Saturn Never Sleeps

Saturn Never Sleeps formed in 2009 for improvisational performances dedicated to jazz giant Sun Ra. A collaboration between Afro-futurist Philadelphians King Britt (production) and Rucyl Mills (vocals, electronics; formerly of the Goats), Saturn Never Sleeps rapidly developed over the course of the following two years. They established the SNS label, played festivals around the globe, and refined their sound — a mix of left-of-center R&B with experimental electronic music. The first SNS release was credited to Ramon Tejada, a Britt/Mills pseudonym that yielded an EP of bristly instrumentals (Sand Can’t Tell Time), which would have been at home on the Mille Plateaux or Plug Research labels. A series of EP-length samplers and other short-form releases, some of which featured other artists, followed, while Saturn Never Sleeps worked their way up to an album, Yesterday’s Machine, released in August 2011 as a free download. 10" vinyl and CD versions followed.