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Cosmic Euro Nation part 1
By House of Coma | December 30, 2008
In the next series of posts, we will chart some of the
defining historical trends which have presided over the
best of disco music. We kick off with a survey of the rise
and fall of European space-age disco or, in other words,
the great Cosmic Euro Nation. In this first post, we aim to
shed some light over early cosmic experiments within
some of the genres which have preceded and shaped
interstellar disco and to assess their legacy.
Pink Floyd / « Astronomy Domine
(An Astral Chant) » (1967)
Astronomy Domine ( or the Lord of Astronomy ) , subtitled
An Astral chant, was the first song on Pink Floyd’s debut
album and is perhaps the most important early space ode of
contemporary pop music. Masterminded by the late Syd
Barrett whose demise would relegate Pink Floyd to the
mass appeal of stadium rock, The Piper at the Gates of
Dawn is undoubtedly the most significant of all
psychedelic rock albums. This song, along with the other
cosmically-enclined track, Interstellar overdrive, contained
the blueprint for the whole space rock sound and some
defining elements for all cosmic music to come. With its
intense use of echoing effects in conjunction with an
irregular (understand trippy ) guitar pattern, along with
the additional use of a Farfisa organ, it conjured an
avalanche of psychedelic frequencies alluding both to
hyperspace travel and communication waves throughout
deep space.
Here is what the ever wordy Wikipedia has to say about that :
The song opens with the voice of their manager at
the time Peter Jenner, reading the names of stars
through a megaphone. The intention of this opening
is to replicate the feeling of outer space, with
Jenner’s voice sounding like an astronaut’s over an
intercom. Barrett’s Fender Esquire then seemingly
emerges from the distance and grows louder. At
0:19 a rapid beeping sound appears, again
reaffirming the feeling of distant space. At 0:26,
Mason’s distinctive drum fills emerge, followed
closely by Barrett’s bluesy, sinister-sounding
guitar (perhaps reminiscent of Duane Eddy) in a
figure suggestive of the brass motif from “Mars,
the Bringer of War” in Holst’s The Planets.
Wright’s Farfisa organ is mixed into the
background. Barrett’s incantatory lyrics about
space again support the cosmonautical theme in
the song, mentioning planets Jupiter, Saturn, and
Neptune as well as Uranian moons Oberon,
Miranda, and Titania, and Saturn’s moon Titan.
David Bowie / « Space Oddity » (1969)
Space Oddity is the song that gave a name to Bowie,
launching him into the spheres of fame as his fictional
astronaut character, Major Tom, got launched into outer
space. Despite being a classical pop ballad whose production
and melody remain entirely conventional, the theme of the
song, as its unashamed parallel between space exploration,
mental confusion and a heavy psychotropic subtext, have
been seminal in establishing cosmic disco-very as a internal
voyage of sorts. As Huysmans’ Des Esseintes reminds us in
Against Nature : ” What was the good of moving when a
person could travel so wonderfully sitting in a chair?”.
Nonetheless, Space Oddity did go down in History far
beyond its metaphor and has been associated by
generations with (real) interstellar travel ever since the
BBC featured the song in its television coverage of the
lunar landing.
Kraftwerk / « Tanzmusic » (1971)
Kraftwerk, the art pioneers of electronic music, have been
instrumental in catalyzing Krautrock, the first truly cosmic
music movement with its long effusions of synth waves and
psychedelic riffs, into a more concise pop format, thus
leading the way to the later appropriation of space hippie
shit by the infamous heir of funk, disco music.
Tanz Music is a piece which bears testimony to this
transition, with its Kraut pattern, all trippy waves and
mellow hallucinations, brought back to a recognizeable
melody, the essence of pop. It is also a song of a rare
hypnotic beauty which lays the foundation for the very
sound which will conquer the minds and embody the
future over the following decade. The electronic virus, in
the meantime, has been inserted almost surrepticiously
into the body of pop. Nothing can ever be the same.
Cosmic Euronation, act 1. The rebirth of the space age
into a disco apparatus.
Roxy Music / « Ladytron » (1972)
Meanwhile, the 70s’ excess offered a fertile ground for all
sorts of experimentations. Following his chance encounter
with one of Roxy Music’s members in an underground
station, pioneering weirdo Brian Eno subseqently joined the
band, orchestrating the fusion of art rock’s quirkiness with
glam’s sleaze to produce a series of genre-defying sonic
objects. In these early Roxy songs, a classic rock matrix
collides with Bryan Ferry’s honey-infused crooner style
and Eno’s own sound alterations behind the mixing
console and various synthetizers. The Glorious Ladytron,
taken from Roxy Music’s eponymous debut album, bears
witness to the cosmic results produced by Eno’s
collaboration with the band. As a matter of fact, the sound
which opens the song was created by Eno after Bryan
Ferry asked him to produce something reminiscent of the
Lunar Landing.
Topics: Sound |