The Heliocentrics

The Heliocentrics

The Heliocentrics are a London group active since 2006. They work across jazz, funk, psychedelic music, electronic music, experimental music and related styles including downtempo, jazz fusion, jazz-funk and nu jazz. Their sound also draws on hip-hop, rock, post-punk, krautrock, musique concrète and musical traditions described in the group’s own history as ethnic and African-influenced.

Formation and core lineup

Drummer Malcolm Catto, bassist Jake Ferguson and keyboard player Jack Yglesias form the core of the group and are described as the three постоянные members behind the ensemble. Over time, the collective includes a changing cast of musicians. Regular and past contributors include Ray Carless on tenor and soprano saxophone, Mike Burnham on drums and oud, Max Weissenfeldt on drums and vibraphone, James Arben on various wind instruments and Adrian Owusu. The line-up also includes Raven Bush, Dan Smith, Orlando Julius with The Heliocentrics, and other contributors named in the group’s history.

Style and approach

The band presents itself as a collective rather than a fixed rock line-up, with an emphasis on musical exploration and on finding a distinct voice across different traditions. Their music is associated with a broad fusion of funk, jazz, psychedelic and avant-garde ideas. The debut album, Out There, released in 2007, establishes that approach by combining influences associated with James Brown, Sun Ra, Ennio Morricone and David Axelrod, alongside musique concrète, post-punk and krautrock.

Albums and collaborations

Out There is the group’s debut album. In 2009 they record Inspiration Information 3 with Ethiopian jazz musician Mulatu Astatke. In 2010 they release Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics with multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Miller. In 2013 they release 13 Degrees of Reality, a record that continues their psychedelic funk direction while widening the field of influences to include Latin and African elements. In 2014 they release Jaiyede Afro with Nigerian saxophonist Orlando Julius, and The Last Transmission with filmmaker and composer Melvin Van Peebles.

The group also works with other artists including Madlib, DJ Shadow and Quantic. Malcolm Catto collaborates with Madlib on several Yesterdays New Quintet projects, and the band also works with DJ Shadow as a touring ensemble and in the studio.

Later work

In 2017 the group releases A World Of Masks, which adds vocalist Barbora Patkova to the line-up. In the same year they create the music for the documentary The Sunshine Makers, which focuses on underground LSD chemists from the 1960s. Infinity Of Now follows in 2020 on Madlib Invazion, the label run by Madlib.