London jazz trailblazers Binker & Moses return with details of a new album titled “Feeding The Machine”. The new album marks the band’s first studio record since their widely-acclaimed 2017 album “Journey To The Mountain Of Forever”, and its subsequent live albums “Alive In The East?” and “Escape The Flames”. The album will be released 25th February via Gearbox Records (Abdullah Ibrahim, Graham Costello, Chiminyo, The Cookers, Levitation Orchestra) on ltd. edition ECO vinyl (200 Rough Trade Exclusive / 300 directly from the label), standard vinyl, CD, and digitally.
Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham, the new album features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories, whilst also nodding to the duo’s roots in riff-heavy free jazz.
Alongside the album announcement the band have shared a new single titled “Accelerometer Overdose”. The new track perfectly exemplifies the new dynamic that Luthert brings to the duo’s sound, with the atmospheric looping and distortion of Binker Golding’s saxophone creating a frenzied yet meditative soundbed, which Moses Boyd’s drumming manages to groove with and experiment on, propelling the track to the outer limits. “Accelerometer Overdose” is smattered with electronic idiosyncrasies and sonic rug-pulls, setting the tone for an album with surprises to be unearthed at every corner.
Speaking on the new material Moses Boyd says:
I feel myself and Binker have been wanting to create this album for some years. The timing was never right, and I also feel we needed some more experience under our belt to attempt a record like this. We knew we wanted it to be different from all our previous material. Each Binker and Moses record has a strong identity and we wanted to maintain that whilst contributing something new that excites us both.
When the opportunity came up to record it was quite last minute. We had no material planned but just a concept. Really, we took a huge leap of faith and went in the studio empty-handed. The only concept I had was this idea of feeding our improvisation through these different machines / configurations in the studio. We enlisted our long-time friend and collaborator Max Luthert on tape loops and modular synths to achieve this.
This album is less about the forms and melodies but more about pushing ourselves creatively within a different way of working. I feel we achieved something special which I’m very proud of.
Binker Golding went on to say:
I think the album for the most part has a really lonely feel. It’s the loneliest of the Binker & Moses albums, despite the dance tracks and I quite like that about it. It marks it out as different. Moses and I wanted to expand the sound of the band, but without adding more instrumentalists as we had on previous albums. In order to expand the sound of the saxophone and drums, we decided to ask Max Luthert to assist us on modular. Most of what you hear coming from the modular is actually a re-ordering of acoustic sax and drums. The only thing is it’s so distorted, that you wouldn’t recognise the acoustic sounds.
Max Luthert has played live with Binker and Moses in various ensembles around the UK over the last 10 years, and also collaborated with the pair in Zara MacFarlane’s band which saw them tour around the world together.
On the new album, he says,
There wasn’t a lot prepared at all, if anything. I felt like Moses had a clear idea of the process and then we worked through it methodically. This was a big change to recording sessions I’d been involved in before and it was a really exciting way of working so very experimental from my perspective. I was very conscious not to detract from the sound of Binker and Moses and that I was very much there to compliment them. Taking that in to account I used modules that manipulated and effected sounds from them and the tape machine as that really felt like building on them and their playing rather than forcing something totally new. We agreed as well that there shouldn’t be lots of bass/sub sounds. Binker and Moses also have a very raw sound and so we settled on a lot of clean/pure sounding tones as those sounds complimented them really nicely.
Made up of saxophonist and jazz stalwart Binker Golding, and Mercury-shortlisted drummer and composer Moses Boyd, Binker and Moses are amongst the frontrunners of a loose yet interconnected group of London-based jazz musicians that are influenced by the music that surrounds them including hip-hop, electronic, Caribbean rhythms, free improvisation as well as, of course, the jazz tradition. What began as experimental jams during soundcheck as part of Zara McFarlane’s touring band has evolved into 2 studio albums, 2 live albums, multiple awards, a performance on Later… with Jools Holland, critically-acclaimed live shows, and an unquenched thirst to continue pushing musical boundaries to the limit.
Binker and Moses’ incendiary debut album “Dem Ones” was recorded in 2014 from the live room at Mark Ronson’s Zelig Studio to the 1/4” tape machine with no edits, overdubs or mixing, and released through Gearbox Records. This began their journey as “the big breakout stars of the London jazz scene” (The Guardian), and went on to win them a string of awards including the 2015 MOBO Award for Best Jazz Act, a Parliamentary Jazz Award and two Jazz FM Awards.
Their second album, “Journey to the Mountain of Forever” (2017), was recorded in the summer of 2016 and included an expanded line-up of musicians; Yussef Dayes, Byron Wallen, Tori Handsley, Sarathy Korwar, and Evan Parker. Conceptually inspired by science fiction and fantastical prog/rock imagery with album artwork by Jim Burns (Blade Runner), the album was named MOJO’s No. 2 Jazz Album of the Year and cemented their status as the leaders of the London jazz renaissance.
The memorable album launch for Journey took place at the iconic Total Refreshment Centre in Dalston in the summer of 2017, and was commemorated through two live albums, “Alive in the East?” and “Escape The Flames” in 2018 and 2020 respectively, which garnered praise from Downbeat, The Wire, BBC Radio 6 Music and The Financial Times and showcased the electric experience of their improvisation-centric live performances.
Now, five years later, Binker and Moses are prepared to go against the grain again with this new material which can only serve as an exciting snapshot of what is yet to come from the duo.
Live dates:
2nd March – Rough Trade East
3rd March – HMV Birmingham