Los Angeles

With the Reset EP released October last year and his bootleg mixes of everyone from KELIS to MR. OIZO and MADVILLAIN circulating amongst the heads, FLYING LOTUS’ name is on the lips of many as the leader of a new generation of artists emerging from California. A movement that has captured attention worldwide, fuelled by hip-hop and cutting-edge dance music, FLYING LOTUS is redefining the sound of LA. Flying Lotus is a man of many sides; from the huge sounding collabs and remixes giving indication of the slickest productions you are likely to hear on radio to his high voltage live shows (we saw earlier this year) which are somewhere between the best ever house party DJ and the most crowd-smashing live electronic act you’ve seen, to this new album proper – ‘Los Angeles’ – a deep, soulful, intricate album where glints of detail are unearthed to make this opus richer on every listen. Of course, it?s no secret that Lotus is the product of a rich musical lineage and Auntie’s Harp serves not only as a collaboration with his majestic aunt (ALICE COLTRANE), but also a more fitting tribute. Testament arrives as the intro to Fly Lo’s collaborator GONJA SUFI in all his mage-like splendor. Like DR. DRE & SNOOP DOGG, TIMBALAND & MISSY or BETH GIBBONS & GEOFF BARROW, the pairing of a pioneering producer & entirely distinct vocalist/songwriter is a force to be reckoned with. The feeling is only amplified with the closing opus Infintum. Enveloping vocalist LAURA DARLINGTON in a track that bridges GAINSBOURG/BARDOT territory with BROADCAST and shape-shifting post-modern R&B, it is a sublime bookend to Brainfeeder and serves as the perfect FIN to Los Angeles epic journey.

Review:

Before he started experimenting with left-field hip-hop beats and electronic samples, Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, experienced a moment of enlightenment. While filming a documentary about his great aunt/spiritual advisor Alice Coltrane and his cousin Ravi Coltrane, their cab driver asked if they were musicians. Alice responded that, in fact, the three of them were, except Steven didn’t know it yet. It was a turning point, and soon after, when he viewed an ad challenging aspiring beat-makers to send in music to be used for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim bumpers, he took a chance on a whim, sent out a demo, and landed himself a paid position pumping out silky tracks for promos of his favorite shows. As an avid gamer, it was only natural that he would create downtempo Boards of Canada beats sauced with retro 8-bit bleeps and chimes, and these were a perfect fit for the Nintendo generation fan base of Adult Swim. Lotus’ second full-length, Los Angeles, expands on fractured Zelda grooves, muddy bass stamps, and glitched drum loops to stir up nonintrusive computer chillout music modeled for a hip graphic designer’s he­adphones. It could be considered headphone candy, but with the beats as liquefied and squishy as they are, headphone Slushee is more appropriate. “Golden Diva” rides the line between cold and sugary, crackling and popping like melting ice as carbonated hiss rotates in and out of the void behind unintelligible syllables diced together from stray vocal bits. In the same fashion, “GNG BNG” flips a Middle Eastern sitar groove into a mangled keyboard line slithering over a distorted rototom beat, before dropping down into “Auntie’s Lock” to end the album in a quiet hush with breathy whispers over electronic piano loops. Like 2006’s 1983, the patterns are subtly atmospheric and individual grooves feel tailored for the attention deficient, never lingering for very long before switching into a new tapestry. Loaded with 17 tracks, it’s an entertaining and fitting addition to the Warp catalog that makes for some highly hypnotic video arcade/coffee parlor mood music.
All Music Guide – Jason Lymangrover