Clubbers' Decktionary: Cosmic

This article is from 2011.

Daniele Baldelli

DJ Hobbes guides us through clubbing's myriad genres

Cosmic (disco)

adj/proper noun. aka Afro Cosmic, also Space Disco.
Originally an highly eclectic, mid-tempo (9-105 BPM) style, which nowadays generally exhibits a lot of space, reverb and echo/delay in the production, bubbling synths, delicate keys, langurous guitars and percussion instruments more often found in world music than disco.

Origins

The Cosmic Club in Lake Garda, outside Verona, northern Italy, where Daniele Baldelli was a resident DJ, 1979-1984, and used to mix all manner of weird and wonderful, psychedelic nuggets from his collection, B-sides and other music which was ‘not really made for clubs’, often playing records at the wrong speed to augment their ‘cosmic’ effect. Baldelli’s contemporary, Beppe Loda, prefers to call the style Afro Cosmic, laying equal claim to its genesis, although it’s Baldelli who tours more successfully as a DJ to this day.

Key figures

Norwegians Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas have been at the vanguard of the Norwegian cosmic disco renaissance of the last decade via their respective Feedelity and Full Pupp labels, with their own tripped-out take also labelled ‘space disco’. Fellow Norwegians Diskjokke and Todd Terje are also significant, though the latter is more famous for his re-edits of original disco classics and obscurities than his original productions. Full Pupp is co-run by Stevie Kotey, formerly of Chicken Lips, who also releases quirky cosmic gems through his own Bear Funk imprint, while Chicken Lips’ brains Andy Meecham has ploughed a similarly psychedelic furrow as The Emperor Machine, alonsgide Padded Cell (both via DC Recordings).

You’re likely to hear some Cosmic Disco at clubs such as Only Fools & House, weekly Fri, Flat 0/1; Optimo Presents, Sub Club, Sun 28 Aug (both Glasgow); Devil Disco Club, Bongo Club, Sat 3 Sep; Wasabi Disco, Sneaky Pete’s, Sat 17 Sep (both Edinburgh).

Elsewhere on the web

Cosmic C7 (1980) by Daniele Baldelli & TBC.

This article is from 2011.

More: Clubs, Music, Electronic (Music), Andrew Meecham, Bear Funk, Beppe Loda, Chicken Lips, Clubbers Decktionary, Cosmic, Daniel Baldelli, Diskjokke, Feedelity, Full Pupp, Lindstrom, Padded Celll, Prins Thomas, Stevie Kotey, The Emperor Machine, Todd Terje

Wasabi Disco

Date	Location
Another dose of disco, new wave, punk and New York grooves at this 'no holds barred disco death match'. View full details
16 Jun 11pm Hosting the UK debut of flamboyant Russian producer Philipp Gorbachev (Cómeme).	Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

Comments

No comments yet – be the first.

To post a comment you'll first need to sign in: Forgotten your password?

Sign in

Email
Password
Remember

Not registered? Sign up – it only takes a minute.

RSS feed of these comments