The Comet Is Coming: start with Channel the Spirits

A saxophone credit would normally send me toward the horn first. With The Comet Is Coming, I would start lower, with the synthesizer bass and the drums. That change in attention offers a way into a jazz record for someone whose shelves lean toward electronic music.

The reason to investigate now is Exploding in Slow Motion: The Complete Channel the Spirits Recordings 2013-2017CE, due November 20 through Leaf. It expands the trio’s 2016 debut with the surrounding EPs and archival material.[1][2] Before committing to three records, though, I would get to know the original album as its own listening session.

This is a route through the music and the announced edition, not a review of an advance pressing. The useful question is whether the band’s combination of live rhythm and electronics makes you want to hear more, not whether an anniversary package looks complete.

Hear a trio, not a saxophone with backing

The players are Shabaka Hutchings on saxophone, Dan Leavers on keyboards, and Max Hallett on drums. Their performing names are King Shabaka, Danalogue, and Betamax. In its April 2016 coverage, The Guardian traced the group to Hutchings joining Leavers and Hallett’s duo Soccer96 onstage.[4]

That origin matters to how I would approach the record. The keyboard and drum partnership existed before the trio. Treating those parts as a background for a famous saxophonist would miss a substantial part of what brought the group together.

Nick Southall’s contemporary Quietus review describes live-played synthesizer bass, heavy use of echo and reverb, and melodic saxophone lines. He also notes that all three musicians receive writing credits, with Danalogue and Betamax handling production and mixing.[3] The recorded sound is part of the collaboration, not merely a neutral document of a soloist.

On a first listen, follow the lowest repeating figure until you can recognize it when the saxophone enters. Then shift attention to the drums without stopping the track. You do not need to identify a synthesizer model or name a jazz style to hear how the parts depend on each other.

Use three tracks to find your way in

For an electronic-music listener, I would begin with “New Age.” Southall singles out its steady, hypnotic pulse and the relatively small role the saxophone plays in its appeal.[3] Listen for what keeps a repeated idea interesting, rather than waiting for a conventional solo to announce the main event.

Next, try “Space Carnival.” The same review emphasizes its riff and beat, while describing “Slam Dunk in a Black Hole” as slower, grinding hip-hop.[3] Those contrasting descriptions make a useful short introduction. They suggest a band changing its rhythmic approach without abandoning the physical pull of the music.

Here is the listening procedure I would use:

Play “New Age” without looking at the expanded edition’s track list. Follow the repeating pulse and notice when your attention moves to another instrument.
Play “Space Carnival” and follow the drums first. On a second pass, listen for how the saxophone relates to the recurring riff.
Move to “Slam Dunk in a Black Hole.” Ask what changes in the weight and spacing of the beat, rather than ranking it against the faster track.
Write down the title you most want to hear again. Use that preference to decide whether to play the original album next.
If you continue, hear the debut in sequence before starting the bonus material. Let its shorter passages work between the longer tracks.

These are prompts for your own listening, not measurements of the new pressing. A favorite track is a better reason to continue than feeling obliged to understand every reference in the band’s publicity.

Keep the debut separate from the archive

The expanded set joins Channel the Spirits with Prophecy and Death to the Planet, plus rarities and four previously unreleased tracks. Leaf also specifies seven tracks appearing on vinyl for the first time.[1] Those are different claims. A recording can be new to vinyl without being previously unheard.

Leaf’s current track listing identifies the material by its original release. It also groups recordings under The Ancient Tapes and labels radio-session and live performances separately.[1] I would use those descriptions rather than assume every bonus track is a studio outtake from the debut album.

There is a practical reason to preserve those distinctions in a collection note. If you already own an EP, part of the expanded purchase duplicates music on your shelf. If you are new to the band, a long compilation can make it harder to recognize where the original album ends.

The newly unearthed “Late Night Party Jam 2” offers a preview. Pitchfork identifies its recording location as London’s Total Refreshment Centre and includes a player in the announcement.[2] Try that after the debut tracks, so the archive answers an interest you have already developed rather than replacing the introduction.

Read the space imagery as context

The titles can suggest that a listener needs a guide to cosmic jazz before pressing play. The Guardian’s 2016 feature offers a more direct explanation. Hutchings described the connection to Sun Ra in terms of exploring conventional instruments, rather than repeating Sun Ra’s approach unchanged.[4]

I would keep that distinction in mind. The science-fiction language gives the group an identity, but the immediate listening task remains concrete. Follow a pattern, notice how another player changes its effect, and decide whether the repetition holds your attention.

There is also somewhere to go after this early period. In his 2019 Pitchfork review of Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery, Marcus J. Moore describes a continuous album sequence that mixes electronic influences with jazz and includes a spoken-word contribution.[5] That is a later album to explore, not material to expect inside this debut-era package.

For another rhythm-led listening session, the Journal’s guide to Fela Kuti’s Expensive Shit follows a longer LP-side structure. Keep the comparison modest. An interest in sustained rhythm can connect listening choices without making the records interchangeable.

Choose an edition after choosing the music

Leaf lists colored triple-vinyl editions, a double CD, cassette, and digital formats.[1] The three-LP package is one way to own this material. It is not a requirement for discovering the band, and its packaging cannot establish how an individual pressing will play.

Before buying, check the full title and format with the shop. Make sure you are ordering the expanded collection rather than a standalone copy of Channel the Spirits. Then compare its contents with any EPs you already own, and decide whether you want the additional recordings or mainly the debut.

I would leave claims about pressing noise, mastering quality, and comparisons with earlier vinyl copies until someone has examined and played the relevant editions. An announcement establishes what is planned. It cannot substitute for that test.

Start today with “New Age,” then try the two contrasting tracks before making a purchase decision. If the synthesizer and drums change what you hear in the saxophone, give the original album a full session. The archive will still make more sense after you know which music you want to return to.