Spaced out there

Out There

Released: September 2007

Now-Again

http://www.stonesthrow.com/nowagain/


The Heliocentrics - Sirius B


It’s about time I sat down and start writing about one of the wildest albums I’ve heard in the last few years instead of just listening to it over and over again and keeping it from the rest of civilisation. Whilst Battles’ Mirrored woke me up to 2007 math rock, The Heliocentrics’

2007 record Out There sent me to hyperspace without really knowing what genre of music I’m listening to.

Even through The Helios are signed to Stones Throw’s subsidiary funk label Now-Again, to call this album just plain funk would be like calling Miles Davis just a Jazz trumpeter. This instrumental album starts off with a voice sample of a stewardess introducing the listeners to the journey they’re about to take into a world far away. This world has an orgy of sounds and influences: Free jazz-check, fuzzed out funk-check, middle-eastern influences-check, African percussions-check, flower-power psychadelia-check, Javanese Gamelan-check (?!?) the list goes on and on. Malcom Catto - the drummer (Dj Shadow’s drummer amongst others) is noticeably the de facto leader of the group as his drums dominate the album without even playing one bore fest of a drum solo. The steady and highly funky beats he sets up are complemented perfectly by 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 Careless- alto, tenor & baritone sax, Max Weissenfeldt- vibes & percussion as well as Khadijatou Silcott-Fraser- vocals (very occasionally).

Staying true to the Stones Throw tradition, The Helios are superb musicians producing superb pieces of work with almost no publicity. A quick Wikipedia search on ‘The Heliocentrics’ will give you 0 results. It’s a sad state of affairs so if a spaced out-jazzfunkrockpsychadelia happens to be your thing, go beg, steal, threat…anything really to get this album.

Side A:

1. Intro

2. Distant Star

3. Flight 583

4. Once Upon a Time

5. Beyond Repair

6. Sirius B7. Untitled

Side B:

8. They Are Among Us - Part 1

9. The Zero Hour

10. Joyride

11. The American Empire

Side C:

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

Side D:

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

Yèkatit - Mulatu & The Heliocentrics LIVE
by granjeros

Gettin’ down just for the funk of it!

One Nation Under a Groove

Released: September 23 1978

Warner Brothers

1978 was quite a wild year for popular music with disco, reggae, punk, new wave, rock and jazz-fusion dominating the radio waves. Abba’s ‘The Album’, Talking Head’s ‘Fear of Music’ and The Clash’s ‘ ‘Give ‘em enough rope’ amongst others were the chart toppers at the time who all reshaped the music scene for the next decade at least. The R&B world in the US was also going through a change where the sounds of funk and poetry of The Last Poets amongst others would later on form hip-hop. No-one really outside James Brown can be mentioned synonymously with funk except for George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk) and in ‘78 they released a bomb shell.

The P-Funk name had already existed for more than a decade before the release of One Nation Under a Groove where they pretty much re-wrote the rules of Rhythm & Blues by not only incorporating modern (late 60s – mid 70s) rock into their sound but also using blunted out and synthesized bass lines instead of drums and the wah-wah to create their rocky-funky sound. By the late seventies, George Clinton and his band, although by no means mainstream, were considered bedrock in African-American culture and music. In ’78 they released arguably their best album: One Nation Under a Groove which in short encapsulates all of their previous albums both as Parliament as well as Funkadelic.

Thirty years has passed since the release of ‘One nation…’ and George Clinton still plays a strong part in modern Afro-American music with his presence on rap albums (Blackalicious, Snoop Doggy Dog, Wu-Tang) and has truly put music fans under his groove. Why his name is not as a house-hold name as James Brown, Isaac Hayes and Quincy Jones I do not know.

Main LP:
"One nation under a groove" – 7:29
"Groovallegiance"– 7:00
"Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!" – 6:18
"Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo-Doo Chasers)"– 10:45
"Into you" – 5:41
"Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll!)"– 4:27


Bonus EP:
" Lunchmeatophobia (Think!...It Ain't Illegal Yet!)" – 4:12
"P.E. Squad/DooDoo Chasers ('Going All-The-Way Off' Instrumental)"– 4:18
"Maggot Brain" – 8:28

Amerykahn Soul

New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

Released: February 26 2008

Universal Motown

Thank God for Erykah Badu in the age of The Pussycat Dolls we live in now. Her third studio album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) gives that hope back of the old-school soul diva managing to mix all sorts of afro-centric genres to create something to give you goose bumps. If you’re looking for 40 years of Afro-American culture rolled up nicely in 1 joint then you’ll be ecstatic with this album released late February 2008. P-Funk, break-beats, hip-hop, soul, nu-soul, old-skool R&B, weird yet deeply psychedelic chanting voices and samples of political orations to name just a few, is just as varied as the topics she deals with: anti-Iraq (Soldier), self confession (Me), philosophy (Master Teacher), hip-hop (The Healer), loss of a friend (Telephone), decline of society (Twinkle) and of course drugs (The Cell).

Side A:

"Amerykahn Promise" (E. Badu, W. Allen) – 4:16
"The Healer" (E. Badu, Madlib) – 3:59
"Me" (E. Badu, S. Husayn) – 5:36
"My People" (E. Badu, Madlib– 3:25

Side B:

"Soldier" (E. Badu, K. Riggins) – 5:04
"The Cell" (E. Badu, S. Husayn) – 4:21
"Twinkle" (E. Badu, S. Husayn, Sa-Ra) – 6:57

Side C:

"Master Teacher" (E. Badu, G.A. Muldrow, S. Husayn) – 6:48
"That Hump" (E. Badu, O. Keith) – 5:25

Side D:
"Telephone" (E. Badu, Questlove , J. Poyster) – 7:48
"Honey" (E. Badu, 9th Wonder) – 5:21