Patrick Cowley / Candida Royalle - Candida Cosmica

Patrick Cowley is an electronic music trailblazer and a revolutionary in the canon of disco music. He created his an original brand of Hi-NRG dance music, "The San Francisco Sound." Born in Buffalo, NY Patrick moved to San Francisco in 1971 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, along with his classmates Maurice Tani and Art Adcock, would create electronic pieces using the school's equipment: first a Putney, then an E-MU System, and finally a Serge synthesizer. The Lab was interested in creating sounds that mimicked nature, like drops or birds, and also very unnatural sounds unattainable any other way. Patrick was a young alchemist discovering new elements all around him. He would layer experimental soundtracks by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer. Featuring over 30 minutes of music recorded between 1973-75 found on tapes in Maurice Tani's attic. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The jacket features an alluring photo of Candida seductively sprawled with a broken Virgin Mary statue around her head, originally commissioned by Jorge Socarras for an Indoor Life single, and shot by Arne Svenson. Each copy includes a 16-page booklet with never-seen-before photos, interviews and liner notes from Patrick and Candida's friends, roommates and musical collaborators. Released on the week of Patrick (Oct 19) and Candida's (Oct 15) 66th birthday, "Candida Cosmica" presents a glimpse into the liberated, playful wonderland that San Francisco was at the time. These recordings shine a new light on the early experimental collaborations of a disco legend and of a feminist pioneer who were taken too soon.