Cosmonauts: Biography, Discography and More | EDM Encyclopedia

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Introduction

Cosmonauts is an electronic music artist from the United States. Active since 2010, the project has built a catalog spanning five studio albums and two extended plays. The confirmed releases stretch from that initial year through 2019, covering nearly a full decade of recorded output distributed across the period.

The recording career began with a self-titled debut, establishing Cosmonauts’ presence in the electronic music landscape. Over the subsequent years, the project maintained a productive pace, issuing material at intervals that kept the discography growing. This pattern of regular output continued throughout the decade, with new material arriving as recently as the final year of the 2010s, demonstrating sustained creative activity over an extended period.

The body of work is characterized by its focus on studio recordings. The confirmed catalog contains no live albums, compilation tracks, DJ mixes, or unofficial releases. This emphasis on official, studio-produced material points to an artist whose primary mode of expression is the carefully constructed recording rather than live performance documentation or club-oriented mixes.

The release schedule reveals distinct periods of activity and quiet. The years 2010 through 2013 were particularly productive, with six of the seven confirmed releases arriving during this four-year window. The remaining two albums appeared later, separated by multi-year gaps. This shift suggests a change in pacing as the project evolved, moving from frequent releases in its early stages to more measured output as the discography grew.

Genre and Style

Cosmonauts operates within the electronic music genre, creating work that relies on synthesized instrumentation and electronic production methods. The approach is rooted in studio-based composition, where sound design and production techniques serve as primary creative tools rather than traditional instrumentation, live band configurations, or acoustic recording methods.

The EDM Sound

The preference for the album format is notable within electronic music, where singles, remixes, and EPs often dominate release schedules. By committing to full-length records for the majority of the catalog, Cosmonauts demonstrates an investment in longer-form musical statements. Each album provides space to develop ideas across multiple tracks, allowing for more expansive exploration of sound than what shorter releases accommodate.

Within the American electronic music landscape, the project’s work serves as a document of a specific era. The releases bookend the decade, with material appearing from the first year through the last. This timeline places the artist within a particular period of electronic music production in the United States, reflecting the production tools, software, and sonic approaches available during those years.

The inclusion of two EPs alongside five full-lengths suggests a willingness to work across different release formats while maintaining a primary focus on albums. These shorter releases appeared exclusively in the earlier portion of the discography, bookending the second album and potentially serving as companion pieces to the full-lengths that surrounded them during the project’s most productive stretch.

The progression from early work to later releases points to an evolving approach. The shift from more frequent releases in the project’s formative years to less frequent but continuing output in later years suggests an artist taking additional time between records as the catalog expanded and the sound developed further.

Key Releases

Studio Albums:

  • Cosmonauts
  • If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die
  • Persona Non Grata
  • A-OK
  • Star 69

Discography Highlights

Cosmonauts (2010): The self-titled debut introduced the project to listeners and established the foundation for the catalog that would follow. As the starting point, this record set the template for the artist’s electronic EDM sound and release approach.

If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die (2012): The second full-length arrived two years after the debut, marking the first of two releases to appear during this year. The title signals a directness and intensity that distinguished the record within the discography.

Persona Non Grata (2013): Released the year after its predecessor, the third album continued the project’s early momentum with a quick turnaround. This record completed an intensive run of six releases across four years, closing out the most prolific phase of the artist’s output.

A-OK (2016): After a three-year gap the previous album, this fourth release marked a return with new material after the longest silence in the project’s history. The extended break between ram records represented a clear shift in the artist’s release pattern.

Star 69 (2019): The most recent confirmed album arrived three years after its predecessor, closing out the decade of releases. This record stands as the latest entry in the catalog, leaving the project one‘s next move unspecified.

Extended Plays:

New Psychic Denim (2011): Released between the debut and second albums, this EP provided additional material during the project’s first full year of activity. It served as a bridge between the two earliest full-length records.

Lazerbeam (2012): Arriving in the same year as the second studio album, this EP functioned as a companion release during a particularly productive period. The year 2012 stands as the only calendar year in the discography with two confirmed releases.

Famous Tracks

Operating out of the United States, Cosmonauts built their discography through a steady stream of full-length albums and EPs across a decade. Their self-titled debut album, Cosmonauts, arrived in 2010, establishing the project’s sonic template. The year saw the release of the New Psychic Denim EP in 2011, offering a condensed complement to the debut.

2012 proved productive: the LP If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die dropped alongside the Lazerbeam EP, giving listeners two distinct formats of the artist’s output within a single year. The band returned in 2013 with Persona Non Grata, their third full-length in four years.

After a three-year gap between albums, A-OK was released in 2016. The most recent confirmed full-length, Star 69, came out in 2019, closing out the decade with seven total releases across album and EP formats.

Live Performances

Cosmonauts took their recorded work on the road throughout the 2010s, performing across venues in the United States. The timeline of their album releases from 2010 through 2019 aligns with active touring cycles, particularly around the arrival of each full-length record.

Notable Shows

Shows surrounding the If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die and Persona Non Grata era benefitted from the proximity of those two releases, likely giving setlists a density of newer material alongside cuts from the debut. By the time A-OK and Star 69 were released, the catalog had expanded enough to draw from six distinct releases spanning a decade of work.

The dual EP releases, New Psychic Denim and Lazerbeam, provided shorter-form material that could slot into live sets alongside the longer album EDM tracks, giving the band flexibility in pacing and setlist construction across different venue sizes and tour contexts.

Why They Matter

Cosmonauts represent a specific thread of United States-based electronic music output across the 2010s. Their seven confirmed releases trace a clear arc: two EPs interspersed among five full-length albums over a nine-year span. That consistency of output, averaging roughly one release per year, marks them as a productive unit within their scene.

Impact on EDM

The numbering of their albums tells a straightforward story. From the self-titled 2010 introduction through Star 69 in 2019, each release added to a growing body of work without lengthy hiatuses. The three-year gap between Persona Non Grata and A-OK stands as the longest break between albums, while 2012’s dual output of an LP and EP demonstrates capacity for accelerated release schedules when the material was ready.

Their choice to work across both album and EP formats reflects a practical approach to releasing music. Full-length records like If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die and A-OK could serve as major statements, while the New Psychic Denim and Lazerbeam EPs allowed for shorter, potentially more experimental releases between those larger projects.

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