Talk to me about Patrick Cowley's 'Menergy'

Yeah I reviewed it this week, it's really fuckin great. A lot of Devo influence.

I reviewed it here

really the shorter version of 'menergy' with sylvester on vocals is the crucial one, though i have a feeling i might be in the minority on that opinion - the long version seems a bit directionless after about 6-7 minutes and the vocals are a bit dorky.

You can stream the whole of the new album here: http://www.deejaypeeplay.com/megatronman/catholic.html

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2009/09/patrick-cowley-remembered

i'll be there!!!

trevor jackson dropped this on saturday night - still rules.

www.phonicarecords.com/product/view/116895

A soundtrack of Cowley's gay porn tracks is coming out in October. Holy shit, talk about psychedelic synth wash heaven.

Sampler up on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/darkentriesrecords/sets/patrick-cowley-school-daze/

^^^^ yep just came to post that. "Nightcrawler"!

gahhhh just got to the title track, "School Daze." so sick.

wow, this sounds amazing. do the films exist anywhere? can't imagine what kind of porn this would fit but feel i really must know.

o m g

this compilation contains soundtrack music from two Fox Studio films, “Muscle Up” and “School Daze”

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/13/230949363/first-listen-patrick-cowley-school-daze

this shit is amazing

WANT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4HPq1-miis

This is fucking great.

This album is really incredible. I was totally hooked by the "Nightcrawler" teaser clip a few months but was really surprised by how good the whole compilation is.

...and what kind of porno has this as the music? A lot of this stuff seems way too creepy for that, but maybe I'm just kidding myself

Some of the long tracks on here have this incredible depth to them that totally belie that this was a college kid soundtracking a porn movie. Mind they did try harder in the pre-VHS days to make porn with high production values.

I've got a birthday coming up. So.

From richjuz

http://gawker.com/lgbt-history-month-the-aids-masterpiece-of-a-lost-disc-1454245531

Awesome.

"Cowley is a tragic figure for succumbing to AIDS so early." like, the earlier the tragicker? the whole AIDS AIDS AIDS HORRIBLE AIDS tone rubs me the wrong way.

recent xlr8r piece is less histrionic and more respectful as a result imo: http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2013/10/money-shots-five-things-you-need

but yeah, mind warp is tremendous.

OMG this compilation is EXACTLY what I wanted it to be.

Also the snippets of the film 'School Daze' available online feature a really drugged out instrumental version of "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight" which is not here but is awesome.

"school daze" is A++++++ tunes

might be my favorite reissue of the year

definitely mine

yep

The backstory, from Rolling Reissues 2013 (some of these blurbs are pretty entertaining too)
Patrick Cowley School Daze Available on CD December 24th
Double LP Out Now Via Dark Entries/Honey Soundsystem
Earlier this year, San Francisco-based label Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem released a seminal collection of Patrick Cowley tracks as the double LP titled School Daze. Just named Juno's #1 re-issue of 2013, the collection, comprised of tracks that were originally meant for usage in the films of gay porn company Fox Studio, highlights the most innovative and forward thinking sounds of the disco legend.

Clocking in at just over 80 minutes, the compilation was too large to fit on CD format. However, Dark Entries will now be releasing a CD version that features all of the tracks minus the shortest track, "Pagan Rhythms". The School Daze CD will be available December 24th - pre-order now.

Praise for School Daze

"Cowley created foggy indigenous music akin to the sprawling psychedelia of the Bay Area's famous Haight-Ashbury bands — the keening synths of the title track even approximate screaming guitar heroics. Yet the bulk is far more delicate and sensual, like the warm, well-lubricated touch of a skilled masseur."
NPR

"... it's a very blissed-out and and queasily physical mix (summed up by two adjacent titles: "Journey Home" ... "Out Of Body"): a perfect tonal match-up, presumably, for the onscreen clone-era porn"
The Wire

"Clammy coldwave fugues, shuddering proto-techno, and quixotic funk studies that sound like Raymond Scott high on mushrooms and Moebius"
SPIN

"squelchy, prog-indebted synth music,"
FACT

"...pure, cosmic magic. Deep, sensual, and bubbling with a languid dreaminess, this is Cowley's disco music stripped to its core: warm, skeletal beats, percolating synths, and a keen sense of melody that must have worked perfectly in their original erotic context."
Other Music

"this collection sounds remarkably relevant in the current electronic-music landscape. Perhaps it is a sign of how responsible Cowley is for the building blocks of various genres that one can almost hear the echoes of Emeralds' Does It Look Like I'm Here or even Actress' R.I.P. in certain sections of the album."
XLR8R

"These 80 minutes show the other side, the insular and the lesser seen side of the San Fran synth man. At times dark, others uplifting, this is a fascinating discover from an artist who was talented beyond his years and stolen from the music world while in his creative prime."
Igloo Mag

School Daze CD Tracklisting

1. Zygote
2. Mockingbird Dream
3. Nightcrawler
4. Seven Sacred Pools
5. School Daze
6. He's Like You
7. Journey Home
8. Out Of Body
9. Primordial Landscape
10. Tides Of Man

Pre-Order CD
Purchase Vinyl
Purchase Digital

Perhaps one of the most revolutionary and influential people in the cannon of disco music, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music coined "The San Francisco Sound." Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco at the age of 21. He studied at the City College of San Francisco where he founded the Electronic Music Lab. During this time Patrick createe radio jingles and electronic pieces using the school's equipment, first a Putney, then an E-MU System and finally a Serge synthesizer. He made experimental instrumental songs by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer.

