SOU L SEARCH I NG Disco was too easy for Rinder and Lewis . Drummer Laurin Rinder and keyboardist W. Michael Lewis had individually earned their chops in the ’60s as professional session musicians, backing artists like Wilson Pickett and James Brown, and gigging in their own bands.After meeting at AVI Records in 1974— and with some coaxing by label boss Ray Harris—the newly formed duo found they had a knack for creating commercial, crossover disco. Embarrassed by some of what they created, they hid behind various monikers like El Coco and Le Pamplemousse but continued to pump out successful records at an alarming rate.They had an excess of money, girls, and drugs, but Rinder and Lewis were in search of something greater. So they chose to reveal their true identities on a string of records that would allow them to realize a more artistic vision of disco that played to their strengths.Their stripped-down drum-and- synthesizer tracks pioneered the cosmic dance aesthetic and cemented a legacy they could be proud of.
by John M. Gómez
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