Blend the B-52’s with the Fleshtones and multiply the resulting lunacy by a factor of ten and you’ll come up with something close to the Cosmopolitans, a short-lived, little-remembered combo which flashed through the New York City club scene at the dawn of the ’80s. Formed at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill by a couple of fun-loving gals, Jamie K. Sims and Nel Moore, the Cosmopolitans followed their Athens soulmates north to the Big Apple to take their shot at the big time.
Performing with a revolving cast of backing musicians (including Mitch Easter, Will Rigby, Chris Stamey, Faye Hunter and Marshall Crenshaw’s brother Robert; the band’s primary drummer was future WFMU DJ Evan “Funk” Davies), Sims and Moore managed to produce only one single during their brief career, but it was a doozy: a hyper cover of a ’50s housewife instructional record called “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy” b/w “Wild Moose Party” (named after Sims’ gargantuan house cat, a truly massive beast judging from his photo). One of the most unhinged party singles of the new wave era, it remained the evidence of the group’s existence until the long-belated Wild Moose Party, which augments the single with demos and live performances. It’s all amazing stuff, frantic out-of-control party music that makes bands like the Lyres seem staid. The enhanced disc also contains the gloriously primitive lo-fi video for “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy.” This combo lived fast, died young and left a great-sounding corpse.