By the mid-70's, Patrick's synthesizer skills landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco superstar Sylvester such as “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, “Dance Disco Heat” and "Stars." This helped Patrick obtain more work as a remixer and producer. Of particular note was his 18-minute long remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and production work with edgy New Wave band Indoor Life. By 1981 Patrick released a string of dance 12" singles, like “Menergy” and “Megatron Man”, creating the soundtrack for a generation. Also that year, he founded Megatone Records and released his debut album. Around this time Patrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with a then-unknown illness: that would later be called AIDS. Prior to his passing on November 12, 1982, he recorded two more Hi-NRG hits, “Do You Wanna Funk” for Sylvester and "Right On Target" for Paul Parker.

In 1981 Patrick was contacted by John Coletti, the owner of famed gay porn company Fox Studio in Los Angeles. John had heard about Patrick's music from the legendary Sylvester and proposed he write music for his films. Patrick jumped on this offer and sent reels of his college compositions from the 70s to John in LA. Coletti then used a variable speed oscillator to adjust the pitch and speed of Patrick's songs in-sync with the film scene. "School Daze" is a collection of Cowley's instrumental songs recorded between 1973 and 1981 found in the Fox Studio vaults. Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos and Giorgio Moroder, Patrick forged an electronic sound from his collection of synthesizers, modified guitars and self-constructed equipment. The listener enters a world of dark forbidden vices, introspective and reflective of Patrick's time spent in the bathhouses of San Francisco. The songs on "School Daze" range from sparse proto- techno to high octane funk to somber post-punk to musique concrete, revealing the depth of Cowley's unique talent.

Featuring over 80 minutes of music, this compilation contains soundtrack music from two Fox Studio films, "Muscle Up" and "School Daze", never before released on vinyl. The tapes were restored and transferred using the same speed and pitch settings, then remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. The vinyl comes housed in a glossy dual pocket gatefold featuring classic gay porn imagery from the Fox Studio vaults plus an essay from Indoor Life vocalist, Jorge Soccarras. For Patrick's 63rd birthday, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem present a glimpse into the instrumental world of a young genius. These recordings shine a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon.

http://www.darkentriesrecords.com
Patrick Cowley Website http://www.megatronman.com

― dow, Monday, December 9, 2013 3:47 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also this, which entered my Pazz & Jop comments, because "Seven Sacred Pools" entered my singles list:

Holy moly, just listened to the Cowley. Some of those reviewers seem to be projecting from the press sheet: the music doesn't seem freaky in the let's-fist-again sense, although in the gen. sense that freaks=all us seekers, incl. hippies--yeah: especially the one that gets me up on my feet, dancing way past the point that the headphones come unplugged, and the volume somehow goes to max, and even the laptop speakers know how to sing it, and I'm dancing through beads and chimes with the love goddesses (and Andy Kaufman)---that would be "Seven Sacred Pools." At first, it seems like it's gonna be some filigree brushing by the ever-reliable textures of pulsation (as may happen too much on some tracks: like, just give me that beat cluster and hold the nerfy tweets). But it is 15 minutes and change, most of which seems so so necessary, in a laidback but fully involving way. Also the way he holds a keyboard whirlpool in place, presses, extends the shades---that would be "Tides of Man." (elsewhere, he can gradually meld the keys into really good jazz woodwinds, etc.) The title track, "School Daze" is quite the neon compact; guess I could see this as theme for porn, or a really sharp 70s science show.

― dow, Thursday, December 19, 2013 1:50 PM (1 month ago)

Great review dow, "Seven Sacred Pools" is amazing.

I was ready for porn music, then listened to the comp and was like "this doesn't really sound like porn music for the most part", then tracked down as much archival footage as I could find from the films, and got it.

This was my review btw:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18773-patrick-cowley-school-daze/

This is a great album and it isn't just some Caravaggio's sketchbook type curio, it is a great album.

Oh yeah totally excellent review Tim.

First two tracks, my impression was: 'this is all the music Throbbing Gristle was trying to make fun of with their disco singles that most people now prefer to the real TG music' and I nearly switched it off

By the end of the album my impression had skewed more towards 'what in the world is even happening'

Definitely worth hearing

Amen to that, and thanks, Tim, for complimenting my review and writing yours, which is very illuminating. The quote about 70s porn reminds me of what the jam band Particle called their "space-porn," which could get outrageously good live, and now I wonder if they had Cowley's music and the movies it soundtracked in mynd.

freaky in the let's-fist-again sense,

may I borrow this phrase?

Sure, I got it from Leather Nun: "I don't remember you/You don't remember me/But/Let's fist again/Let's fist again/Like we did last summer/Let's fist again."

