The Comet Is Coming Unearth Archival Songs for Channel the Spirits Reissue
Listen to “Late Night Party Jam 2,” recorded during Shabaka and the band’s influential Total Refreshment Centre residency
The Comet Is Coming , a breakout Shabaka project and key influence on London jazz in the 2010s, are readying a 10th anniversary reissue of their debut album, Channel the Spirits . The trio, completed by Danalogue and Betamax, is packaging the Mercury-nominated record with its EPs from the period ( Prophecy and Death to the Planet ), as well as four previously unreleased recordings. One, “Late Night Party Jam 2,” was put to tape at Total Refreshment Centre, the beloved London venue where the group served as unofficial house band. Listen to it below. The reissue, exhaustively titled Exploding in Slow Motion: the Complete Channel the Spirits Recordings 2013-2017CE , arrives November 20 via Leaf .
Shabaka said in a press release, “I like that the freshness of that initial encounter is documented and understood as the album, but then the way we related to it personally gig after gig matured…. It’s a snapshot of a particular energy in London at that time. It takes me to warehouse parties and soundsystems and nights at [Total Refreshment Centre] with near 400 people in a room that would be sweaty with 50.”
The Comet Is Coming announced their split in 2023, eventually cancelling their final concert as part of a strike in solidarity with Palestine. Shabaka released his debut solo album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace , the following year.
Exploding in Slow Motion: the Complete Channel the Spirits Recordings 2013-2017CE : 01 The Prophecy 02 Space Carnival 03 Journey Through the Asteroid Belt 04 Nano 05 New Age 06 Slam Dunk in a Black Hole 07 Cosmic Dust 08 Star Furnace 09 Channel the Spirits 10 Deep Within the Engine Deck 11 Lightyears [ft. Joshua Idehen] 12 End of Earth 13 Neon Baby 14 Star Exploding in Slow Motion 15 Do the Milky Way 16 Cosmic Serpent 17 Final Days of the Apocalypse [ft. Joshua Idehen] 18 Late Night Party Jam 2 19 Slammin 20 Transmission 21 Closing Credits 22 Start Running 23 Final Eclipse (Full Version) 24 March of the Rising Sun 25 Ascension 26 Neon Baby (John Kennedy X-Posure Xfm Session) 27 Final Eclipse (Live) 28 Space Carnival (Live)
