About

“Malcolm Catto is best known as DJ Shadow's drummer; here he emerges as a talent in his own right, leading a nine-piece band through music that merges eastern and African music with funk, jazz and hip-hop. There are echoes of everyone from Bill Laswell's Material to Ennio Morricone to David Axelrod and Sun Ra, but the glue holding this seven-year odyssey together is Catto, who holds down a similar role here to that which Nigerian afrobeat legend Tony Allen does in his big bands. Catto's thundering, heavy beats allow his musicians the freedom to explore musical territories, and the results are swathed in psychedelia, echo and enigma.” – The Guardian

“The band’s use of tribal hip-hop beats and splashes of funk makes Out There infectious. Their deft cinematic touches, sci-fi samples and a willingness to use silence for spacing, allows the band to take the journey to the planets of psychedelic, ethnic and avant-garde without sounding pretentious or fragmented…

…Fans of Yesterday’s New Quintet who always wished Madlib to push it a few notches funkier will swoon from the first twenty seconds of the album’s opener, “Distant Star”. Catto, who has been sampled by Yesterday’s New Quintet and Madlib, brings immediacy to the song, which is enhanced by Jake Ferguson’s bass guitar. A touch of classic DJ Shadow, who Catto and the band worked with on the Bay Area’s turntabalist’s last album, can be heard on “Once Upon a Time”. This is a piece that proves that the flute is nothing to be laughed at, especially with a trip-hop beat behind it.” – Pop Matters

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