Can you introduce yourselves?
So, I'm Cosmo and I'm one half of Cosmos Midnight, and I'm Patrick. We’re twins. And together we are a duo from Sydney, Australia.
It’s hard to describe our music, but I'd say it's like electronic pop with influence from disco, R&B, funk and psychedelic. Yeah a bit of a blend of everything.
Where did your inspiration come from when you were young?
I feel like when we were young we sort of were really impressionable younger brothers. We actually have an older sibling and we would kind of listen to old music. He would find and listen to a lot of kind of like R&B and hip hop from like early 2000 was honestly like our main rotation was like 50 cent would be in it like really like gangster rap basically.
Yeah. But, um, and then as we kind of got older, we started finding our own style. But I feel like a huge inspiration actually coming from our parents that had a massive vinyl collection with like sixties and seventies singer songwriter stuff, like, you know, Beatles, Beach Boy, Wing Wings. Yeah. There's like a whole bunch of sort of stuff from that era.
And I feel like they, they forced us on to that, like they would play it all the time. And we were kind of sick of it when we were little. But as we got older, we started writing music. It started coming back in a big way and we'd find a lot of inspiration from it.
Does your inspiration still come from there or are there other inputs?
I think, um, yeah, we listen pretty widely nowadays, like sort of try to find inspiration from anywhere. I think recently, especially for this record that we’re working on right now, we’ve been listening to a lot of dance music like, Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, and especially the live versions of the Daft Punk shows, just to see how they translate it into a live performance from the album, which is really cool.
We’ve also been really excited by the turn of the millennium, like early 2000 house music and breaks and acid and all that, and sort of getting swept up in the culture of that time. Like, not just the music, but like the fashion and the clothing saying and sort of drawing inspiration from all that.
Yeh, that reminds me of Soulwax, like that DJ set cross over sort of idea.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Like we we do a bit of DJing, not a lot, but we DJ occasionally and we find it's really a fun way to sort of showcase, you know, what we're into or inspired by.
How would you describe Australian music to someone that hasn’t heard it?
I think it depends on what like level or I guess kind of perceived sphere of music that you're in for Australia music.
I mean there's like the pop world which can be seen as somewhat indiscernible from pop around the world then. Yeah, I like the kind of crossover pop where people are trying to bring their own flavor to something but still make it viable.
And then there's like the underground scene, which is like completely all over the place and really diverse.
I feel like the underground scene, especially in Australia, is like very international and like inspired by so many emerging genres and stuff like that. I mean, there’s a scene for almost everything, like there’s a hyperpop scene, this big hardcore scene big, like pub rock, surf rock, and donk scenes.
Yeah. It's like there's a bit of everything here. But I feel like Australian music is honestly, it's a bit of a melting pot to be honest, because I feel like people, it's an isolated country as you know. So folk will look outwards a lot to draw inspiration from other countries. But I feel like in a way everyone is sort of imprinting their own experiences in Australia onto these genres anyway.
Do you think you can hear an Australian signature sound?
And I'd say like the Australian signature sound generally it's music that isn't trying necessarily to be catchy, but it has elements that make it, you know, unignorable or like I don't know. It's just like when you listen to music that's kind of come from Australia and managed to make it like a worldwide appeal, like Tame Impala or Flume or even like Spacey Jane and stuff.
Like they I feel like they all come from like a sincere point of just trying to make music that's honest to them, and then it happens to take off. And I think that that's the thing that is uniquely Australian is trying to just make interesting music and then it becomes, yeah, Australia is pretty removed from the like, you know, the Americanized like pop machine. Like we don't really have an equivalent here. So I feel like everyone is sort of just doing their own thing and you know, sometimes it resonates with people in a certain way. So I guess it's kind of about this authenticity to it.
What do mixtapes mean to you?
Yeah, I feel like back in the day it would just be like a random collection of songs I was enjoying to and stealing from the radio.
Yeah, yeah. But nowadays I feel like it's more like, how can you frame songs together to create a bigger picture? So it's like creating meaning from like a montage or a collection of songs. So I feel like you go for more of like an undercurrent in what you're putting in the mix tape, whether it's like all of a similar genre or the lyrical content or the like.
yeah, so I guess there are certain mixtapes that we gravitate towards because they curate a certain feeling that you kind of want to look what they like to happen to at any moment.
Like there's a couple, there's like a few Melbourne Deepcast mixes that we listen to that just have this sort of like Y2K beach rave feel kind of like like like jubilant house music. Like sinister and speedy, you know, like, like I feel like music these days is like in, especially in the dance world. It's like very aggressive and stoic.
And I like music that's a bit more mellow, melodic and celebratory. Yeah, the techno scene is like really taking over with. It's like, it's it's cool. It feels very like Berlin. Like black and dark and hectic. Whereas I we've always been drawn to more like vibrant and upbeat stuff.
It makes, you know, it makes the endorphins go that yeah there's like a lot of power the mixtape you can, you know it's like any of the medium like it's like editing like a movie, like, you know, the it's hard to explain, but it's sort of like how you juxtapose things changes, you know, the overall impression of the music combined in any different way that I feel like is ‘
yeah, I feel like definitely there's always like a place for the human element because that's what people are drawn to out of convenience.
Do you think mixtapes by people can hold up in the face of the impending algorithm takeover?
Yeh, I think you can't really connect with an algorithm. I mean, on a sort of emotional level. So I feel like, you know, sometimes there's some happy coincidences with the algorithm and I and Spotify radio you like find new material and stuff but I feel like getting a curated playlist or mixtape from someone who's really considered everything and it kind of just fits in on a deeper level.
What music do you have in your All Australian Mixtape?
Australian music is so diverse, so we’re trying to sort of decide whether to hone in on a specific genre or vibe and or to sort of just showcase a whole variety of, you know, cool stuff coming out of this country. But yeah, we'll, see how we go. There’s a lot of good dance music coming out of Australia.