As you might know I have become somewhat disillusioned by hip-hop and its celebriation of the mediocre over the last year so, meaning that I barely even listen to too much hip-hop. That's not to say that there's not a few Hip-Hop artists out there that are pushing the boundaries and are true creative genius whose music will last for generations. J Dilla is one of them; Kanye West is one of them, Kendrick. Ghostface. Pete Rock, K-DEF, etc. Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington is also on that short list so of course a Lotus tribute set to the late, great J Dilla. Check it out below over at Dublab.com, sit back and enjoy and let the music speak the words REST IN PEACE JAMES YANCEY, WE LOVED YOU AND MISS YOU!
A few weeks back I posted a clip of a FlyLo playing the original version of "Eyes Above" which featured another stand out performance by Kendrick Lamar. Flying Lotus took to Soundcloud to post the studio version of the song which was left as an instrumental for the "You're Dead" LP. To me these two gentlemen represents the finest musicians of the younger generation that's really pushing hip-hop forward in interesting new directions.
Flying Lotus is by far one of the most interesting artists out there at the moment if you ask me, and lately I've been listening a lot to his albums and his work with the Brainfeeder camp. Every now and then he pops up on the BBC Radio 1 channel to drop a crazy deep mix of classic beat records, jazz and his own music. His latest drop was on the 12th of March for a two hour set that also includes a short guest mix from Jonny Greenwood (would love to hear a studio collaboration between those two). You got nine days left to listen so Hurry Up and BUY!
Flying Lotus is without a doubt my favorite alternative producer right now, or at least top 3 (depending on who you count among the alternative beat maestros), but I just love how serious the LA producer and artist is about his craft. To me he really came into his own as a true virtuoso artist in his own right with "Until the Quet Comes", a tripped out front-to-back album that truly grows on each listen - still to this day, some five years laters. In early 2014 he released his follow up album (not counting his experimental album by rap alter ego Captain Murphy, though that's without a doubt an enjoyable album that I strongly recommend to lovers of experimental hip-hop). I included the album in my countdown of best albums of that year, and as a true jazz and hip-hop afficionando as it's one of the very few albums, along with Robert Glasper's stuff and a few other artists, I really feel that FlyLo is pushing the boundaries of his hip-hop past by introducing more and more free jazz into the concept which I absolutely love. There's still a hip-hop foundation, and Kendrick Lamar appears on the slamming single "Never Catch Me" while Snopp Dogg and Captain Murphy appears on "Dead Man's Tetris".
I don't know this but apparantly during the sessions for the album, K. Dot didn't only record the full-length collaboration for "Never Catch Me" but this live session with FlyLo reveals that Lamar also originally was supposed to rock at least one verse on "Eyes Above" (featuring session playing by Thundercat and Dentoni Parks. During Lotus' set at the "You're Dead" tour at the North Park Theater in San Diego. Luckily, the sound quality is good, Kendrick's verse is complete and it really adds to one of my favorite tracks from one of the best joints on the album in my honest opinion. I don't have much more information, maybe Kendrick had several verses on this track but for some reason (perhaps because he thought it was overkill having K.Dot do two solo tracks on there), but maybe he only did an intro verse before the rest of the track flowed in to the instrumental. Either way this is fucking SICK, and I really hope we get a CDQ or iTunes release of this in full sooner or later. I haven't seen any clips from Lotus live shows previously but this looks mighty, so I'm hyped as hell as I'm going to see the prdoucer/DJ perform with my homie Mariam a few months from now and whoever else want to join!
As I was just visiting Marvelous Mag's Soundcloud page to embed his new single "Trouble" (see below), it turns out he also uploaded another new cut called "Roberta" that is just as ill to say the least. I'm really a sucker for anything FlyLo right now so seeing that he produced this was a very nice suprise. Beside Tha Connection (Hus Kingpin / SmooVth) the song also packs a 16 from femcee Asian J. I can dig it!
