Release Insight: DJ City - Cosmicomics EP

As always with our releases, we thought it would be a nice bonus feature to compile some background information. So, here’s DJ City giving us some insights into the inspirations that shaped Cosmicomics EP.

A picture of DJ City in Volksbühne, Berlin.

What is the idea behind the artwork?

Not long after having finished the final drafts for the EP I found myself in Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. It was a rather cold November afternoon and I remember the relief of stepping inside the somewhat warmer climate controlled museum. During this time, it was a little bit like I was always walking around with Italo Calvino, the author of the book Cosmicomics. He had guided the musical direction of the EP and I like to think that he also brought me to the castle-like museum that day. I had discussed art work with the label recently and was looking for inspiration, and at Brera I found it in the collection of early Italian renaissance. Paintings that when they were made were truly groundbreaking in how they represented nature, culture and religion. These paintings and how they related to time and space both as images and objects felt like a bridge that went from Calvino, back in time, and then traveled to me in the future. Since I felt I wanted to collaborate with a living artist however, I started looking for someone whose work had the same qualities and I found them in Jens Fänge’s art. I’ve known him and his work for some time and when I asked if he’d be interested he immediately said yes. We started looking through his work and finally landed on the Inn from 2020. A painting showing a woman in a window of a building that a man is entering. It’s enigmatic, breaks up into several dimensions and plays with an aesthetic reminiscent of Italian renaissance. I felt immediately that it was a window into the universe I went looking for Calvino in. A window that would also guide a curious listener who wanted to let their mind wander along with the music.

Pinacoteca di Brera on that day in November

What main musical influences shaped the sound of the Cosmicomics EP? How do the lyrics connect with the cosmic or metaphysical themes hinted at in the title?

Recurring themes of science fiction in italo disco have always fascinated me. Mixed with references to pop-culture and comics it paints an airbrushed landscape in which one can lose oneself for a moment. I wanted to bring this joyful and sexy day dreaming together with the short stories I was exploring in my music, so this is why it sounds the way it does. Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Maurizio Sangineto and others inspired the soundscapes and made me feel confident that there is no such thing as “too dramatic”. Big emotions belong in bombastic music.

Lyrically, the texts are meditations on the short stories from the book Cosmicomics. I’ve pulled out what I feel are keywords, feelings and images that correspond with the original stories in an attempt to bring them alive and repurpose them for a musical experience; on a dance floor as well as laying in bed. Call it cherry picking, remixing or paraphrasing, it’s a method I often use for writing lyrics. I would like to think it mimics the great tradition of sampling in electronic music, when you, conscious of your history, bring in elements from the past to create something new. A creative process that leans equally on modernist visual art practices and the art of dj:ing.

Lungomare Italo Calvino in San Remo where DJ City spent this past summer.

How did Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics stories influence the thematic choices for this EP? Are there any direct references or parallels to specific stories from Calvino's Cosmicomics within the music?

I came across the book Cosmicomics as a teenager and was blown away with the ease with which Calvino navigated concepts of truth and facts. It has been a guiding light for me since, especially during the years spent in academia. He has a playful attitude towards thought production that is similar to what I have encountered in rave- and night culture and the interactions we find ourselves involved in there. Contemporary authors like McKenzie Wark and João Florêncio show this in their work for example.

Thematically, there are specific short stories I draw from in the three tracks on the record, however, I would prefer not to disclose exactly which ones. The references are not literal but rather figurative and I have this fantasy of a curious listener going from the record to the book searching for connections and overlaps. This is how I often interact with music, googling titles and listening for references. Sometimes you find something, sometimes you construct connections of your own making, but it’s an interactive way of listening that allows for music and its content to enter into your life. I would love for one of the listeners of this record to have an experience like this with the record.

A cutie reading "Raving" by McKenzie Wark.