Audiopile Review: How would you explain Patrick Cowley to someone with no experience of the late space-disco pioneer? You might get them to imagine that John Carpenter had a sideline soundtracking gay erotica. Or that disco-era Arthur Russell had traded in his cello for a wall of synths. Or you might ask if they wished there were more songs like ‘I Feel Love’? You might be onto something with that last one, as Cowley famously created an epic remix of the Donna Summer classic, very literally putting more ‘I Feel Love’ into existence. But if you are experienced, you won’t need much persuading. Whether you’re a dancer or a space cadet (and we don’t see why the two are mutually exclusive), a Cowley production will always hit the spot. One of his established classics is the epic 12” ‘Kickin’ In’. The nine-minute title track, featuring vocalist Loverde, is exactly the mixture of shameless disco cheese and genuinely alien synth wizardry you want from Cowley. The newly remastered reissue from Dark Entries adds an instrumental mix to the original EP’s three-song track list. With that addition, it feels almost more like a cosmic concept album than a mere disco 12”. It’s also one of the most unapologetically, confrontationally queer collections of music we’ve heard from Cowley (who was hardly a shrinking violet in any context). Which is to say, the lyrics on ‘You Gotta Make It Loose’ get pretty darn raw. We blushed! But we kept listening because, EP or LP, this is an indisputable masterwork from a master of his craft.

Dark Entries again shines a spotlight on bathhouse disco don Patrick Cowley with a newly remastered release of Kickin’ In. Although Cowley tragically passed from AIDS-related illness in 1982, he left an extensive archive of unreleased tapes, many of which Dark Entries has had the honor of releasing. While working as a lighting technician at The City, SF’s disco cabaret, Cowley saw rising star Frank Loverde perform. Cowley asked Loverde to contribute vocals to some material in progress, and Frank, Linda Imperial, and Peggy Gibbons joined Cowley in the studio. The resulting songs included “Kickin’ In,” a 9-minute cybernetic disco stormer that taps into the essence of Cowley’s hi-NRG sound: equal parts spaced out and zoned in on the dancefloor. In May 1978 Cowley joined Loverde on stage at The City to perform “Kickin’ In” as they opened for disco diva Sylvester. “Kickin’ In” was initially released in 2015 via Honey Soundsystem who found the tapes in the basement of Megatone Records owner John Hedges. This newly remastered version was made possible due to the discovery of the original multi-track recordings of “Kickin’ In,” allowing for a fresh mixdown by Jim Hopkins as well as the creation of a new instrumental version. Also included are two impeccably sleazy Cowley jams recorded in 1980, “Thief of Love” and “Make It Come Loose.” Cowley narrates excerpts from his erotic journals on these raunchy slow-burners, capturing the vibe of SF’s leather bars and backrooms. “Thief of Love” features frequent Cowley collaborator Paul Parker on background vocals. This reissue of Kickin’ In includes features an illustration by Gwenaël Rattke that originally appeared Cowley’s erotic journal, Mechanical Fantasy Box, as well as a postcard with lyrics. “Patrick parted the veil and entered a dark world of forbidden vices, wondrous musical panoramas and bold, strident, hopeful possibilities. Patrick brought the future to us and laid it at our feet.”—David Diebold, Tribal Rites