Some beautiful jazzy piano driven ish produced by L'Orange for emcee Jeremiah Jae. These two are currently working on an album for Mello Music Group that will be released on April 21, carrying the title "The Night Took Us In Like Family". Tracklist and pre-order @ iTunes. On a side note, check out this heavy hitting Flying Lotus produced banger by Jeremiah Jae - "Cat Fight".
I can't understand those people who basically only listen to strictly hip-hop music. Music as a whole is my number one love, and though hip-hop is by far my favorite genre but how someone can be musically satisfied by only listening to rap music is for me absolutely mind boggling when there's so much great music from a wide range of genres out there - jazz in all it's incarnations, blues, rock, heavy metal and industrial, and even some classical music. As a true music lover I am mad happy that we got artists like Flying Lotus and the artists on his Brainfeeder label pushing the boundaries of modern electronic music by taking a page from the past and moving forward into new terrority. As for FlyLo I've had my eyes on him since his "Cosmogramma" album in 2010, but it was when the grandson of legendary jazz pianist Alice Coltrane dropped his tripped out "Until the Quiet Comes" in 2012 that I truly fell in love with his music. After letting the 2xLP set live on my turntables and on my Android phone for a long time, I was soon after starting to fiending for new music by the DMT fanatic. For me the release of the follow-up to "Quiet", beautifully titled "You're Dead". FlyLo has more than repated that same feat of greatness again, without repeating himself. "Until the Quiet Comes"is pretty close to a perfect album, and i strongly feel that this new LP is it's sister album as it shares many similarities yet it's evolved and features a lot of new tracks.
Now in 2014, Steven Ellison, also known a Flying Lotus, returns with his sixth album, tenth if we're counting Extended Plays, "You're Dead" on October 7, via Warp Records. While "Until The Quiet Comes" was a laid back, psychadelic journey into the mind with high free jazz, jazz fusion and electronic hip-hop overtones, "You're Dead" pretty much continues where its predecessesor left off. The 20 track collection plays out more like a suite than the type of albums we are used to hear these days, be they instrumental or not. Many of the songs are only one or two minutes and throughout the whole 40 minutes LP almost every feeling is represented in the most beautiful way - whether it be straight up disonant hardcore shit (the powerful "Tesla"), laid-back music of extreme longing like one of my personal favorites "Coronus, The Terminator", heavy free jazz bangers ("Cold Dead"), the percussion and Rhodes brilliance of "Moment of Hesitation". Pointing out each song is definitely pointless as the entire album revels in front-to-back brilliance and personally I would say that this is FlyLo's finest full-length album to date. One of the main reasons for this, is that FlyLo is here taking his production to the next level - while previous albums has mainly been mainly sample based, "You're Dead" is a mixture of Lotus' sample wizardry and a host of live musicians that he has invited to the sessions. The 19/20 tracks suite (depending on which version you have) clearly has a sonic thread running throuhgout them, wihtout ever coming off as monotone. The jazz elements are way more pronounced here than on the previous FlyLo albums - so much that in fact this is the first album of his that I would feel comfortable putting in my jazz album collection. He has here gathered the usual suspects like bassist/vocalist Thundercat, sweet voiced Nikki Randa, string conductor Miguel Atwood-Fergusson, but there's also a host of legendary jazz artists adding color to the album. All these artists appeared on the previous LP as well, though not to the same extent, but on "You're Dead", Ellison takes the jazz and hip-hop approach a step further. One of my all time-favorite artists of all time, pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock adds his magical Rhodes touch on the hauntingly beautiful "Tesla" and "Madness Of Hesitation". while jazz guiartist/bassist and keyboardist Jeff Lynn add some color to "Stirring" to great effect. These legendary artists appears simultaneously in FlyLo's world with rising stars like superb sax player Kamsai Washington who really add a lot of jazz texture to standouts such as "Moment Of Hesitation", "Cold World", "Turkey Dog Come", and "Moment of Hesitation".
