Damian Cowell’s Disco Machinecan be roughly compared to a hamburger bed. If you embrace the novelty you will absolutely love it. If not, you’ll be asking why the hell anyone would ever want to sleep beneath a giant slice of fabric cheese.
Former TISM drummer and vocalist Cowell leads a seven-piece that makes exactly the kind of music that comes to mind when you think of ‘disco’. The instrumentation never journeys too far into something you haven’t heard before, which is for the best as it lets you focus on the incisive and idiotic brilliance of Cowell’s lyrics (“The medium’s the message / And the message is shit” from ‘Groovy Toilet’ is one highlight).
He’s carved out a unique slice of satirical and dorky Australiana here, sampling vocals from the likes of Lee Lin Chin, Shaun Micallef and John Safran. It’s a gimmick for sure, but Cowell makes it work and his utter joy in creating the album is palpable throughout.
Disco Machine isn’t the kind of album you’ll be showing all your friends – unless they’re TISM fans, then they’ll love it – but Cowell has perfected the art of making exactly the kind of music he wants to make. It’s fun, self-aware and a complete piss-take.
3.5/5.
Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine is out now through Independent/Bandcamp.
