【コラム】 Cosmic SoundとDaniele Baldelli ― 宇宙と速度の間で踊る

Column en Ambient Disco House Italo

27 Oct 2025

【コラム】 Cosmic SoundとDaniele Baldelli ― 宇宙と速度の間で踊る

1. Prologue: Where space disco was born

Text: mmr｜Theme: Tracing the unique sound philosophy created by a different-dimensional mix, speed manipulation, and the fusion of folk music and electronic sounds.

Late 1970s, on the shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy. Little did anyone know that this place, which was just a resort for tourists, would later become the center of an acoustic phenomenon called Cosmic Sound. The central figure is Daniele Baldelli. He is not just a DJ, but has become known as an ``architect who reconstructs the speed of sound and space.’’

The disco scene at the time was dominated by 4/4 rhythms, represented by American soul and house music. However, Baldelli interweaves ethnic music, electronic sounds, progressive rock, African drums, and even krautrock. We presented the concept of “cosmic tempo”, which allows you to freely change the BPM.

“I don’t believe in genres. I only believe in the flow of sound.” ― Daniele Baldelli

2. What is Cosmic Sound? - An indefinable acoustic experience

Cosmic Sound is often translated as “cosmic disco.” But that doesn’t just mean sci-fi sound design. Rather, it refers to DJ play that distorts time and gravity itself.

Characteristic elements

Tempo Fluidity: Plays a 45rpm record at 33rpm and further adjusts the pitch by more than ±8%. This makes the same track sound like a signal from an unknown planet.
Cultural Mixture: A mix of German krautrock (Can, Neu!), African music, electronic ambient, and Italian synth disco. It’s like an extraterrestrial jukebox.
Ritual: At Cosmic Club, lights and mirror balls are suppressed, and instead smoke and projectors dominate the space. Rather than dancing, the audience had an experience of being ``immersed’’ in the sound.

3. Baldelli’s playing philosophy - A revolution in consciousness toward “speed”

Daniele Baldelli’s real innovation was in treating speed (tempo) as a musical element. he speaks.

It's easy to mix music genres. However,cosmizing’’ them at one speed is a matter of sensibility, not technology.”

His mixes range from 110 BPM funk to 85 BPM Afro percussion to slowed-down synth ambient. Transfers smoothly.You can’t even feel the boundaries between songs. Throughout the night it feels like a spaceship is going down and out of orbit.

4. Sound material science - Relocation of sound sources in Cosmic

Baldelli was a pioneer of DJs who treated songs as “material.” There was a strong sense of ``composing’’ the recorded sounds again on the turntable.

Sources used	Specific examples
Kraftwerk	Kraftwerk, Can, Ash Ra Tempel
Italian electronic music	Claudio Gizzi, Tullio De Piscopo
Afro/ethnic sounds	Manu Dibango, Fela Kuti
Space theme	Space, Rockets, Cerrone
Soundtrack	Morricone, Carpenter, Goblin

This multicultural mix was the precursor to later Balearic Sound, Leftfield Disco, as well as Downtempo and Nu Disco.

5. Internal structure of Cosmic Club - Sound field as architecture

Location:

``Discoteca Cosmic’’ on the shores of Lake Garda, Northern Italy (1979–1984)

Features:

Low ceilings and unique echoes
Smoke + laser irradiation on the floor
Baldelli’s DJ booth is installed on a hill and has a structure that showers sound from above the audience.
A space dominated by “darkness” rather than light

At this club, drifting'' was more important thandancing.’’ Visitors are transported by the sound and lose their sense of time. Cosmic was ``meditation in the night’‘**.

6. Baldelli technology – the magic of analog

The equipment he uses has distinct features that set him apart from other disco DJs.

Technics SL-1200 (2 units) + Revox tape deck
Roland Space Echo RE-201
Eko Multitone EQ
Sample loop with Reel-to-Reel tape

Using these, he created a live performance “rhythmic breath”. Using tape repeat, the same sound is rearranged with a slight shift. It can be said that this was the prehistory of later sampler music.

7. Inheritance and variation – from Cosmic to Balearic

In the late 1980s, Ibiza’s DJ Alfredo and José Padilla inherited Baldelli’s Cosmic philosophy. This developed into a trend called ``Balearic Beat,’’ which later fundamentally changed UK club culture.

Genealogy	Representative people
Cosmic (Northern Italy)	Daniele Baldelli, Beppe Loda
Balearic (Ibiza)	DJ Alfredo, José Padilla
UK Chillout/Nu Disco	Andrew Weatherall, The Orb, Prins Thomas

This trend is not just a “music genre”; It was the international spread of the ``sensation of flowing sound over time**.

8. Timeline: Cosmic Sound and Baldelli’s trajectory

timeline title Chronology of Cosmic Sound and Daniele Baldelli (1977–2025) 1977 : Baldelli starts DJing (Baia degli Angeli) 1979 : Opening of Discoteca Cosmic (Lake Garda) 1980: Established Cosmic Sound style and started using Revox 1984 : Cosmic closed, became a legend 1990 : "Cosmic: The Original" mixtape reevaluated 2000 : Rediscovered by Nu-Disco generation 2013 : “Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock!” compilation released 2020 : Baldelli, 45th anniversary tour as DJ 2025: Cosmic Sound research established as a field of club culture history

9. Illustration: Cosmic Sound structural model

flowchart TD A["Afro/ethnic rhythm (body)"] --> C["Speed conversion (BPM operation)"] B["Electronic sound/krautrock (intelligence)"] --> C C --> D["Reconstruction of acoustic space (reverb/echo)"] D --> E["Cosmic Sound (fusion of body and intellect)"]

10. Conclusion: To dance at the speed of the universe

Cosmic Sound is the most undefinable area in disco history. There, genre, country, speed, and culture blend together, and a “philosophy of sound” emerges. Daniele Baldelli presented the philosophy as a “translation into space.”

Some of today’s DJs, especially artists who work with slower tempos and cross-cultural material (Harvey, Tornado Wallace, Young Marco, etc.), That DNA is certainly alive and well.