Production is absolutely flawless throughout, the way Flying Lotus uses samples and live instruments of abstract melodies, disonant studio trickery, distorted vocals, melodic basslines, Rhodes, agressive saxophones and of course the slamming drums. As I stated before this abum really defies labeling, but might be closest to free jazz, jazz fusion or experimental electronic music. But hip-hop heads will definitely not be dissapointed either, as FlyLo creates some abstract but very dope hip-hop joints. The first single "Never Catch Me" featuring an outstanding verse from Kendrick Lamar, while Lotus' Quasimoto like alter-ego Captain Murphy gets busy on a couple of tracks and even Snoop Dogg makes an apperance on the absolutely brilliant "Dead Man's Tetris". Whatever you do don't sleep on this album!
I can't understand those people who basically only listen to strictly hip-hop music. Music as a whole is my number one love, and though hip-hop is by far my favorite genre but how someone can be musically satisfied by only listening to rap music is for me absolutely mind boggling when there's so much great music from a wide range of genres out there - jazz in all it's incarnations, blues, rock, heavy metal and industrial, and even some classical music. As a true music lover I am mad happy that we got artists like Flying Lotus and the artists on his Brainfeeder label pushing the boundaries of modern electronic music by taking a page from the past and moving forward into new terrority. As for FlyLo I've had my eyes on him since his "Cosmogramma" album in 2010, but it was when the grandson of legendary jazz pianist Alice Coltrane dropped his tripped out "Until the Quiet Comes" in 2012 that I truly fell in love with his music. After letting the 2xLP set live on my turntables and on my Android phone for a long time, I was soon after starting to fiending for new music by the DMT fanatic. For me the release of the follow-up to "Quiet", beautifully titled "You're Dead". FlyLo has more than repated that same feat of greatness again, without repeating himself. "Until the Quiet Comes"is pretty close to a perfect album, and i strongly feel that this new LP is it's sister album as it shares many similarities yet it's evolved and features a lot of new tracks.
Now in 2014, Steven Ellison, also known a Flying Lotus, returns with his sixth album, tenth if we're counting Extended Plays, "You're Dead" on October 7, via Warp Records. While "Until The Quiet Comes" was a laid back, psychadelic journey into the mind with high free jazz, jazz fusion and electronic hip-hop overtones, "You're Dead" pretty much continues where its predecessesor left off. The 20 track collection plays out more like a suite than the type of albums we are used to hear these days, be they instrumental or not. Many of the songs are only one or two minutes and throughout the whole 40 minutes LP almost every feeling is represented in the most beautiful way - whether it be straight up disonant hardcore shit (the powerful "Tesla"), laid-back music of extreme longing like one of my personal favorites "Coronus, The Terminator", heavy free jazz bangers ("Cold Dead"), the percussion and Rhodes brilliance of "Moment of Hesitation". Pointing out each song is definitely pointless as the entire album revels in front-to-back brilliance and personally I would say that this is FlyLo's finest full-length album to date. One of the main reasons for this, is that FlyLo is here taking his production to the next level - while previous albums has mainly been mainly sample based, "You're Dead" is a mixture of Lotus' sample wizardry and a host of live musicians that he has invited to the sessions. The 19/20 tracks suite (depending on which version you have) clearly has a sonic thread running throuhgout them, wihtout ever coming off as monotone. The jazz elements are way more pronounced here than on the previous FlyLo albums - so much that in fact this is the first album of his that I would feel comfortable putting in my jazz album collection. He has here gathered the usual suspects like bassist/vocalist Thundercat, sweet voiced Nikki Randa, string conductor Miguel Atwood-Fergusson, but there's also a host of legendary jazz artists adding color to the album. All these artists appeared on the previous LP as well, though not to the same extent, but on "You're Dead", Ellison takes the jazz and hip-hop approach a step further. One of my all time-favorite artists of all time, pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock adds his magical Rhodes touch on the hauntingly beautiful "Tesla" and "Madness Of Hesitation". while jazz guiartist/bassist and keyboardist Jeff Lynn add some color to "Stirring" to great effect. These legendary artists appears simultaneously in FlyLo's world with rising stars like superb sax player Kamsai Washington who really add a lot of jazz texture to standouts such as "Moment Of Hesitation", "Cold World", "Turkey Dog Come", and "Moment of Hesitation".
