We all love them and that damnable UNIMOG of a music machine, but how did all that begin? I caught up with PK of Space Cowboys for the story.

(RSL)When and how’d Space Cowboys come into being? What was the initial vision and how has it changed and grown over the years?

(PK)The Space Cowboys started wrangling the cosmos around 1997. I don’t remember exactly. It was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away.

The Space Cowboys were one of the first large-scale sound camps at Burning Man. It started of as a group of friends who wanted to go to the desert, build and run essentially a free night-club in the true wild west. Initially the Cowboys had a large camp on one of the “corners” of Black Rock City, and ran a sound system and barter bar everynight. Big changes happened in 2000 when after meeting the fine lads of SpaceLounge, the crew’s focus shifted. As the two camps merged SpaceLounge continued to build the physical public camp that rocked every night and the Cowboys began work on a novel & radical idea at the time: a mobile sound-system. In 2001 the UNIMOG debutted on the playa, and well the playa has never really been the same since.

Ever since it’s founding the Space Cowboys have focused their on playa efforts into one evening, the Black Rock Hoedown, one of the finest events BRC has ever seen (we are a bit biased). Held every year on the Friday before the burn, with the advent of the UNIMOG the location has changed each year to a different amazing artwork on the open playa.

(RSL)Do you have sound camp veterans in your camp and what camps did they come from?

The old-timers amongst us are either original Cowboys or SpaceLoungers.

(RSL)What music stylins’ should people expect to hear from your boom bass?

(PK)Peeps should expect nothing but the finest in Breaks & House from the Cowboys. Our roster of residents is as deep as it is talented, and the individual leanings of our selectors vary. While we definitely have a funky sound, don’t be surprised to hear funk, electro and even the occasional drum & bass set coming out of the Mog.

(RSL)What is the Space Cowboys signature? What do you feel you do best?

(PK)Shaking your business! True story: At a Mog sound check by our old warehouse, an old man, the proprietor of a nearby shop, came running up and said “You! What you doing? Stop! You shakin’ my business!”

That’s frickin’ hilarious! So, with all the other big sound camps & sound art cars at Burning Man, what makes yours unique and a not-to-miss place to be?

(PK)Oh, you’ll have to come and find out. We wouldn’t be around so long if we hadn’t figured out the secret recipe!

(RSL)This year’s burn theme is Rites of Passage. For many old school electronica fans, the rave was a musical rite of passage for them. Do you remember your first rave and can you tell us about it?

(PK)Rave? I’m originally from New York City. I was going to clubs as a kid. I was Old School in High School!
[And on a side note] A True playa story: I was sitting in an RV with a friend’s ex and he asked me how I got started in this whole crazy thing, and I told him that I used to go to this club in NYC called MARS on Friday nights and we would dance all night in the basement. The crowd was amazing and diverse, there were drag queens, models, artists and big black gay men blowing whistles while the house music would keep everyone together in this amazing moment… I asked him how he got his start as a dj, and he said he started substitute djing for a buddy and eventually took his gig. When I asked where, he said Friday nights at MARS. His name was Moby.

(RSL)What a great playa story. When you think back to those days, who do you remember being the first significant DJ or what track made you fall for electronica? What about it affected you?

(PK)Jungle Brothers. I’ll House You. it made me realize that “electronica” is a ridiculous concept, the boundaries people draw are silly. Was that Hip-Hop or was it House? Who cares? Good music is good music. And to quote an ILS track: “Everybody loves good music.” [Here's a 2011 video clip with Afrika Baby Jam who discusses the group's history among other hip-hop topics on air with Breakbeats & Rhymes Radio.]

(RSL)Who are a few of your camp’s resident DJs our fellow burners shouldn’t miss and why?

(PK)Oh. I’m not going to play favorites. You crazy? Our crew is amazing. With talent like Shissla, Mancub, ShOOey, rrrus, 8ball, Kapt’n Kirk, Brad Robinson, Tamo, Deckard, Zach Moore and others how do you?

(RSL)Is there anything else you’d like BRC citizens to know about Space Cowboys this year?

(PK)Sure we’re going to do a little day thing at our ranch on Wednesday in the BRC Historical District, 4:45 & Esplanade, and of course out there somewhere on the open playa Friday night for the Black Rock Hoe Down. Come find us. [Note: RSL knows where they'll be Friday!]

RSL SUGGESTION #1 – MUSIC FOR THE ROADTRIP HOME
Go to www.spacecowboys.org, www.soundcloud.com/spacecowboys or check the Space Cowboys’ RIPEcast (their weekly podcast) available on Podomatic or iTunes and load up on sweet Cowboy sets.

