Cobol Pongide: Avant-pop fusing science fiction and political action, retro-futuristic soundscapes to resist space capitalism.
Kosmodrom, the fourth full-length album by Rome-based avant-synth-pop/post-punk outfit Cobol Pongide, released on Friday, October 3, 2025, preceded by the single Lada-Vaz! (1964), the album will be available digitally, on CD and cassette via independent Italian label Dischi Durevoli Records, with distribution by Goodfellas.
The title Kosmodrom
a transliteration of the Cyrillic Космодром – symbolises a humanity in perpetual training for life among the stars. From sarcopterygian fish to early tetrapods to Homo Sapiens, evolution is reimagined here as a long trajectory towards the cosmos, “per aspera ad astra”. In this visionary manifesto, science, Cosmist imagery, and retro-futurist electronics converge into a work that reflects on humanity’s destiny as a cosmic species, and on planet Earth as a “cosmonaut vessel” hurtling through deep space at 600 km per second.
Embracing what they define as “utopian cosmic-electric pop” – or more precisely, “Cosmutopian (avantpop)” – Cobol Pongide continue their sonic exploration using vintage consoles, 1980s toy keyboards, home computers like the Commodore 64, and arcane electronic machines combined with obsolete synths and rickety drum machines. All this serves to fuel songs sung in Italian, telling the story of a working-class cosmonaut epic, tracing humanity’s journey from its deep biological past to an extraterrestrial future.
But make no mistake: this is no ode to the neoliberal conquest of space. Cobol Pongide take a clear stand against predatory space capitalism, denouncing the interplanetary ambitions that have taken shape in the private corporate sector over the past two decades. It’s a critical, poetic, and political form of sci-fi sonics.
Musically, it’s hard not to think of DEVO or Alberto Camerini as guiding spirits behind the project. Yet Cobol Pongide’s vision is equally shaped by science fiction literature – from Philip K. Dick to Stanisław Lem – and by the entire tradition of Soviet space art and culture. This is reflected in the album’s cover art, depicting Cobol, the band’s frontman, inside a real kosmodrom in Rome’s eastern suburbs, floating in zero gravity while coaxing alien sounds from a Soviet Formanta guitar.
Cobol Pongide craft a brand of utopian cosmic-electric pop – or as they call it, “cosmutopian” – sung in Italian and shaped by the creative use of vintage consoles, early home computers like the Commodore 64, 1980s toy keyboards, and other electromechanical oddities. Since their 2009 debut, the band – originally formed by the human Cobol and the robotic vocalist Emiglino Cicala, and initially associated with the toy music scene – has gradually evolved towards a more structured form of avant-pop, incorporating classic electric instruments such as battered synthesisers and dysfunctional drum machines.
Their songs chronicle a cosmonautical and Cosmist epic, not to be confused with astronautics. As they put it: “The astronaut is a freelance entrepreneur of courage; the cosmonaut, a worker of interplanetary progress.” It’s a journey that begins with the first tetrapods and arrives at modern humanity, now poised to leave its earthly marshlands behind in search of celestial bodies. But they warn: this expansion into space must not be led by the same predatory capitalism that, over the past two decades, has begun to colonise the interplanetary imagination. Unsurprisingly, science fiction – and its most visionary strands – saturate the world of
Cobol Pongide
They have released three albums to date: Musica per anziani cosmonauti (2009), Vita da spaziale (2017), and Estremofilia cosmica e operaia (2021). Their fourth full-length album, Kosmodrom, is scheduled for release in October 2025 via Dischi Durevoli Records/Goodfellas. Five additional releases – including a soundtrack and a tribute album curated by Emiglino Cicala – are available on Bandcamp.
But Cobol Pongide is more than just a music project. Cobol has authored three critical essays on space exploitation, including Marte oltre Marte (DeriveApprodi, 2019), the first Italian book to explore the future of interplanetary labour. The group is also involved in UFOcycling, a form of counter-mapping by bicycle through urban environments, and in 2024 published Anticaja Canaglia, a collection of speculative fiction grounded in everyday life.
CREDITS
Instruments, music and lyrics | Cobol
Recording, mixing and mastering | Cobol
Artwork | Cobol
Photos | Maria Cassa
BC | cobolpongide.bandcamp.com
FB | facebook.com/CobolPongideBand
