to many of their fans expecting an LP of ‘I Feel Space’ x 12. Hans followed it up with the ‘Another Station’, and ‘Mighty Girl’ singles; the former being extremely disappointing but possessing Todd Terje’s remix wizardry on the flip, the latter being a piano laden Can cover, and an excellent one at that. This track is from their collaboration on their super slow ‘Arp She Said’ EP, and in my opinion, is one of the best tracks they’ve done together.

Download:
Six Cups of Rebel – Kontroll (The Organ Grinder’s Breakdown) // Feedelity

The highlight from Prins’s recent releases has to be the cosmic porn soundtrack that is his ‘Major Swellings’ LP. He’s done a fair few good remixes as well, notably Todd Terje’s ‘Bodies’ and this one for fellow Norwegians; Kalle, Magnus and Daniel. The bassline that underpins the song never tires, and you can’t help but marvel at the way Prins mutates the track through the percussion alone. Add those harps and spaced out synths, and you’ve got something a little bit special.

Download:
Kalle, Magnus & Daniel – Hjul Meg Ut (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)

One of the records that I blindly purchased from Juno recently was ‘Another Side Of Lindstrom’, a new compilation on Outer Gaze. Expecting a compendium of his better unreleased tracks, I was sorely disappointed when I found out it’s…well… a bit boring to be honest. Maybe a few more listens will reveal a hidden depth, but it stinks of an excuse to get a sub-standard record out to capitalise on their recent ‘cosmic god’ status. Better purchases were all three of the extremely dodgy Cosmic Dancer bootleg compilations, seemingly released by a label by the name of ‘Disco Obscura’. As you’d expect, all of the volumes are pretty hit and miss, but there’s some real classics on there like The Zebras’ ‘Paradise Garage’, Asha Puthli’s ‘Money’, and Space Art’s ‘Love Machine’ amongst others. One of those others is this cosmic disco classic from Amadeo. On ‘Memories’, the sparsely used strings and brass sound great when applied to a slowed down disco template. Yes, the guitar solo’s a bit shit, but the rest more than makes up for it.

Download:
Amadeo – Memories

Lawrence (pictured above) isn’t strictly cosmic, and neither are any of my other selections, but he does have this galaxial techno lullaby thing going on in his more vocal remixes. Luke Melchor (of Bristol’s minimal techno night ‘Underscore’) played the Aranda remix at his afterparty a few months back and it was exactly what I wanted to hear at that time in the morning. The Turner mix is one of those tracks that just begs to be played as the sun’s coming up with everyone limply yet happily dancing away. Hopefully one day I’ll get to test that theory!

Download:
Egoexpress – Aranda (Lawrence Remix) // Ladomat 2000

Download:
Turner – My Aeroplane Mania (Lawrence Remix) // Tiny Sticks

It seems that everyone’s talking about Carl’s Delia & Gavin remix on DFA at the moment, especially as it finally leaked over at Headphone Sex. Check that guy’s blog out cos he’s got some good stuff to offer your ears. For example, who else posts up Claro Intelecto on their blog? Exactly. You can still get the new Lindstrom mix of Franz over there, which I really should bootleg with Don Armando’s ‘I’m An Indian Too’. I doubt I will, however, probably due to sheer laziness. Anyway, back the the Delia & Gavin mix. I’d heard it out quite a few times previous to downloading it, so I knew that it sounded amazing on a big system, but listening to it on chunky headphones has been a real pleasure. Well done to Mr Craig on another fantastic mix! Now where's your new EP? Instead of posting up the D&G mix, I think it's only right to highlight another of his many previous masterstrokes. ‘Angel’ is taken from the b-side his ‘Darkness’ remix 12”, and needless to say, it’s deliciously deep Detriot techno.

Download:
Carl Craig – Angel (Caya Dub) // Planet E

Another thing that I’ve bought recently was the Ellen Allien & Apparat LP. From the frosty techno of ‘Jet’, to the almost dubstep ‘Metric’, ‘Orchestra Of Bubbles’ really is superb all the way through. Here’s one of my favourites from the album, the bass’n’bleep anthem that is ‘Do Not Break’. I hear that there’s an Ellen Allien mix of it kicking around on the interweb which sounds promising, but I’m yet to hear it. Does anyone know if it's coming out anytime soon?

Download:
Ellen Allien & Apparat – Do Not Break // Bpitch Control

This one’s dedicated to local electro godfather Lazerboy (check his dormant website here), who had his birthday this week and will be celebrating it this Sunday in London before the Phonica party. Me and Softie will be taking the decks to show those Shoreditch mugs how it’s really done! The dedicated track in question is so good, I don’t believe we haven’t posted up on here yet. Arguably the best track that’s sprung from Kompakt offshoot K2, the A-side from Gui’s first K2 12” is a building atmospheric minimal houser, complete with an ascending chord sequence that'll get your feet straight on the dancefloor, and your hands right in the air.

Download:
Gui Boratto – Archipelago // K2

From all at Tape, have a very good bank holiday weekend. I know we will! And remember; if you like it, go and buy it!