Jumping right into Monday and The Heliocentrics, your favorite psychedelic funk jazz collective from London, who have a new record out. This is their second release, and of course, it’s put out of Madlib’s super important label, Madlib Invazion. The producer is known for his full bag of sonic tricks, and Heliocentrics fit right in there. Playing together for almost two decades, their sound can draw from everyone from the heavy funk of James Brown to the Krautrock of Can to cinematic scores from Ennio Morricone and orchestral masters like David Axelrod to Pierre Henry and Sun Ra beyond. Their sound is attributed to completely committed and obsessive musicians and music lovers, and led by Malcolm Catto (drummer) and Jake Ferguson (bass). Searching for interstellar overdrive sounds from distant galaxies and bringing back on, out of print messages through their music has kept this nearly twenty-year sonic party going. Not worried about what the latest music trend is has been a key to The Heliocentrics sound; marching to their own drum and giving props to these masters through their music while simultaneously creating their own sounds in the process. Telemetric Sounds is a record for people who are searching for something. These listeners have moved away from the everyday sounds of what the radio or popular music can offer. The title track “Telemetric Sounds” is an over 13-minute song that takes the listener far, far into the universe with a heavy wall of sound that needs a cultured ear. It’s cosmic and communicates with space. Speaking of space, “Space Cake” has that bass line that brings you right back into Krautrock territory, and with that flute, also some psychedelic jazz that’s quite nice. “Shattered Mind” is another wall of sound that reminds us of a live score to a silent movie. Free-flowing like water, it takes you wherever The Heliocentrics want, no questions asked. One of our fave tracks on the record, “The Opening” gets funky and psychedelic all at once, but you do hear some Axelrod influences that shine throughout, which is such a breath of fresh air here in 2020. The seven-track record is bookended by another 8 minute plus track “Left To Our Own Devices”, which completes the cosmic wave of Telemetric Sounds. There is nothing like The Heliocentrics in the world today and dare we say never will be. Listen to the record below and order after the stream.

Get the record here.

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