Two years ago, Finders Keepers veteran truffle sniffers Andy Votel and Doug Scharin released »Cosmix«, a beautiful compilation of songs by the Belgian band COS. A record that has slowly but surely wormed its way into my heart. Not just because of the fantastic single »Meine Maschine ist schön«. Before 1974, COS were still known as Classroom, and their core consisted of the musician Daniel Schellekens and the incisive vocalist Pascale Sons. The five tracks on »Classroom« were all recorded in 1973 and 1974 and have never before been released on vinyl. Musically, they present a supremely appealing mix of highly artificial jazz, progressive rock, cinematic easy listening, psychedelic, rare grooves, chanson-esque material and beats. In some way pleasing and in some way not. The secret of this record is that this strange mixture blooms like the flowers on a gardenia. The solitary leaf is nothing, but something beautiful emerges in the arrangement. COS was meant to become a kind of classroom for Belgian musicians like Alain Pierre, Marc Hollander (of Aksak Maboul) or Marc Moulin (of Placebo), who all apprenticed here. The time spent in training was well worth the effort therefore.
Classroom
