Any long time readers will know that if there is one series of compilations that sets BlackPlastic's heart aflutter more than all others then N.E.W.S offshoot Eskimo Recordings' compilations would it. With a blatant disregard for anything other than the best, most obscure, dug-through-crates-to-get, rare-as-hens'-teeth records and extremely high levels of quality control BlackPlastic dares you to name one release that isn't superb, if not even game changing.
The fabulously titled Cosmic Disco?! Cosmic Rock!!! introduces new talent (for which read rather old, or rather vintage, talent) in the form of Daniele Baldelli and his cohort Marco Dionig. Baldelli made his name in Italy in the late 70s / early 80s by plying a trade in mainly black American and white European records, combining them to create the foundations of dance music. Whilst everyone whips themselves into a frenzy over Italo house and cosmic disco this compilation takes a neat sidestep to portray an alternative history.
Baldelli's talent is in combining records that have no real relationship with each other and, somehow, making it work. With plenty of re-edits to emphasize the bits he likes, Baldelli is able to create a coherent message through a diversity of sounds. There are moments of wonky techno, for example Torch Song's 'Prepare To Energize' or the political 'Ulster Defence' by Bronx Irish Catholics, but there are also moments of pop genius - just check out Fra Lippo Lippi's glorious 'Say Something', all mechanical robot-sex rhythms and a killer pop vocal.
And so that's what Cosmic Rock is. It's freaky techno tracks jostling with dirty guitar licks and a diva or two. It's The Thompson Twins getting evil on your ass with the stuttering beat and full-on Run DMC / Jason Nevins basslines of 'Beach Culture'. It's La Bionda's race-to-get-naked-first come-on of a record, 'I Got Your Number'. But most of all Cosmic Rock is the lighters-in-the-air pop perfection of Spyder's 'Better Be Good To Me', a pure sunshine-on-a-rainy-day of a record, a record that sounds like waking up with a supermodel that loves you more than you her, a record so good that frankly it deserves an album all to itself.
BP x