gullbuy music review

The Disco-Tech of… D.J. Cosmo

title

The Disco-Tech of… D.J. Cosmo

label

Yellow Records

format
various artists 2xLP

The Disco-Tech of ... D.J. Cosmo LP coverThe Disco-Tech Of... DJ Cosmo is a part of a Disco-Tech Of... series released by Yellow Productions (known for works by Bob Sinclar, Dimitri From Paris, Kid Loco, and the Africanism compilation series) in 2003.

The series also included The Disco-Tech Of... compilations by Julien Jabre and Alexander Robotnick, but here we get to hear the selections of Colleen Murphy, aka DJ Cosmo.

DJ Cosmo has been centered in London for seven years now running her monthly DJ party night and label called Bitches Brew, but she used to host a radio show on WNYU, as well as DJ around New York before she moved. DJ Cosmo is given the chance here to stretch out her selection to both the old classic disco-tech from the 70s and 80s and mix it up with some from the current crop. It should be noted that the CD version of The Disco-Tech Of... DJ Cosmo has 4 extra tracks, but this reviews is for the double 12 inch version.

The Flaws' Freek starts out this collection with the Ewan Pearson remix and it features MC Chickaboo. Freek has been showing up on many a compilation like the Clubbers Guide To... 2004 on Ministry Of Sound and it is a great way to start this one.

Chicken Lips have been all over the place in the past few years with their DJ-Kicks for !K7 and their remixes for the likes of Headman and Chicks on Speed. Here we are treated to He Not In from their Extended Play cd from 2002 which is a cool almost 9 minute workout of a track.

I'd seen Fertile Ground cds listed at Dusty Groove but wasn't sure what they sounded like. With this Alex Kid remix of Let The Wind Blow I get to hear them and find they are not my style. This has a techy soul vocal which isn't really my favorite sound. I'd still be curious to hear more from Fertile Ground before I finally judge them.

Brandy Volant's The Ritual gets a Château Flight remix that has that African sound to start out that Yellow Productions is known for before it goes into the disco-tech sound. This version was also featured on the Tiefschwarz - A Little Help For Your Friends compilation.

Rafael Cameron's Instrumental version of Boogie's Gonna Get Ya from the Salsoul label is the type of song when you first here it, you are dying to hear an instrumental version because the music is so good. Released in 1981 on the Salsoul label, Rafael Cameron worked with Randy Muller (from Brass Construction) who wrote all but one song on the album, and used the musical bed of Funk Deluxe (formerly called Skyy, another Salsoul group). Well, DJ Cosmo has unearthed the Instrumental version of Boogie's Gonna Get Ya which gets the François Kevorkian remix treatment and sounds all the world like an amazing David Bowie out take from the Fame sessions.

Italo-Disco producer Alexander Robotnick's ( aka Maurizio Dami) Problèmes D’Amour has been compiled lately on Disco Not Disco 2 and The Dark Side Of Disco, and his Dance Boy Dance was used on Miss Kitten’s Radio Caroline mix. Problèmes D’Amour is equal parts funk and disco, in a way only the French know how to work it.

Jaymz Nylon's I Know A Place (the Ewan Pearson & Al Usher Remix) features Mooney and has that African vibe again but modernized for modern times, and while it again has the soul vocals I'm not a big fan of, I didn't mind this track so much.

Detroit techno music maker Carl Craig recently appeared on How To Kill The DJ (Part Two) and is here represented by the single Science Fiction which was originally from his 1995 disc Landcruising. It's a killer track that leaves you guessing and is certainly why Carl Craig is known as a master of the Detroit sound.

---Patrick, January 11, 2005