German duo Mouse on Mars, aka Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, have announced the release of collaborative album with late reggae icon Lee “Scratch” Perry. Spatial, No Problem is due out June 5 via Domino. It was primarily made in December of 2019 (Perry died in 2021) with additional recording and production in the years since. St. Werner says, “We hardly spoke about what we were doing. We met and got going. He was laughing a lot and we laughed along. We also cooked and ate fish soup and papayas.”
Mouse on Mars note that one thing Perry didn’t want was to make a reggae album, and while it’s almost impossible for him to be involved in something that doesn’t at least tilt that way a little, Spatial, No Problem bears that out. For example, the album’s opening track and first single “Rockcurry” closer to something that could’ve come out of Nassau’s legendary Compass Point Studios in 1980 — think Talking Heads or Grace Jones — with giddy, playful and very danceable production.
“Rockcurry” is awesome and you can watch the video for it, directed by Studio Sparks and featuring photos from the recording sessions, below.
Meanwhile, Barbican’s Project a Black Planet exhibition will also feature an installation that explores the album, which will be on view from June 5-13. From the press release: “This world-exclusive installation will present the album in spatial audio on a specially installed D&B Soundscape sound system alongside in-person events which foreground how the music became a resonant medium for Black consciousness, cultural resistance, and the expression of a shared African heritage across the diaspora.” More details are still to come.
LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY & MOUSE ON MARS – SPATIAL, NO PROBLEM TRACKLIST
Rockcurry
Hallo Shiva
Economic Train
Spatialee
Fire Dali
Yayaya
To The Rescue
State Of Emergency