The Heliocentrics

The ensemble the Heliocentrics hails from the United Kingdom and resists straightforward classification, even as psych-jazz-funk remains the label most frequently attached to its output. Malcolm Catto directs the unit as drummer, composer, and arranger, steering its path through hip-hop, funk, modern jazz, film and library music, psychedelic textures, electronica, and assorted world musics. Co-billed releases have paired the group with Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke and Nigerian soul and jazz saxophonist Orlando Julius, among additional partners. Beginning with the pivotal 2007 album Out There, the Heliocentrics’ own recordings shaped the rising South London cross-cultural jazz renaissance. After delivering its first composed feature film soundtrack, The Sunshine Makers, in 2017, the band aligned with Madlib’s label, issuing titles such as 2020’s Telemetric Sounds.

Roots trace to the late ’90s, when drummer Malcolm Catto produced singles for Mo’ Wax and Jazzman and collaborated with Connie Price and the Keystones. Catto and bassist/co-producer Jake Ferguson assembled the group to support DJ Shadow on the 2006 singles “This Time...” and “Skullfuckery.” Their own debut, the psych-jazz album Out There, reached stores via Stones Throw in 2007. In interviews Catto and Ferguson cited James Brown, Elvin Jones, David Axelrod, Sun Ra, Ennio Morricone, Stark Reality, and Joyride among their touchstones. The nonet lineup featured Catto on drums and piano, Ferguson on bass and Thai guitar, Mike Burnham on modular synthesizers and effects, Jack Yglesias on flute, percussion, and santur, Adrian Owusu on guitars, oud, and percussion, James Arben on clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophones, Ray Carless on alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, Max Weissenfeldt on vibes and percussion, and Khadijatou Silcott-Fraser (K2 Wordplay) on vocals. Saxophonist/bass clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings contributed regularly as well.

Initial wax appearance came in 2005 with the Nico-sampled “Winter Song” 7" on Jazzman. After work on DJ Shadow’s 2006 album The Outsider and its follow-up 12" singles, the Heliocentrics joined Stones Throw subsidiary Now & Again Records and issued their debut album Out There in 2007 plus several 12" singles. “Before I Die,” featuring Guilty Simpson, surfaced that same year, while “Distant Star” (with Percee P and DOOM) and “Sirius B” (with Vast Aire) arrived in 2008. Strut presented the 2009 collaboration Inspiration Information with Mulatu Astatke and the Japan-only Fallen Angels: The Singles Collection later that year. Lloyd Miller & the Heliocentrics, a joint project with multi-instrumentalist and Middle Eastern jazz innovator Dr. Lloyd Miller, appeared on Strut in 2010.

A recording hiatus ended in 2013 with the simultaneous arrival of 13 Degrees of Reality, The Quatermass Sessions, Vol. 1, and Helio x GLK (with the Gaslamp Killer), all on Now-Again. Two further collaborative albums followed in 2014: Jaiyede Afro with Orlando Julius on Strut and The Last Transmission with American director/poet/activist Melvin Van Peebles on Now-Again. From the Deep reached listeners in February 2016.

Extensive touring and separate as well as collective projects preceded a fresh chapter. Returning to the studio, the band redirected its improvisational, beat-driven approach toward an emerging strain of psychedelic rock. Slovakian vocalist/actress/dancer Barbora Patkova joined, sharing the ensemble’s spontaneous aesthetic, and the partnership yielded the 2017 Soundway release A World of Masks, which earned widespread critical notice. One month afterward Soundway issued the original score for Cosmo Feilding-Mellen’s documentary The Sunshine Makers, chronicling LSD evangelists/manufacturers Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully. February 2020 brought Infinity of Now, the group’s first album for Madlib’s Madlib Invazion imprint. Months later the second album of the year, Telemetric Sounds, emerged with its spacious, extraterrestrial grooves.