Robert Moog. In 1965 he spearheaded a radical paradigm shift in music and its creation by inventing the Moog music synthesizer. Others had created computer based syths, but Moog was the first to create a modular keyboard instrument that allowed the musician to adjust timbre, pitch, intensity and fade, and it cost $11,000, a tenth of the price of RCA’s binary code run synthesizer. Then, in 1971, he invented the Minimoog, a portable synthesizer one easily could take on the stage and the road. Here is BBC video footage of the Moog’s 1965 world premiere.

Giorigio Moroder & Donna Summer. Leap forward six years to 1977. Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer craft a hit dance single almost entirely created on Moog synthesizers and what was to become known as the first completely electronic song: “I Feel Love.” Brian Eno is known for infamously bursting into David Bowie’s recording session for his Berlin Trilogy with Summer’s song.

Bowie says, “One day in Berlin … Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’ … he puts on ‘I Feel Love’, by Donna Summer … He said, ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.’ (From Bowie’s Sound and Vision CD liner notes.)

But why bore you with my writing about the significance of the Moroder/Summer collaboration. Here, Alison Goldfrapp narrates an amazing BBC Radio 2 documentary of the birth and significance of this song – Well worth a download and listen.

And if you wish to fully immerse yourself in electronic dance music history, download BBC’s four part series, The Great Bleep Forward: Presented by Andrew Collins. In 2004 along with BBC 6 Music, Collins explores the development of electronic music. Though the video isn’t anywhere online, the audio for the entire four part series is available for free from the Internet Archive. Why not download and listen to these truly intriguing intriguing and fun electronica history lessons on your way Home?

Then, perhaps you’ll find new appreciation for the epic pilgrimage the genre has made while your sparkly booty shakes to those incredible beats out on the playa. Oh, and, if you happen to be hitting decks out there, I’d sure looooove to be surprised by creative samples of Donna Summer’s monumental track.

So, now that I’m back from Brazil, I just have to delve deeper into a few topics. The first is electric tango. Yes, it’s been around for a while, but with Brazil wooing me and promise of Spring and Summer flirting with me, I couldn’t help it, I fell in love. So, I have most dutifully labored my tympanum to bring you a quite subjective short list of yummy electric tango. Yes, that’s a genre, a RSL genre. I’m a fan of yummy music. Call me too happy to use such descriptors as “filthy” or “dirty.”

Tell me what you think of my recommendations and if you’ve got some additional taste tunes to share.

Otros Aires, Tricota, 2010. (iTunes) With his third album, Otros Aires walks the seductive tightrope between modern and traditional avant-garde tango.

Tanghetto, Emigrante, 2010. (iTunes) A masterful melding of tango’s passion with electronica.

Federico Aubele, Berlin 13, 2011. (iTunes) Mix ambient with a strong tango beat and Spanish guitar and you’ve got a delicious feast for your ears.

Pink Martini, Hang On Little Tomato, 2004. (iTunes) (and their other albums are nothing to smirk at either). A little plug here for my hometown peeps, not exactly tango, but they’ve got a sweet twist to the world beat mix going on: sexy, sweet, playful and sophisticated. Yes, you may have heard them, but when was the last time you took them for an auditory spin? I’ve been lucky enough to see them many times in concert. They are a great live performance and work hard to entertain their audiences.

Oh, and since I’m mentioning sexy, smart tune makers, consider the original bossa nova meets new wave remixes of Nouvelle Vague with their quirky, 2004 self-titled work (iTunes) (or one of their other 14 albums.)

Now off to Pandora, Grooveshark, lastfm or your other favorite music genome site and sensually feast on the tango groove during a sumptuous supper for two. It’s Friday after all.

I found a new music love. You might think it’s samba, which is amazing, but I have fallen in love with electric tango. Argentinian in origin, this down tempo sensual sound is the perfect background for a long drive or dinner party. I highly recommend you stop for a moment right now, go to Pandora and create a new station with these two artists: Gotan Project and Bajofondo. You won’t regret it. On the subject of Pandora, Pandora is blocked from non-US countries because of a lack of viable licensing structure for Internet radio. However, Brazil does have access to Grooveshark. Hmm. I am confused here. Are they not similar? Can someone explain why Pandora is blocked (self-imposed) and Grooveshark is not?

After my ride home I actually sleep, yes, finally, in Brazil. I awake to tour the San Paulo city streets and then return home to Mari who has our evening planned out. First, dinner then to Hotel Unique and its Skye Lounge for their signature Skye Watermelon martini. (Look for me to serve this refreshing concoction on playa this year!) We leave the hotel at just the right time to arrive at D Edge night club for Rock Night. The dance floor is amazing, surrounded in strobing bar lights of multitudinal colors. I am happy to rock out to punk indie until the wee hours of the morning. I momentarily regret this decision when I awake at 5:45am to catch the Metro to Tiete station for my long bus ride to Angra dos Reis so I may catamaran to Ilha Grande for 3 days of island hikes and sun. Yes, the regret is only momentary. Now, if you haven’t gone over to Pandora yet, do so now. Seriously.