AFTERNOONERS

Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem Records have teamed up once more to release the final volume of gay porn soundtracks by San Francisco-based musician and producer, Patrick Cowley. One of the most revolutionary and influential figures in the canon of disco, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music, oThe San Francisco Sound.o Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco in 1971 to study at the City College of San Francisco. He founded the Electronic Music Lab at the school, where he would make experimental soundtracks by blending various types of music and adapting them to the synthesizer. By the mid-70AEs, PatrickAEs synthesis techniques landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco superstar Sylvester, including hits like oYou Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)o, oDance Disco Heato and oStars.o This helped Patrick obtain more work as a remixer and producer. His 18-minute long remix of Donna SummerAEs oI Feel Loveo and his production work with edgy New Wave band Indoor Life were both of particular note. By 1981, Patrick had released a string of dance 12' singles, like oMenergyo and oMegatron Mano. He also had founded Megatone Records, the label upon which he released his debut album, oMenergyo. Around this time Patrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with an unknown illness: that which would later be called AIDS. Throughout 1982, he recorded two more Hi-NRG hits, oDo You Wanna Funko for Sylvester, and oRight On Targeto for Paul Parker, as well as a second solo album oMind Warpo. On November 12, 1982, he passed away. In 1979 Patrick was contacted by John Coletti, owner of famed gay porn company Fox Studio in Los Angeles. Patrick jumped on this offer and sent reels of his college compositions from the 70s to John in LA. Coletti then used a variable speed oscillator to adjust the pitch and speed of PatrickAEs songs in-sync with the film scenes. The result was the VHS collections oMuscle Upo and oSchool Dazeo released in 1979 and 1980. oAfternoonerso is the third collection of CowleyAEs instrumental songs, recorded in May 1982. These recordings were culled from two 23-minute reels in the Fox Studio vaults. All songs were originally untitled, so weAEve used the titles from Fox StudioAEs 8mm film loops. This compilation also includes three bonus tracks found in the archives of fellow Megatone Records recording artist Paul Parker and the attic of teenage friend Lily Bartels. Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos, and Giorgio Moroder, Patrick crafted a singular sound from his collection of synthesizers, percussion, modified guitars, and hand-built equipment. The listener enters a world of forbidden vices, evocative of PatrickAEs time spent in the bathhouses of San Francisco. The songs on oAfternoonerso reflect the advances of the equipment available at the onset of the 1980s. Cowley's unadulterated electronic forms are stripped down and dubbed up. Lush electronic percussion, soaring synthesizer riffs and low slung funk grooves comingle on these magnificent soundscapes.