London-based The Heliocentrics have long stirred a bewitching brew of funk, jazz, psych and library influences. Their 2007 debut album taking you ‘Out There’, described as “a funk-jazz continuum letting imaginations turn a dark corner”, laid the foundations for their 2009 magnum opus ‘Inspiration Information’ alongside Ethiopian musical legend Mulatu Astatke. Held in the highest esteem, ‘Inspiration’ was Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Album of the Year, and was later recommended by Jamie Cullum as one of ‘Five Essential Jazz Albums’ to wrap your ears around.
Labeled by Pitchfork as “a live-band culmination of every obsessive hip-hop-era producer’s drive to fall deeper into a rabbit hole of the previously unheard”, the band’s far-reaching influence meant a natural knock-on in being cited by hip-hop royalty: namely, featuring on DJ Shadow’s ‘Skullfuckery’, from 2006’s ‘The Outsider’ LP, and being sampled by Nas and Kanye West on the track ‘Everything’, featured on 2018’s ‘Nasir’ album. The Heliocentrics will release their new long player on Madlib’s Invazion label in 2020.
Watch ‘Burning Wooden Ship’ on YouTube Here:
Jump into this kaleidoscopic soundscape of rolling percussions and bewildering breakdowns, grounded by the tantalising vocals of Barbora Patkova.
‘Infinity of Now’ drops February 14th on Madlib Invazion
