A New Robert Wyatt Collaboration

Since the late ‘60s Robert Wyatt has played in countless groups and collaborated with a great many different musicians.

Working mainly as a percussionist when collaborating with other folks, his earlier project the Soft Machine allowed him to not only drum but sing as well. Being the main focus of that group eventually created tension before Wyatt exited the group in the early ‘70s. But before moving on, Wyatt helped create four albums worth of material the so blurred the line between rock and jazz, that the Soft Machine’s fan base couldn’t always know what to expect from albums or performances. Soft Machine was obviously not the only Canterbury group to experiment – there was of course a band called Pink Floyd who’s done alright for themselves as well.

Wyatt subsequently released a series of his own albums while taking time to work with other groups and even former members of the Soft Machine. However, this latest disc of remixes probably could not have been guessed at.

Hot Chip has made available a few tracks from the upcoming Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese. The first track to be available as a free download is “Made in the Dark,” the title track to Hot Chip’s album released earlier this year.

In contrast to Wyatt’s more energetic output, the song is languid and slow with a mouth harp adding a bit of abstract curiosity to the proceedings. It’s not a bad preview, but for those of you awaiting the actual release, you have until the 22^nd of December.