It's been a long time but the wait has been worth it. We first heard of the collaboration between maverick filmmaker/songwriter/author Melvin Van Peebles and Malcolm Catto and Jake Ferguson's Heliocentrics ensemble nearly six years ago. It seems they've been able to use that time to put together something entirely otherworldly. The Last Transmission is an interplanetary space/love odyssey told in twelve chapters. Van Peebles leads us through the journey with his free form narration as the Heliocentrics lay down some seriously progressive funk. Malcolm Catto's syncopated rhythms effortlessly merge with Jake Ferguson's heavy bass lines as the duo's production sets an eerily futuristic landscape. It feels like they've made some sort of soundtrack for an animated feature about space exploration that Van Peebles narrated in the 70s. Pure funk experimentation that yields hallucinatory results poised to jump out of your speakers. Pure cosmic funk undiluted.

• music label: Now-Again Records 2014

reviewed by Hank Ohs 10/2014