The 1981 Listening Post - Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat

 Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat

#537

November 14 1981

Chris & Cosey

Heartbeat

Genre: Electronic

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Put Yourself in Los Angeles

Morby

The first record I have to listen to after coming home from a Spring Break vacation is an aggressive electronic joint by ex-Throbbing Gristle members.

And it sounds like a missing Jean-Michel Jarre demo record but one he would make when he was really mad at his dad for not letting him help score The Sand Pebbles. 

It gets a little weirdly dance-y (“Bus Stop”) but for the most part it’s really just experimenting in making music with the emerging technology of the times.
There’s a hefty amount of ambience on this one but it’s all informed by gleeps and glitches that make JMJ fun for me. I will be adding some of these cuts to my electronic playlist. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/heartbeat/139188051

The 1984 Listening Post - Chris & Cosey - Songs of Love & Lust

Chris & Cosey - Songs of Love & Lust

#135

1984 Housekeeping

Chris & Cosey

Songs of Love & Lust

2.25 out of 5

Put a disaffected female in front of Kraftwerk and that’s pretty much what we’ve got here. I expect more from ex member of Throbbing Gristle. A lot of my issues with this type of programmed techno-wave is that I end up comparing it to the brilliance of War Pierogi and Thumbalina Guglielmo’s Xex. Their minimalist first album set the underground tone for much of what was to come. Part of that was because of their deadpan approach to intentional hilarity. So, strip away the ironic detachment and add a lot more German synth programming and that’s what we are left with. jean Michel Jarre should be paid royalties for “Walking Through Heaven” which so heavily steals from his work. 

So much of this album can be categorized as “why?”. It’s purposeless. Not ugly enough to be challenging. Not interesting enough to be compelling. I’ve spent too many words on it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/songs-of-love-and-lust/139196850