Informative, if horrible geocities-esque, site on Cowley:

http://webs.advance.com.ar/dheinz/Patrick%20Cowley1.htm

So the graphic design isn't the only awful aspect of that site. However, there are some extraordinary revelations within – such as that Cowley was so sick by the time he made Mind Warp that he recorded most of it in a wheelchair.

To that end, "They Came at Night" from that record is an awesome thing.

'tides of man' off the reissue is really incredible, just the thing I wanted to hear on the weekend. going to try and rip it off so hard at next synth jam sesh.

Primordial Landscape popped onto my headphones yesterday and I hadn't realised how tense, sleazy and psychedelic it sounds. Like a dim-lit sexclub with the smell of amyl in the air (a good thing).

the patrick cowley and jorge socarras album "catholic" got a write-up in the latest issue of mojo. it sounds like cowleys cars/devo/new wave record. anyone heard it? im intrigued

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=31250

also: how many versions of this song are there, and which is this one:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x34ju8_patrick-cowley-sylvester-menergy-19_music

no idea how many versions there are but i think that version is from The Ultimate Collection, which discogs claims contains extended 12" versions but it's way too short for that

i've been listening to this like crazy the last couple of weeks.

http://www.discogs.com/Patrick-Cowley-Patrick-Cowleys-Greatest-Hits-Dance-Party/master/95775

Also the snippets of the film 'School Daze' available online feature a really drugged out instrumental version of "I Need Somebody To Love Tonight" which is not here but is awesome.

― Tim F, Saturday, November 2, 2013 10:03 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this song is great http://www.npr.org/2015/09/08/437596536/songs-we-love-patrick-cowley-somebody-to-love-tonight

YES. This is the ONE.

Basically the original on poppers.

Was wondering what mix I've heard that on, it's this one by Kaos & Sal P..

Siano did mix, and chose some records later that did sound like what we typically think of as "disco"---hell, he even worked Studio 54 for a while, when the owners were running it from jail cells for the US Gov, I think---but this is where he came from, and wanted it known, Revolta and the Bee Gees aside.

i'm generally pro "electronic disco history being reclaimed and valorized by queers today" and absolutely love the music all-around but also feel like it can tip a little bit over into the monoculture of the mustachioed men of the time but transplanted into today. a minor gripe as i mime the poppers fueled buttsex crescendo in the soulwax remix of "you make me feel (mighty real)" for the hundredth time.

― ꙮ (map)

idk. i had some resentment for the guys with their BDE cavorting on the dancefloor in jockstraps four years ago, i admit. i felt like "menergy" didn't leave a lot of room for... like, there's femmes and there's women. all the backlash against the stereotype that "gay = femme" left me feeling a little bit out of place as someone who's a woman (but not particularly femme) who was, at the time, far more interested in femmes.

fuck it. i'm past carrying grudges. we're all in this together, is how i feel. also, while i still prefer femmes, goddamn some mascs are fucking hot. the dancefloor isn't the same without 'em.

fuck it. i'm past carrying grudges. we're all in this together, is how i feel.

yep. absolutely. i feel this way more and more. still have some remnants of grudge but it sure does feel great to shed them. meanwhile i'm in a relationship with a younger man who is generally very open-minded on these topics and has already been exposed to a wide variety of opinions, as is the case with young people today it seems. but the other day expressed some reservations about kids being exposed to kink in the context of pride. which, i wasn't prepared to respond in a constructive way, so i just let it slide. i do hope i can radicalize him a little bit. but without a particular agenda other than love. he's close to his family, who are decent but conservative. it's tricky. i feel like i'm always stretching myself when it comes to trying to find more gentleness and patience these days. but sometimes it's like, here i am, orphaned from my owm family of origin and on my own out here at sea making what feels like a wild and desperate voyage, just trying to survive and land occasionally on a beautiful island that always turns out to be hostile in some critical way, and the people i find along the way are always separated from all of that to a degree. part of that is living in a conservative, patriarchal place and wanting to connect anyway. part of it is being attracted to masc. i often feel like i'm in a riddle that deepens with each passing year. at this point i don't think there's a solution, and i'm not sure if i need or want one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzjIKdMvPkY

xp but anyway, 'menergy'. i always feel like it does that impossible thing so well, trying to outline and appreciate masc. i think about the phrase "laughing it up" a lot. there's a bit of menace to it. the real, honest laughing i do is silly, goofy, flip, sometimes acidic, doesn't have that gendered edge. i want to try to imagine what masc gendered laughing looks like and the faint trace of it i can conjure is unlikely, laughable, a tom of finland cartoon. does it even exist? i spent yesterday evening with two men who are very close to me. one sketched my portrait while we were listening to a scratchy record of 'court and spark' by joni mitchell. the me he drew was stately and masculine but gentle and lonely somehow. we shared a dinner of rigatoni and meatballs made by my partner of 5 years. the mode of conversation we had reflected that of brothers, fathers and sons, but also mothers and sisters. i think it's true that masc can't be real without all of non-masc. it feels really good for gender to be real, for the gender you want in your life to color and flesh out your relationships, to not be frightened of gender and all of its ingredients and complications.

really great posts map

<3