Please note this is an old page and Fly Global Music has now moved. Please follow this link and search for the entry in the new site.

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