Patrick Cowley left behind a groundbreaking body of work before his death in 1982, reshaping disco with fearless imagination. Since 2009, Dark Entries has worked with his friends and family to uncover his lesser-known sides. Hard Ware concludes a trilogy of archival releases that began with Male Box and From Behind, offering the most expansive glimpse yet into his unreleased recordings.
These ten tracks show Cowley at his sharpest—sultry, psychedelic, satirical and unashamedly sleazy. ‘Tech-No’ sketches the blueprint of his dystopian anthem ‘Tech-No-Logical World,’ while ‘Pajama Party Massacre’ and ‘Shake It Up’ feature his own playful vocals. The riotous ‘Big Ass in Motion’ cuts in samples from Rudy Ray Moore’s notorious comedy records, while cosmic groovers like ‘Hellfire’ and ‘Megablue’ reveal Cowley’s bathhouse-in-space sensibility. ‘Jungle Jump’ propels dub-smeared beats into orbit, and ‘Spellbinding Lover,’ with Sylvester collaborator Jeanie Tracy, is bittersweet boogie at its finest.
The set closes with ‘Ice Age,’ a chilling synth hymn sung by Peggy Gibbons of Loverde, its apocalyptic vision foreshadowing the coming AIDS crisis. Hard Ware is both a joyous celebration and a haunting reminder of a singular artist lost too soon.
These ten tracks show Cowley at his sharpest—sultry, psychedelic, satirical and unashamedly sleazy. ‘Tech-No’ sketches the blueprint of his dystopian anthem ‘Tech-No-Logical World,’ while ‘Pajama Party Massacre’ and ‘Shake It Up’ feature his own playful vocals. The riotous ‘Big Ass in Motion’ cuts in samples from Rudy Ray Moore’s notorious comedy records, while cosmic groovers like ‘Hellfire’ and ‘Megablue’ reveal Cowley’s bathhouse-in-space sensibility. ‘Jungle Jump’ propels dub-smeared beats into orbit, and ‘Spellbinding Lover,’ with Sylvester collaborator Jeanie Tracy, is bittersweet boogie at its finest.
The set closes with ‘Ice Age,’ a chilling synth hymn sung by Peggy Gibbons of Loverde, its apocalyptic vision foreshadowing the coming AIDS crisis. Hard Ware is both a joyous celebration and a haunting reminder of a singular artist lost too soon.
Pickup available at Dreamhouse Records London
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