A while ago, we posted a back and forth that we had with Dr. Lloyd Miller about the past, future and ethics of rhythm. Well, now we have something better – his collaborative album with The Heliocentrics is set for release on Strut on August 2nd (well, the actual vinyl will come out on August 31st).
It’s a monster of an album, inspired by Millers’ frequent tours and ceaseless study of Middle Eastern music and culture, full of the rock solid rhythms that the Heliocentrics are known for and blessed by Miller’s genius on an array of instruments that would cause even the most talented of jazzers to pause. Download an example now – one that’s much funkier than anything we would have expected Miller to allow, but one that speaks volumes to his – and The Heliocentrics – talents.
Download: Lloyd Miller and The Heliocentrics – “Fantasia Part. 1.”
More info: Strut Records’ Website.
It was one of those last minute decisions – Madlib couldn’t make the Free Your Funk gig that he – along with myself, Karriem Riggins and J.Rocc – had agreed to. Denis, our loyal promoter, wouldn’t cancel the gig. What to do? Call Malcolm Catto and see if he could take the Eurostar from London to Paris on a moment’s notice. He brought along fellow Heliocentrics Jake Ferguson (bass) and Adey Owasu (guitar) and stole the show in front of 650 rather frenzied Stones Throw fans. This less-than-ten-minute section of their one hour jam session doesn’t come close to capturing the vibe in the cramped quarters of La Bellevilloise that Saturday, 6th of December 2008. But it’s still pretty damn cool.
Check out the Heliocentrics (as a trio) live at Free Your Funk Heliocentrics: “Live In Paris, December 2008.”
Check out photos from the night here.
Buy the “Fallen Angels” CD and digital album here.
NA 5034 – 12″ Single. NA 5041 – CD and digital album.
The third Heliocentrics 12″ from their album Out There, “Sirius B,” featured the band’s “Sirius B” remix with Cannibal Ox’s Vast-Aire and was paired with an instrumental and a new direction for the band: the dark, psychedelic “Vibrations Of The Fallen Angels.”
These three songs were paired with songs from the band’s previous two, vinyl-only EPs and are now sold digitally and as a CD under the name “Fallen Angels.”
Comments Off
Buy it here.
01.Intro
02.Distant Star
03.Flight 583
04.Once Upon a Time
05.Beyond Repair
06.Sirius B
07.Untitled
08.They Are Among Us – Part 1
09.The Zero Hour
10.Joyride
11.The American Empire
12.Before I Die
13.Intermission
14.Age of the Sun
15.They Are Among Us – Part 2
16.Winter Song
17.A World of Masks
18.Sounds of the East
19.Somewhere Out There
20.Second Chance (K2’s Prayer)
21.Return Journey
22.Sirius A
23.Falling to Earth
24.Outro
NA5031 2LP/CD 2007
NA 5031. CD and 2LP. 2007.
Produced by Malcolm Catto, Mike Burnham & Jake Ferguson.
Malcolm Catto – drums & piano
Jake Ferguson – bass & Thai guitar
Mike Burnham – modular synth & effects
Jack Yglesias – flutes, percussion & santur
Adrian Owusu – guitars, oud & percussion
James Arben – clarinet, tenor & baritone sax
Ray Carless – alto, tenor & baritone sax
Max Weissenfeldt – vibes & percussion
Khadijatou Silcott-Fraser (K2 Wordplay) – vocals
Good luck trying to categorize this album. Led by the relentless drummer Malcolm Catto, the UK collective’s objective lays quite a ways beyond what ordinary listeners know or expect. In an alternative galaxy, where the orbits of Hip-Hop, Funk, Jazz, Psychedelic, Electronic, Avante-Garde and Ethnic music all revolve around “The One” – that’s where you might find The Heliocentrics.
A listen to a song or two reveals no small influence from the funk universe of James Brown. But there’s also the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra’s music. The cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone. The sublime fusion of David Axelrod. But the Heliocentrics’ music isn’t retro. It’s brand new. And it’s timeless. They have well-placed fans in the likes of Madlib (Catto was featured on his Shades of Blue album and on various Yesterdays New Quintet releases) and DJ Shadow (the band backed him on the song “This Time I’m Gonna Do It My Way” from his The Outsider album), who will tell you that this band is really the next shit but that they have the consistency and musicianship that seems to have been lost somewhere in the analog to digital shuffle over the past thirty years.
