Kosmic (KFMF)

A major PC music group of the 1990s, founded by maelcum and one other person in the fall of 1992 as the "Kosmic Loader Foundation" (KLF), a VGA-loader/ANSI group in the ACiD mould that became a music group with the release of ModEdit 1.0; Inspekdah Deck (Venom) joined around the start of 1993 and, with Lurch and Maelcum, made up the line-up until late spring 1994 (source: s-tw009-interview-maelcum). Members applied through BBS adverts — phoenix joined in April 1994 via The Sound Barrier BBS (source: s-tw001-interview-phoenix).

Facts#

• traxweekly carried a "KFMF/Kosmic Column" from issue #1 (TOC), written by Maelcum in the early issues; leviathan signed "Renaissance/Kosmic" and Vivid wrote from vivid@kosmic.org (sources: s-tw001-modal-and-chord-theory, s-tw059-tracking-hints, s-tw039-chord-theory-debate). Issue #81 advertised "the Kosmic Archive CD-ROM" (TOC).
• 1995: the musicdisk Half Baked; the demo Flight (Gooroo), 3rd at NAID 1995; the EGG musicdisk label; the FTZ CD Nothing Is True (Maelcum and IQ) on Area 51 Records at kosmic.wit.com (source: s-tw009-interview-maelcum) — Kosmic is non-profit except Area 51, its commercial division "in spirit"; every release carries a distribution disclaimer against shareware-CD exploitation (source: s-tw018-interview-basehead).
• Its complete releases were on kosmic.wit.com/kosmic/songs/ — "download everything if you can" (Popcorn, May 1995; source: s-tw011-how-to-enhance-your-music-collection). Light of Kosmic wrote the January 1996 attack on hornet's star ratings, "Ratings Aren't Everything" (source: s-tw044-hornet-ratings).
• March 1995: necros and Mellow-D left to form the five-musicians; basehead stayed (source: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians). Phoenix predicted "restructuring" because "KFMF is so big people are questioning its size and variety" (source: s-tw001-interview-phoenix).

Members and reputation in the interviews (1995–98)#

• Recruits and how they came in. thehacker (Krisjanis Gale, 18) joined the KLF in 1993–94 after finding its music on The Sound Barrier BBS and mailing Maelcum UUENCODEd songs; Popcorn counted "11 new releases from Kosmic" by him in April 1995; his Kosmic filenames (1MIG_KLF, MIND)KLF, ALRM_KLF — a 1994 chiptune —, K-POLAR, CITY#KLF) and tracks on the HalfBaked pack; AndrewM of KFMF was an ambient influence (source: s-tw005-interview-thehacker). nemesis (Andrew Wise, 16) was renaissance / Kosmic / iCE in March 1995 and planned to release Maelstrom through Kosmic "as soon as I can get a hold of Maelcum" (source: s-tw004-interview-nemesis). khyron joined the KLF in late 1994 "when there was only like 13 members and everyone knew each other" (source: s-tw111-interview-khyron). Members in July 1995 also included lord-pegasus (Zack Smith, Georgia; also ACiD/pHluid) and quarex (Drew Hunt) (sources: s-tw018-interview-lord-pegasus, s-tw019-interview-quarex). balrog (Samuel Cote, Quebec) believed he was the first Canadian member; other Canadians in January 1996 were Krystall, Gooroo and Barrye; D-Lusion gave every Kosmic member a copy of X-Tracker; Maelcum let him in and kept him through a year without releases; he left for ultrabeat by April 1996 (sources: s-tw042-interview-balrog, s-tw054-interview-injekted-and-subhuman). mental-floss (Andrew McCallum, Toronto) was a member "since about 1994", with a web page at http://www.kosmic.org/mentalfloss, naming Placid and Maelcum of Kosmic among his influences (source: s-tw119-interview-mental-floss). Popcorn suggested amusic join because Kosmic had nobody from Greece (source: s-tw017-interview-amusic).
• Distribution, July 1995. Kosmic had lost its FTP site — "our whole distribution relies on the ftp site now", "bbses suck now"; the host had switched server software mid-way; defiance had two sites at the time (source: s-tw019-interview-quarex).
• Ambition. Maelcum: "I'd like to make kosmic as big as microsoft, but for free"; Lord Pegasus: "KOSMIC WERLD DOMINATION" (sources: s-tw019-interview-quarex, s-tw018-interview-lord-pegasus).
• Reputation. claim greets Kosmic first among groups in June 1995 (source: s-tw015-interview-claim). Maral of KFMF (Spirit Realms) was the first scene music master-of-darkness heard and, with Maelcum, his example of techno "that really stands out" (source: s-tw027-faces-in-the-crowd-master-of-darkness); Master of Darkness later called Kosmic the only precedent for dance music in a demo-music scene (source: s-tw043-interview-pariah). Seen from the techno side: "kosmic is an empire, wanting to appeal to everyone" (injekted) (source: s-tw054-interview-injekted-and-subhuman). Shawn lists KFMF with NAID and the Freedom CD as things done "without commercial intervention" (source: s-tw041-interview-shawnm). fisherman (May 1996): Kosmic and "the late Epinicion" had "a lot of respect from all the trackers in the scene" (source: s-tw060-interview-fisherman). Khyron (1997): "there's really no other group I'd be in" — though music groups had become "a little cheesy version of a record label" compared with demo groups; its members "don't show an ego about anything (except Maelcum ofcourse =)" (source: s-tw111-interview-khyron).

Contradictions recorded#

• Size in 1994. Khyron says the KLF had "only like 13 members" when he joined in late 1994 (source: s-tw111-interview-khyron); Maelcum gives a three-man line-up "until late spring 1994" and Phoenix joined in April 1994 (sources: s-tw009-interview-maelcum, s-tw001-interview-phoenix). Consistent with growth over 1994, not a contradiction.

To verify#

• (unverified) Ran until about 2000 and released its whole archive free.

Related#

maelcum · phoenix · basehead · leviathan · five-musicians · traxweekly · hornet · thehacker · nemesis · khyron · lord-pegasus · quarex · balrog · mental-floss · ultrabeat · renaissance

Sources#

s-tw009-interview-maelcum · s-tw001-interview-phoenix · s-tw003-interview-five-musicians · s-tw018-interview-basehead · s-tw001-modal-and-chord-theory · s-tw059-tracking-hints · s-tw039-chord-theory-debate · s-tw011-how-to-enhance-your-music-collection · s-tw044-hornet-ratings · s-tw004-interview-nemesis · s-tw005-interview-thehacker · s-tw015-interview-claim · s-tw018-interview-lord-pegasus · s-tw019-interview-quarex · s-tw027-faces-in-the-crowd-master-of-darkness · s-tw017-interview-amusic · s-tw042-interview-balrog · s-tw054-interview-injekted-and-subhuman · s-tw043-interview-pariah · s-tw041-interview-shawnm · s-tw111-interview-khyron · s-tw119-interview-mental-floss · s-tw060-interview-fisherman