Indoor Life – Jorge Socarras – Catholic – Patrick Cowley – Simon Reynolds – Brandt Brauer Frick – Macro Records Berlin – Elektro Guzzi – Eternal Heroes Vienna

what ho ?

totally by chance i Met Jorge Through a very good friend Stavros Kargas ( the nicest bear i ever did meet ) in Barcelona july last year at Razzmataz when i djed with Fab May Day … we fbooked back and forth and he sent me a link to a new project hes working on with Mathias Schaffhauser of hey Little Girl fame but also respected minimal / tech house productions – more on this when they release …

after looking up Jorge i was a bit miffed to find that there is little mention of his work with Patrick Cowley with the group Indoor life and Catholic their collaboration out there – why didnt i know about this beautiful soulful abstract ( yet still funky ) music ? definetly deserves more attention … hopefully if I and other wibblers of the web go on about the greatness of their magnificence resulting in more dues …. which brings me to note after almost finishing reading rip it up and start again and theres no mention in the San Francisco section about Cowley or Jorge – massive oversight ! but an amazing book along side the other Simon Reynolds tome Energy Flash (which is going to get a 2012 update ) and recent Retromania which pretty much nails it in the theory that humanity has pretty much run out of fresh ideas in music – yet to read it but cant wait to nerd out on it – simon reynolds writing style is brilliant he speaks with conviction and doesn’t sound smarmy …

Anyway back to Jorge and his work as Indoor Life and Catholic

Indoor Life was formed in San Franciso and moved to New York and comprised of
J.A. Deane
Bob Hoffnar
Jorge Socarras

with contributions from

Patrick Cowley (first EP)
Sabella (first EP)
Sally Be
Oren Bloedow

Indoor Life Relativity side A stream then search for vinyl on discogs

Sunshine Superman

Indoor Life Indoor Life

Contre Nature

buy the mp3s (in 320 kps naturally ) – buyer beware itunes is shite and gives you 192 which isnt good enough for playing out for all you jocks out there …. speaking of jocks the great Francois K plays out Indoor Life in his sets – FK of the legendary and unpretentious dance parties Body and Soul NY institution and dare i say it dance-floor educator – Body and Soul made it to 15 years this weekend just gone …

I digress !

So Catholic – what a work – Cowley a synth master … Jorge with his distinctive soulful rich voice – I would go so far as saying that this has the sublime qualities of Arthur Russel or even Talking Heads only more reflective and outre – listening to ‘You Laugh At My Face’ you can feel the smarting feeling of unrequited love or at least missing out on a good shag …. Saturday Night Heart Ache in the Castro …. Jorge sounds proud and resilient his voice is really distinct – the eerie synths and pads create a really jarring atmosphere given all the room needed – the album was canned by cowleys label Megatone only to languish for over 30 years and today it sounds completely fresh with its Eno- esque traits – dig up the ep which was made Socarras & Cowley buy mp3s and dig up the vinyl and potentially come and see Jorge In Vienna at Eternal Heroes !

Catholic was unearthed recently in 2009 on the Macro Label from Berlin – Macro also the Home to Electro Guzzi a Viennese Band of rock gypsies making syncopated dance music with live instruments and produced by Patrick Pulsinger – ( theres a lot of it about see also Brandt Brauer Frick who may or may not of nicked Elektro Guzzis ideas ? )

I have to give credit to Fritz Ploeckinger who runs the amazing disco and house haven that is Market Records in vienna for telling me about Elektro Guzzi – proof that going to a record shop is stil the best way to learn about music

feel the Austrian darkness of …Elektro Guzzi

now compare with their German Cousins Brandt Brauer Frick