Rocket Juice & The Moon

Rocket Juice and The Moon is name of the new “supergroup” of Damon Albarn, Tony Allen and Flea.  Albarn had already been working with Allen, drummer with the late Fela Kuti’s band, in The Good, The Bad & The Queen, but it wasn’t till the three of them met on the way to Lagos for Albarn’s Africa Express Collective that a plan was hatched to record together.

Forget any prejudices that you may have about Albarn from his Blur days, he has put his money where his heart lies and has been financially supporting the Honest Jon’s label that the album is released on. Honest Jon’s champions fabulous music, no matter its commercial potential with lots of world music influences: compilations like London Is The Place For Me, brings together black music from post WW2 that recent immigrants had brought to London streets, from Calypso, Kwela, Highlife to Jazz. Add in new LPs from the likes of Terry Hall, Tony Allen, Moritz von Oswald, Actress, etc. and using cutting edge remixers like Carl Craig to widen the appeal, this is a must check label!

Back to Rocket Juice though, what an incredible rhythm section to have as the foundation to any record; Tony Allen and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea on bass duties. The album oozes pure afro funk with guest performances from soul star Erykah Badu and label mates, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, amongst a host of others from Africa like Malian Fatoumata Diawara, and Ghanaian rapper M.anifest. With summer finally hitting the UK, what better soundtrack than this hot grooving LP?

Like all Honest Jon’s releases the artwork and pressing is of the very highest quality. Treat yourself and buy the vinyl!

Rocket Juice & The Moon at Honest Jon’s