~|As I'm dreaming, wide awake
My body never leaves the floor
I never, want to come back
I belong where I am at|~
Hey everyone! Today it's time to venture into an intangible world of psychedelic beats. Flying Lotus(FlyLo) is the stage name of Steven Ellison, being the in the Coltrane family he's ventured forth to create a hybrid of Jazz/hip hop and experimental electronic music for a hugely psychedelic trip down the rabbit hole.
FlyLo has been releasing music since the mid 2000's, starting out by submitting music for Adult Swim/Cartoon Network. He has since released 5 albums, and shown great progress in production quality and a masterful skill of fusing sounds and rythms for a fresh sonic experience. Today we are starting off with his 2nd record, "Cosmogramma"
Cosmogramma
His 2nd record, this album was the one that broke out big to the masses, as well as my introductory record to Flying Lotus. His eclectic style makes each track a novel experience and you never really get to that comfortable zone where you know what is coming next. That in itself is sometimes an interesting state, at least.
The record opens with "Clock Catcher", an abrasive arpeggiated synth gives us a warning siren to ward off anyone unprepared, before turning into a more calm state. Following is "Pickled", a more steady beat introduces us to the landscape in a more tangible way. The sound production has some unique elements to it, that at times almost reach that point of distracting pain. A good pain though, right?
The album is not very cohesive in it's story, but are themes that you eventually start to recognize as you let yourself go to the experience. The first track we're starting off with is one that reached a lot of Internet fame, due to the music video receiving some well deserved viral hype, here is "Zodiac Shift"
Zodiac Shift
Until The Quiet Comes
His 3rd record coming out in 2012, shows a great deal of experience from FlyLo. The music has more fullness, it's not as rushed as the previous record. This gives the album a sense of calm, even though the soundscapes are still huge and filled to the brim, almost to the point it's running over the edge.
Starting out with the opener "All In", the track feels very inspired by the Japanese artist "Nujabes", all though a bit more unleashed and unhinged. The next track "Getting There" is another mellow hip hop track, with a harsh kick being put opposite glimmering bells and chimes.
In general this album is much softer than Cosmogramma, but FlyLo still shows off his controlled use of chaotic sounds as a way to ground the listener. It has a lot of psychedelic inspiration floating around, especially noticable in the not so subtle "DMT Song". It's a soft hymn, followed by a slowly evolving bass line, accompanied by gentle spoken word layered with delays.
For our second track we're gonna check out another great track, that also reached modest viral fame due to it's hypnotic nature both in sound and video. A slowly evolving cluster of machinery learning to be, this is "Putty Boy Strut"
Putty Boy Strut
You're Dead!
The fourth record, coming out 2 years after the previous one is a great journey back in time. You can see how he has gone through the last record and then returned back to the styles you find on "Cosmogramma", unleashing the unhinged nature again. Featuring more use of actual vocals, this record has features from a lot of different artists from the hip hop world. Artists like Snoop and the "unknown" artist behind the internet suburban legend, "Captain Murphy".
On this album we have a lot more of sultry jazz basslines and breakdowns, especially on tracks like "Turkey Dog Coma" and "Tesla"(Jazz legend Herbie Hancock collaborated with FlyLo on this track). It shows off a great deal more of his background with the Coltranes, like on "Cold Dead" with a sax and guitar jam out, fusing Rock with Jazz.
The album has a lot of different themes, like the track "Never Catch Me", a song that has an almost pleasant nostalgia to it. Like a memory from a distant past. For our final track however we have another solemn song that mixes the harsh beats and jazz with an almost gospel nature, with ethereal choirs working as an overture to the end. This is "Coronus, The Terminator"
Coronus, The Terminator
All right, that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed todays edition of Alphabetical Order, a blog series where I write my opinions on parts of an artists discography. If you liked it or if you hate it, let me know! And if you wanna keep up to date, you can follow me. Until next time, peace out!
You can get more info or support the artist by checking out these links:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/365248-Flying-Lotus
https://soundcloud.com/flyinglotus
http://www.flying-lotus.com