how to keep your dance-band happy.

the cosmopolitans: wild moose party.

do you ever want to drop acid and travel in your mind back to a better time, probably before you were even born, when musicians weren’t ashamed to let loose and make cool-looking fools out of themselves? if so, then perhaps you should break out your best flip-wig and give the cosmopolitan’s wild moose party a spin.

the album doesn’t contain any new music, but it might sound new to you if you weren’t hip enough to swing with the new nyc new-wave crowd back in 1980. so who the hell are the cosmopolitans? just two downright groovy chicks jamie k. sims and nel moore whose north carolina based experimental dance troop turned into an awesome party band, in which the girls sang, played keyboards and harmonica, hand clapped, baton twirled, and danced their asses off, in front of a slew of different drummers.

the girl’s sound has an obvious b52’s wild side, but is backed with a cutesy tongue in cheek feminist attitude (think thee headcoatees and/or the slits). the compilation is genuinely old school, collecting studio sessions as well as live performances, including their best known single, (how to keep your) husband happy, (inspired by the notorious debbie drake fitness album with the same name), and my personal favorite, chevy baby, a weirdly voiced tale of a new york post-ly “true” story of a couple who trades in their baby for a chevy. hey, sounds like a good deal to me.

since it's not really 1980, you can check them out on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thecosmopolitans