Country : Germany Label : Genres and styles : EBM / Synth-Punk Year : 2023

Cosey Mueller – Irrational Habits

· by Max Seaton

Have you ever found yourself at the afterparty of the afterparty of a rave, chewing invisible gum and in “very serious” talks about starting an electro-punk band with a bunch of wide-pupiled strangers? If you answered yes, this album might be for you. This might actually be the band you never started. Except it’s not a band, it’s Berlin-based artist Cosey Mueller. And no offense, but it’s probably better than what you and your funky new friends would’ve done anyway. 

On Irrational Habits, Mueller has a way of taking the general feeling of performance anxiety that’s rampant among millennials and translating it into a very entertaining body of work that will resonate with the best of us. The music consists of sort of rockabilly riffs on top of very well-built electronica ditties that’ll make you reconsider your life choices (E.G. keeping on paying for that ever-skyrocketing subway fare or working for anyone else than yourself), vocals that can seem dead-pan in a darkwave kind of way at first, but that end up going up and down in range, exploring the effects-filled soundscape, playing with itself. The general mood ranges from anguish to anxiety to angst and will most probably leave you clenching your jaw and/or biting your nails to the quick.

There’s a clear early house and techno influences as well as an almost maddening sense of repetition found in precursor acts of synth-punk such as Suicide or The Units. One can also detect similar vibes to the ones found in ex-Yugoslavian ’80s synthpop acts such as Beograd and Demolition Group (check ‘em out if you don’t know ‘em already!)

Irrational Habits is the perfect album to listen to while running (either for your health or away from your problems, I’m not judging), or dancing life away, sober or wasted, day or night, alone or surrounded. I don’t know what’s in the water in Berlin these days, but this is yet another record to come out of the city in the last few years that really hits the mark for me. Success.

Latest 360 Content

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

Subscribe to our newsletter