Patrick Cowley - Hard Ware (2LP) [Dark Entries]

Format: 2x12" in a gatefold sleeve.

Cybernetic disco master Patrick Cowley again graces Dark Entries with Hard Ware, a double LP of overflowing funk and synth-pop that celebrates what would have been Cowley’s 75th birthday. Known primarily for his chart-topping disco anthems, Cowley left an extraordinary creative legacy before his tragic death in 1982 from an AIDS-related illness. Since 2009, Dark Entries has worked with the artist's friends and family to reveal lesser-known facets of his work, including his soundtracks for gay pornographic films, which the label documented on the compilations School Daze, Muscle Up, and Afternooners.

Hard Ware presents the final chapter of a trilogy of unreleased dance floor bombs that began with the powerful Male Box in 2022 and continued with the decidedly soulful and garage-infused From Behind in 2024. As the most extensive release in this trilogy, Hard Ware delivers ten tracks of pure Cowley: sensual, psychedelic, sarcastic, and with a touch of cheekiness. Cowley devotees will especially enjoy Tech-No, a minimalistic instrumental demo version of his epic, dystopian Tech-No-Logical World.

Playful tracks like "Pajama Party Massacre" or "Shake It Up," both featuring Cowley on vocals, could easily soundtrack your next aerobics session. The frantic "Big Ass in Motion" is built around samples of Rudy Ray Moore and The Madam's infamous "Sensuous Black Woman," an X-rated comedy record that would later appear in booty house classics. Mid-tempo cosmic grooves are well represented with tracks like "Hellfire" and "Megablue," which perfectly capture Cowley's aesthetic: a bathhouse in outer space.

No collection of his work would be complete without an intergalactic dance-floor anthem, and there are several here, such as "Jungle Jump," which pits swirling beats against layers of dub-drenched synthesizers, or "Spellbinding Lover," a melancholic boogie masterpiece clearly influenced by Donna Summer, featuring Sylvester's backing vocalist Jeanie Tracy. Hard Ware closes with the haunting synth anthem "Ice Age," where Loverde vocalist Peggy Gibbons sings about an impending frozen apocalypse. The story told in "Ice Age" reflects the arrival of the AIDS crisis and feels like a chilling premonition from Cowley.

The record is presented in a sleeve with a circuit-inspired design, hand airbrushed by Gwenaël Rattke, and includes lyrics and liner notes written by Andrew Ryce and Peggy Gibbons. Hard Ware is another essential document of an immense talent taken from us too soon.