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.