Hard Ware marks the final instalment in a posthumous trilogy devoted to the musical legacy of Patrick Cowley. The San Francisco-based artist, who died in 1982 from AIDS-related complications, is widely regarded as one of the architects of what would later evolve into disco, Hi-NRG and house. Following Male Box (2022) and From Behind (2024), this album arrives to mark what would have been Cowley’s 75th birthday — collecting ten previously unreleased tracks that present his sound in its purest form.
The appeal of Hard Ware lies not only in the fact that these recordings are finally being heard decades later, but also in the energy they release. Between synth-pop inflections, bursts of funk and Cowley’s own vocals, a sonic landscape unfolds that feels both raw and sensual. The production remains deliberately unpolished, giving rise to an electronic sound that breathes, sweats and lives. Synthesisers shimmer, basslines pulse, and everything vibrates between desire, irony and a melancholy sheen.
Hard Ware is more than an archival discovery — it is an echo of a time when disco, queer culture and futuristic technology spoke a shared language. With this release, Dark Entries have managed not to memorialise Cowley, but to make him dance once again.
Hard Ware
