Featured Essay: Hunting For Space Invaders

by Marc Rosenberg

In 2013, a book called Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 began to circulate around various music publications and began to gain criticism as one of the year’s most premiere books in the genre. Going into great detail to explore and shed light on home and independent music recordings for nearly forty years, it was a treasure trove of discovery, exploring every facet of self-funded and self-sustained musical recordings that spanned the spectrum of styles and genres from around the globe and discovered through crate digging discoveries.

Along with the book, a CD was included that captured a fraction of the recordings discussed in the book and allowed the reader to get an understanding of the range at hand. One of the tracks on the CD was a song called “Spacing Out” by a band called The Invaders. Upon my first listen, I was instantly hooked. There were elements of spaced-out psych-rock, latin jazz, funk, and other worldly sounds that totally rocked my world. A gale force blast of mighty horns and tight snares gave it a sharp, nasty groove like it was coming straight from the underground of a ‘70s gangster flick. There were bits of R&B, soul, lounge, and the playful experimentations of Stereolab all rolled up into one song. Like the swing of Esquivel with the driving force Parliament Funkadelic. It opened my ears to something I had never heard before and sparked my curiosity.

Given the nature of the book, I knew that finding out anything about this band would prove to be an arduous task and I was correct. In 2013, a Google search for the band ‘The Invaders’ yield numerous results because low and behold, a lot of people thought that was a great band name (they’re all correct) and locating even this one track online would take me to a source that eventually lead me back to the book that seemed to have pulled it out of thin air.

With little to help my hunt, I more or less gave up not long after the song first entered my world. I added “Spacing Out” to various playlists and would try to play it at parties in case anyone ever recognized it, hoping that someone could give me a direction in my search. No one ever noticed and the song remained something I’d enjoy on my own for years.

Eventually, I noticed the song became available on Spotify, but it was the only song attributed to the artist and no other info ever appeared on their page. It remained the lone track with minimal plays and it stayed that way for years. Every now and then when the song would randomly come on shuffle, I’d check to see if anything ever surfaced online, but nothing ever did. This was a song meant for me and only me it seemed.

Recently, I was scrolling through Instagram as one does late at night and I stopped dead in my thumb flip when I noticed that a local record store posted a photo of an album at their shop which immediately caught my eye. There it was. An all black cover with a silver-grey text that read Spacing Out - The Invaders. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Surely this had to be yet another false hope, just one of the other many bands who called themselves The Invaders who also had a nondescript, image-less record label. 

But it wasn’t just labeled The Invaders, above the band name was the title, Spacing Out. 

The caption of the Instagram post simply read “that horn sound.” I couldn’t believe it. I went straight to Google, typed in “Spacing Out the Invaders” and discovered that it was real. The top result took me to a Bandcamp link and there it was, reissued in February of 2025 (it was early April when I saw the Instagram post) for the first time ever, the album was identified as a long out of print record that had only ever been issued in its native Bermuda in 1970. 

At long last I had my answer. The band I had thought about regularly for over a decade was a group of musicians that existed in Bermuda from 1968-1970 who released only one album to their name and it never circulated outside of their home country. For all of the mystery stateside and in the internet age, the band were a big enough local act that they opened for artists like The Staple Singers and Marvin Gaye when they stopped by the island nation. 

Seemingly lost to the Bermuda Triangle, Spacing Out became mythical in status for underground DJs. The label behind the reissue called it “exceedingly rare” and a long sought-after bootleg by record junkies, and it confirmed my long gestating thoughts that this was a holy grail find and while an original copy is still a dream purchase, I knew I needed to jump on my chance to pick up the reissue. 

The next morning I headed to the store that had posted the photo to Instagram (shoutout to Deep Cuts in Ridgewood, Queens) and purchased the record. I instantly headed home and couldn’t wait to drop the needle on side A. I patiently avoided listening to the album on Bandcamp or Spotify after confirming those as back up options in case the record wasn’t available because I needed this to be a vinyl experience. “Spacing Out,” the title track and song that sent me on the quest, was the first track on side two which meant I’d have a whole half of a record to hear brand new (to me) songs before the magic would really set in.

From the moment the needle hit the wax my anticipation was at an all time high. From the first few seconds, the singular sound of the group rushed out of my speakers and I knew I was in for a treat. The world of this band’s sound that I had dreamed of for years not only was real, but was about to swallow me whole. “Spacing Out” set the stage for the rest of the album and every song lived up to the hype. Blasts of horns, funky rhythms, delectable grooves that take parts of Motown and Daptone while blending in parts of Calypso and other tropical vibes. It’s psychedelic poolside music meant for the swankiest cocktail rooms and sultry moments.

An all instrumental album seemed possible given the title track, but now hearing it it’s no wonder it became a top tier record for sampling as the entire thing is filled like a treasure chest of sparkling jewels composed of killer riffs and melodies. It’s got a retro-future sound to it and a space age bachelor pad quality that gives it a real sense of nostalgia, but it’s not strictly limited to that specific time and place. Spacing Out could still set the mood at any party today and now that it’s widely available, I’ll be pushing it on people as much as I can and adding it to as many playlists as possible.

For myself, just being able to spin the record and continue to get lost in a world that I had dreamed existed for so long, but never expected to fully discover, feels magical time and time again. As a record collector, the hunt and journey to finding a record is always an important part of the experience and plays a pivotal role in how listening to the album can feel. Hearing the rest of Spacing Out is like entering into a realm that’s always existed, one that feels welcoming and natural, preserved and timeless. It’s a portal to the past, but one made possible by the present. An all time classic that’s finally making its way into the world.

Marc Rosenberg lives in Brooklyn and has been writing about music on his blog omg!nyc since 2006. He also writes a Substack which suggests new music each week, the best releases of the month, and covers album anniversaries as well. He’s an avid record collector with about 1,500 in his collection and regularly attends shows in New York City which he reviews on his blog. You can find him on Instagram and Blue Sky and various places on the internet as OMGNYC.

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