Product Info
RECORD STORE DAY 2026 RELEASE - SATURDAY 18/04/2026
Limited LP ('Hazardous' Orange & Yellow Vinyl) - Limited to 700 Copies
This Record Store Day item will be available to purchase in store on Saturday 18th April from 8am and will be available to purchase online on Monday 20th April from 8pm.
Strictly one per customer / no pre-orders.
More Info
Strut proudly presents Nuclear War, a powerful collaboration between UK collective The Heliocentrics, Sun Ra Arkestra legends Marshal Allen and Knoel Scott, and vocalist Bilal - issued on limited-edition “hazardous” orange and yellow vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day 2026.
The Nuclear War recordings stem from a rare session at Malcolm Catto’s Quatermass Sound Lab in January 2015. The group had assembled in London to rehearse for their performance at Giles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards, where Alen received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Catto the John Peel Award. With The Heliocentrics’ trademark raw, psychedelic energy as the backbone, the ensemble captured a series of reimagined Sun Ra classics in a spontaneous, one-off studio moment, and these tapes that have remained unheard in Catto’s archive until now.
The 4-track EP features a sinuous take on Ronnie Boykins’ ‘Angels And Demons At Play’, originally recorded in 1960, a strident version of ‘Where Pathways Meet’ which was originally created for the much-loved Sun Ra Lanquidity album in 1978, and a dense and deep re work of 1972’s ‘Astro Black’ featuring Bilal’s incredible otherworldly vocals. The title track ‘Nuclear War’ is re-worked into a cavernous groove featuring Heliocentrics vocalist Barbora Patkova. Nuclear War is mixed by Malcolm Catto, mastered and cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, and designed by Alex Evans of Reason For Being Studio.
Tracklist
A1. Nuclear War A2. Where Pathways Meet B1. Angels & Demons At Play B2. Astro Black ft. Bilal