FLYING LOTUS Los Angeles (Warp) Los Angeles, sophomore album for Californian Flying Lotus (a.k.a. Steven Ellison) and debut for Warp Recordings, finds the hip-hop producer slotting into the Warp roster with admirable grace, exploring his intriguing cross-section of complex, layered rhythms and expansive stretches of unsettling textural ambience with increased confidence and success. There are scant traces of the producer’s hip-hop origins, with only the work of the Anticon collective seeming anything like a valid touchstone for the heady and angular excursions Flying Lotus explores on Los Angeles, while the relatively lo-fi aesthetic of the production imbues the entire recording with a visceral warmth that is completely at odds with the album’s alien and oblique aesthetic and draws Los Angeles away from America and into the distinctly European flavours of 1970s Kraut-rock. ‘Melt’ is a prime example of the album’s unbalancing qualities, juxtaposing fuzz-laden synthesisers with layers of African percussion, whereas ‘Parisian Goldfish’ layers a droning, lo-fi melody over a beat that percolates and shifts from minute to minute, adding and subtracting layers in a sublime and precise manipulation of rhythm. Both tracks are mixed halfway between abrasive beat-fests and glacial ambience, a combination which typifies the album and only further challenges the listener. Taken in its entirety, the album is a confronting headspinner of a disc which amazes as much as it baffles; rhythms sounding off-kilter and wrong before being turned inside-out, upside-down and smashed into a million pieces with more dexterity than 90% of the most fluid jazz-fusionists, while jarring synthesiser chords float in incomplete fragments all around. Oscar Wilde once characterised genius as when the public appreciate an artwork without having any idea what it actually means, and while calling something as subtly abrasive as Los Angeles genius might be pushing it, it does seem to fit the mould.
Cool review. I've just got a load of his shit, but listening to LA now i'd be surprised if anything else tops it. Stellar stuff. Really loving the 'world' touches in there. Reminds me of Dilla or Madlib at times. Also, is it true this cat's related to John Coltrane?
I have a press release lying around somewhere that points out all the people he's connected to...The name Alice Coltrane rings a bell, but I'm sure I would have remembered if it had mentioned John.
I get whatever they send out, generally speaking. I'm the left-field guy in the dance section, so Warp and Ninja Tune releases generally end up in my pile.
By the way - interview him. His mum just died, poor guy. His next album sounds like it's going to be fucking incredible tho...
I like Warp, but I'm only a casual fan of Ninja. If I'm honest, I'm only really a casual fan of both labels - they're both really good at what they do, but it doesn't gel with me. I'm a huge fan of Big Dada tho.
just gave this album a proper listen (or six) this weekend, and holy fuck. this bitch is going to make my top ten with less than a month of playtime. love. it.
just getting around to this jesus christ. twisted and beautiful throughout, with a quality of ambient groove all his own. Massage situation got me to check it out, and im so glad
that's because it's get fucked up and put on your best headphones and get transported music. do not operate heavy machinery
New album next year, if all goes according to plan - supposedly with acoustic instruments and big arrangements alongside his laptop extrapolations.
holy hell the high pitched harmonies in Camel are so perfectly mixed and positioned. The delicate subtlty is soul-crushing. It screams at you despite being so reserved in the scheme of the track. Almost tearing up over here edit: im being destroyed Comet Course and Parisian Goldfish just make me feel good about everything everywhere
one of the greatest albums i've ever heard from one of the most exciting artists out there right now. the EPs are awesome as well.
Get Hudson Mohawke's Butter, Paper Kites. It's like Flying Lotus if he was murdered with a fairy floss machine.
Excellent. I'd implore you to listen to the album in full. It's much like Los Angeles - it doesn't work as well in extracts.
I am listening to this now and just bumped it up about 85 spots on my best albums of the decade list. It's like Prefuse 73 beats with Boards of Canada soundscapes and holy shit that is a perfect combo.
This album is ridiculously brilliant, and Flying Lotus was one of the first artists to truly open me up to contemporary electronic beat-based music. He's a genius (and really into DMT, judging by his myspace).
There was a recent giant mix of a bunch of unreleased shit of his available to download here: http://www.brainfeedersite.com/2009/12/25/a-decade/ also if you haven't heard "Meeting the Prez" on his myspace, do yourself a favor. This man is a visionary
Flying Lotus has become one of my favorite musicians ever in only a few months. Cow, do you know anything more about his new one? I've googled a bit, but I figure you have connects nawmsayin?
I seem to remember something on his myspace saying it was due in march, but, beyond that, not really. It's literally been a year since I last spoke to him.
Okay, so as coincidence would have it, I interviewed a guy called The Gaslamp Killer today who is good friends with Flying Lotus, appeared on his last record and mixed the recent Ten Years of Flying Lotus mix. Things we now know about the newie: 1. Coming out in March ('early next year', in FlyLo's words, but that makes me certain it'll be out in March, given my recollection of the myspace update) 2. 17 tracks 3. Live arrangements (he gave the impression there was a lot of live instrumentation) 4. Thom Yorke guest appears. 5. Sounds amazing, apparently.
*shrugs* Wouldn't surprise me. I doubt he would have told me if it was any kind of secret. Tho, I checked, and it's coming out April and not March.
