THE HELIOCENTRICS - OUT THERE | FLY

This band of Sun Ra worshipers is led by Malcolm Catto (who last time we heard was going on tour as the drummer with the brilliant Dap Kings) and they’ve produced a leftfield beauty here, Out There.

It crams into the 24 tracks all you need in psychedelic funky space jazz that you could desire as its influences travel a beats world. For fans of DJ Shadow (the band featured on the stand-out track from his Outsider album, ‘This Time’) and Madlib’s Beat Konducta series, it touches on free jazz, but not that free that its unsafe for public consumption.

The short bite-sized tracks for the hip hop generation can be a little frustrating for us older types who can cope with longer tracks and solos in particular.

Great line up of musicians as you’d expect (see below) and coming on the back of the Dingwalls Reunion Session last Sunday, remember ‘Trarantula Walk’? Yep, that Ray Carless! Even Jessica Lauren pops up who was last seen on Fly with Wah Wah 45’s Underground Hits And Exclusive Bits: 2.

Out There is less hip hop than Shape Of Broad Minds, funkier that Electric Conversations’ Conversation, as West Coast cool as Build An Ark’s Dawn, as retro as Nostalgia 77 Octet, with nods to Flying Lotus and as good as all five of them.

Now-Again brings the past to the present and this is certainly contemporary. Peterson supporting of course and expect some TeamB listings on this one. I blame the UFOs.

Reviewed: The Heliocentrics - Out There (Now-Again Records) Cat. No. NA5031
Release date: 25 Sep 2007
James Arben — Clarinet, Saxophone [Tenor, Baritone]
Jack Yglesias — Flute, Percussion, Dulcimer [Santur]
Adrian Owusu — Guitar, Oud, Percussion
Jake Ferguson — Bass, Guitar [Thai]
Malcolm Catto — Drums, Piano
Mike Burnham — Synthesizer [Modular Synth], Effects
Ray Carless — Saxophone [Alto, Tenor, Baritone]
Max Weissenfeldt — Vibraphone, Percussion
The Low-Fi Ensemble — Strings
Khadijatou Silcott-Fraser — Vocals
Jessica Lauren- Vocals, Electronics [Additional]

Tracklisting:
1 Intro (0:39)
2 Distant Star (5:01)
3 Flight 583 (0:13)
4 Once Upon A Time (2:43)
5 Beyond Repair (0:55)
6 Sirius B (5:09)
7 Untitled (2:41)
8 They Are Among Us — Part 1 (0:39)
9 The Zero Hour (4:19)
10 Joyride (5:11)
11 The American Empire (3:19)
12 Before I Die (3:37)
13 Intermission (1:35)
14 Age Of The Sun (4:13)
15 They Are Among Us — Part 2 (0:34)
16 Winter Song (4:55)
17 A World Of Masks (4:33)
18 Sounds Of The East (1:32)
19 Somewhere Out There (1:25)
20 Second Chance (K2’s Prayer) (5:26)
21 Return Journey (0:20)
22 Sirius A (3:29)
23 Falling To Earth (5:26)
24 Outro (0:36

Links:
www.stonesthrow.com/nowagain/heliocentrics
www.stonesthrow.com
www.stonesthrow.com/egon
www.stonesthrow.com/guiltysimpson
www.myspace.com/guiltysimpson
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 15th November 2007 :: In Conversation: Jneiro Jarel & Live in Session From Maida Vale: Portico Quartet
Tribe — ‘Livin’ In a New Day’ (Carlos Nino Edit) (Planet E)
Steve Reid Ensemble — ‘Daxaar’ (Domino)
Shape of Broad Minds — ‘It ‘Aint Dead!’ (Lex)
Heliocentrics — ‘Age of The Sun’ (Now Again)
Build An Ark — ‘Morning Glory’ (Kindred Spirits)
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 25 October 2007 :: Heavy Hitters: Seun Kuti on Afrobeat
Portico Quartet — ‘The Kon Tiki Expedition’ (Vortex)
Heliocentrics — ‘Age of The Sun’ (Now Again)
www.myspace.com/teamBradio

LONDON ALBUM LAUNCH - THE HELIOCENTRICS (Now Again / Stones Throw)

From the drummer sampled by Madlib and Yesterdays New Quintet & the band that backed DJ Shadow.

Now Again, an offshoot of Stones Throw, is proud to present its first U.K signing… THE HELIOCENTRICS.

LIVE - WEDS 20th FEBRUARY 2008 @ LONDON METRO
19-23 Oxford Street, LONDON
http://www.blowupmetro.com
Tottenham Court Rd Tube [Northern / Central Lines]

Tickets Available at http://www.livenation.co.uk or 0844 576 5483

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THE HELIOCENTRICS

http://www.myspace.com/heliocentrics

“Breathes apocalyptic noir and swings with syncopated fink” - Dazed & Confused

“An absorbing debut album” - The Independent

“Vision and nimble hooks leave the listener engaged” - The Guardian

“Top 10 Albums of January 2008” - NME

Four years in the making, The Heliocentrics’ debut album is finally complete. Out There is here. Good luck trying to categorize their music. 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 “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.

Gilles Peterson of Radio 1, Worldwide 7th February 2008 :: Ge-Ology in the studio & The Heliocentrics Maida Vale Session.

Brand new tracks from Skream, Jasmine Sullivan, Linkwood Family, Heavy, The Sunburst Band and Floetry.Ge-Ology, the beat maker/artist from New York drops by the studio for a catch up. He drops a track featuring De La Soul. Plus we have a big Maida Vale Session from The Heliocentrics featuring 16 musicians.

Listen again..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson/