Aaron Space & His Terrestrial Underlings is the music project of Elihu Knowles, a prodigious musician, composer, singer, and drummer. His work mingles in experimental, jazz, pop, and trip hop worlds, bringing to mind everyone from Massive Attack to Jeff Buckley to King Krule. But Knowles is an artist blazing his own very distinct and engaging musical world. His soulful, longing vocals interplay with tasteful, percussive strokes giving him room for some ethereal sounds and melodies in-between.
Last year Knowles released the album album Fishland with Moon Glyph Records. I said this about Fishland last May, “I say this with the utmost sincerity, Fishland is one of the most impressive debuts I’ve heard in a long time. Elihu Knowles is the kind of artist with a head full of sounds, ideas, and melodies and he knows how to put them out into the world in the most creative of ways.” That still holds true to this day. I’m happy to share with you all that Aaron Space & His Terrestrial Underlings are dropping a brand new EP titled Grid on 5/21 with London-based label Dig That Treasure. As with Fishland, Grid is another absolute stunner and pulls from a very personal place.
Here’s is what Dig That Treasure has to say about Grid:
“Grid chronicles a single night in which a then-20 year old Knowles experienced an OCD-fueled paranoid episode that he believed to be a psychotic break. “Following an extremely difficult and uncomfortable night, I woke up the following morning and drove myself to the emergency room, convinced that I had completely lost my mind,” writes Knowles. Musically, Grid captures this psychedelic mania, drawing on experimentalists Standing on the Corner, Mid Air Thief, and Jon Bap, as much as the classic big band arrangements of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington to create an unrestrained, vast musical landscape.“
Opening and title track “Grid” is the first thing you hear, and according to Knowles it was the first song he began recording after the completion of Fishland. The song, despite the serious nature of where the song is emanating from, is a smooth and light on its toes. Knowles lays down a serious groove on the drums, while accompanying with tasteful organ. Nikhil Wadhwa plays guitar and upright bass. There’s even some bowls being tapped by spoons for percussive effect that Knowles recorded at a friend’s house in Long Beach. The track swirls in a kind of controlled madness as it ends, conveying the hyper state of mind Knowles was in.
Knowles is also putting together a little zine to accompany the album release. It will have all the lyrics to the songs of Grid, as well as artwork created by friends. Take a look below.
Listen to “Grid” below. ‘Grid EP’ will be released on 5/21/21 via Dig That Treasure. Preorder the album and the zine here.
Complex Distractions 
This has the name Aaron in the title, so it is automatically awesome. But listening to that track I know it’s awesome for all the other reasons you listed.
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