2013 now sees some of the deepest digging to date, with Dark Entries rolling up their sleeves to bring to life something very special, School Daze.
Patrick Cowley. To some this name will set bells ringing. This San Francisco producer was as important for electronics as the likes of Georgio Moroder or Bobby Orlando. Cowley gained acclaim during his young life, but his musical career was cut short in 1982. This synthesizer virtuoso was an early victim of the AIDS epidemic that tore through San Francisco. He was only 32 when he died. Yet, despite his short life this musician has quite the legacy. With albums like Menergy and Megatron Man the analogue music bar was set incredibly high. Dreamed out disco was married with proto-techno to create a sound with an ever growing audience. Cowley was behind the machines on many hits, such as Paul Parker’s “Right on Target” and Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk”. The San Fran man also turned heads with his ultra extended remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.” Mind Warp was his last album, written whilst the young artist was struggling with HIV. The abstract and heavy content of the tracks is balanced by this thirty-something’s synthesizer prowess. 2009 saw Cowley’s unheard work with Jorge Socarras finally released. 2013 now sees some of the deepest digging to date, with Dark Entries rolling up their sleeves to bring to life something very special, School Daze.
In 1981, the year before his untimely death, Cowley was contacted by Joe Coletti, a gay film producer and owner of Fox Studios. Coletti wanted the man a range of classics to score some of his movies. School Daze is a compilation of the film scores for two erotic flicks, Schoole Daze and Muscle Up. The original tapes of these films were discovered in the Fox Studios, works that have never been heard on vinyl before. The album is a collection of tracks made between 1973 and 1981 and they range in both content and style. If you’re expecting cheesed out jazz fusions akin to Daisy Does Dalls you’re way off.
The opening piece is “Zygote” and is the most familiar work on the LP. From what I can hear, “Zygote” seems to be the prototype for “Invasion”, a track from ‘Mind Warp.’ A fast, punchy and energetic introduction to School Daze. “Mockingbird Dream” is deep proto-techno. Chords cascade as oscillators bulge. The track has a wonderful softness to it, hazy and encapsulating. “Nightcrawler” is a much darker affair with its ultra thick bass lines and revisited bleeps. Much of this work was made when Cowley was beginning to experiment with music machines, such as the industrial ambience of “Pagan Rhythm.” Melody is loosely woven throughout, clouded in fog and shadow. The title track again jumps style, the US artist painting in broad strokes of funked out synthesis. Spartan meanderings arrive with the lonely bars of “He’s Like You” before further starkness is unveiled for “Journey Home” and the internalization of “Out of Body.” The tracks are far removed from what one might expect of a porn movie score, instead this collection judders and ruminates with an intensity akin to Tangerine Dream. There is outright loneliness to some of these works, but there is also elation alongside spaced out dreaminess and isolation. The closer comes in the form of the rich analogue textures of “Tides of Man.” Strings and synths merging for a silken climax.
School Daze exemplifies a very different side to the Cowley legend. True he was known as an analogue pioneer, but his sounds were disco and dancefloor focused. 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.
All proceeds from the release will go to Project Open Hand and the AIDS Housing Alliance.
School Daze is available on Dark Entries.
