DARK SIDE OF THE COP

Dark Side of the Cop is the electronic - and largely experimental - project of Marco Panella. His self-titled debut album is premised on a couple of unquestionably unique and eccentric conceits. For starters, he set out to execute a modern-day re-imagining of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack (thereby answering the prayers of the millions of us who could never get enough of Glenn Frey's "The Heat is On" and the Pointer Sisters' "Neutron Dance"). Of course, this was never meant to be a literal, track-by-track remake, but rather an effort to wed the Detroit-cop-fish-out-of-water-revenge-comedy-in-Beverly Hills plotline with moody, anti-"Axel F Theme" electronic textures and slight hints of '70s-era, California-styled songwriting. Talk about a concept album....

But that apparently wasn't enough for Mr. Panella. He was also intrigued by the infamous/ambiguous Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz synchronization concept. So this, too - in some way - is meant to pervade the spirit of the music and mood. Ultimately, of course, it is up to the listener to see where, when, and how well these somewhat intellectual conceits work with the music itself. The songs below should provide you with at least some small starting point in that endeavor.

You can visit Dark Side of the Cop's MySpace page and download one of the other best tracks on the album, "Love Me From Above."

You can purchase the album itself at Auger Down Records.

[MP3] "Shaky Little Rules"

[MP3] "Childhood"