Lee Scratch Perry & Mouse on Mars – Rockcurry
In December 2019, Lee “Scratch” Perry turned up at Paraverse Studio in Berlin — home base of electronic duo Mouse on Mars (Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma) — and spent three days filling the space with decorative items, talismans, stickers, and slogans written on the walls. The music they made together over those days is Spatial, No Problem, out June 5 via Domino. Perry died in 2021, which makes this a posthumous release, and yes, there have been other records claiming that “final album” distinction since his passing. The Domino press release acknowledges the pile-up directly, which at least suggests everyone involved knows what they’re working with. What distinguishes Spatial, No Problem is that it was initiated by Perry himself, on his terms, and that he knew exactly what he was walking into.
“Rockcurry”, the album’s opening track and lead single, establishes the territory quickly. Perry called Werner and Toma his “German Professors” operating in their “German laboratory,” and the track reflects that framing — motorik rhythmic elements sit alongside free improvisation, digital glitches, and dada poetry, with Perry’s voice cutting through in chants, murmurs, and fragments. It has a giddy, danceable quality that doesn’t read as reggae even though Perry’s weight is felt throughout. He reportedly made clear he would rather not make a reggae album with Mouse on Mars, while simultaneously being constitutionally incapable of making something that doesn’t carry that lineage in its bones.
Werner’s account of the sessions is characteristically oblique: “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.” What I find compelling about “Rockcurry” is how little it sounds like a compromise — it doesn’t feel like two parties meeting halfway so much as something genuinely new getting made in a room, with neither side pulling rank. The video, directed by Studio Sparks, assembles photos from the sessions alongside drawings and found objects into a collage that extends the energy of the recording rather than illustrating it.
Spatial, No Problem will also be presented as part of the Barbican’s Project A Black Planet exhibition in London, running June 5–13, with the album played in spatial audio on a D&B Soundscape system in The Pit. It’s a fittingly particular way to hear a record with this much space in it.
Tracklist:
- Rockcurry
- Hallo Shiva
- Economic Train
- Spatialee
- Fire Dali
- Yayaya
- To The Rescue
- State Of Emergency
