Quietus Editor John Doran has launched a new North London social event called Cosmic & E Beat and here’s a one hour mix to celebrate the venture. Bliss out to the sounds of William Onyeabor, Warren Zevon, Stara Rzeka, Pinkunoizu, Grumbling Fur, John Fahey and more.
In 2001 Brian Eno said: “There were three great beats in the 70s: Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat; James Brown’s funk; and Klaus Dinger’s Neu!-beat." (Mr Eno is a genius and his mind is always on higher things, so we can overlook the fact he probably meant the beats laid down by Tony Allen, Clyde Stubblefield and Klaus Dinger.)
One can only agree that Funk, Afrobeat and Krautrock form an unbeatably badass trinity. But once you throw in some cosmic synth music, some psychedelic jams and some space rock, you’ve got the basis of a pretty far out night of sounds.
Cosmic & E-Beat will be brought to you on the second Saturday of every month at the King Charles One, Kings Cross by your host John Doran of The Quietus, VICE and NOISEY.
Here are some of the tunes that J-Do is planning on playing along with jams by Fela Kuti, James Brown, La Dusseldorf, Funkadelic, Can, Hawkwind, Circle, Orchestre Poly Rhythmo, the Wild Magnolias, Harmonia, Giorgio Morodor, Patrick Cowley, Cerrone, Tangerine Dream, Harlem Underground…
The King Charles One is within walking distance of Kings Cross, more details here and more details of the event can be found here.
Cosmic & E Beat One by The Quietus on Mixcloud
On top of all this, we’ve got the exclusive playback of the new Wooden Shjips album Back To Sea a month before it comes out on Thrill Jockey.
West Coast Pop in North London… Back To Land is the new album from Wooden Shjips, released November 11th through Thrill Jockey Records.
Our source at the label has this to say: "Wooden Shjips’ rise to prominence from the psychedelic underground to the rock and roll overground has been a steady sojourn. With each consecutive release, the band has found new ways of transforming heady psychedelic rock into minimalist masterpieces, bridging the gap between the woozy freeness of Les Rallizes Denudes and Crazy Horse and the tightly wound simplicity of Suicide and the Velvet Underground. Back To Land, the quartet’s follow-up to West, is the first Wooden Shjips record to be conceived outside of San Francisco. Ripley Johnson and Omar Ahsanuddin moved to Oregon, where the lush climates became a major influence on the songwriting. The band’s scope expanded to include more earthy, grounded tones, such as the acoustic guitar, without abandoning their modernist psych core.
There is an increased brightness to many of the songs on Back To Land, an easiness with which the band has flirted with in the past but never fully realized until now. The nervy urgency of West has evolved into an assured confidence, from the alliterative, interlocking guitar and organ groove of “Ruins” to the languidly compelling guitar solos of “Servants.” The addition of the acoustic guitar to the band’s textural palate is coupled here with some of the most melodically direct songs the band has written.
Still, there are still plenty of signature Shjips songs, with distorted riffs, modal keys, and a steady, crisp drum sound unfolding intensely while the elongated melodic guitar lines drift in and out of the foreground. On Back to Land this energy is captured in clear detail, designed as an immersive experience rather than a passive blasting. Back To Land was laid to tape at Jackpot Recording Studios in Portland by Kendra Lynn and mixed by Larry Crane. It was recorded over an 11-day session, resulting in some of the most detailed and spacious recordings of their career."