Production is absolutely flawless throughout, the way Flying Lotus uses samples and live instruments of abstract melodies, disonant studio trickery, distorted vocals, melodic basslines, Rhodes, agressive saxophones and of course the slamming drums. As I stated before this abum really defies labeling, but might be closest to free jazz, jazz fusion or experimental electronic music. But hip-hop heads will definitely not be dissapointed either, as FlyLo creates some abstract but very dope hip-hop joints. The first single "Never Catch Me" featuring an outstanding verse from Kendrick Lamar, while Lotus' Quasimoto like alter-ego Captain Murphy gets busy on a couple of tracks and even Snoop Dogg makes an apperance on the absolutely brilliant "Dead Man's Tetris". Whatever you do don't sleep on this album!
While Flying Lotus definitely held his own before it, with "Until the Quiet Comes" I felt that he really created a mesmerizing masterpiece of an album that defies labeling while taking the listener on a sonical journey through the depths of his or her mind. Obviously the follow-up LP, "You're Dead", is therefore highly anticipated around here and as I finally was able to give it is first spin I can say that I'm again very impressed. The album is really, really good and blends the atmosphere and genre-bending inventiveness of "The Quiet" while leaning even heavier towards an experimentation of jazz vibes - something I'm more than fine with. Check out the Hiro Murai directed video for the 1st single "Never Catch Me", featuring Mr. Kendrick Lamar on vocas. Tomorrow you'll be able to stream the album on FlyLo's official web page where you'll also find links to purchase the proejcts, so be sure to support the movement!
A couple of weeks back we heard the first single from Flying Lotus' highly anticipated "You're Dead" album on Warp Records, which drops on Warp Records on October 8. The second single is another sure shot banger and is called "Cornous, The Terminator" and it's no question that the album is shaping up real lovely. Stay tuned for more info and singles on this project which should be one of the best albums of the year.
The "Until Quiet Comes" LP is still getting spins over here, and I have to say that I'm real excited for FlyLo's upcoming project, "You're Dead". "Never Catch Me", the first official single, sees the production wizard bump heads with Kendrick Lamar on an impressive melding of styles. Besides this collabo I'm especially looking forward to the two tracks with the legendary Herbie Hancock. LP drops via Warp on October 6.
Emcee D. Prosper teamed up with the always impressive Flying Lotus for the track "Elephant Ride" on D's "Atom 12.12.12" project. The result was so stunning that now, over a year later, an animated video has been made available to the public and it's just as cool as the track deserves. Be sure to press play on the embeded player above. In case you missed the album when it first dropped, don't sleep - download "Atom 12.12.12"!
The extremely interesting musician Flying Lotus took to Twitter today to bless his fans with a free 24 track mixtape entitled "Ideas + Drafts + Loops". The cuts included on the "tape" includes outtakes from Lotus productions and remixes for himsellf, Captain Murphy, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, Kanye West, Earl Sweatshirt, and more. Flying Lotus have always defied labeling, and when he's at his best (like on "Until the Quiet Comes") he's one of the most interesting artists we have got today. Not all of his music hits home, but whatever he does his music is always interesting. Check out the "Black Skinhead" remix featuring Thundercat below and download "Ideas + Drafts + Loop" (320 kbps) below - Enjoy!
Since the start of the AC3 Hip Hop Festival the arrangers have teamed up with iHipHop distributions and released a yearly mixtape of exclusive joints by the artists from the line-up. The previous installments have been extremely well received by both fans and critics. With the festival coming up, "AC3 Volume 3" which, like its predecessors, include over 50 artists spread over two discs which undoubtedly be one to watch for. Featured artists is not known yet but the album officially drops in digital format on October 1 so stay tuned for more info!
However, the new single is here; a solo track by Azizi Gibson, one of the recent signees to Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder imprint so you know this is some good left-field shit if you're into that type of thing!Press play on the embeded YouTube file above and see what you think of it!
I really enjoyed Flying Lotus' left-field, psychadelic and experimental "Duality" album under the rapping alter-ego Captain Murphy last year and if you too dug that, the latest installment in the Adult Swim singles 2013will satisfy you in much the same way. Especially since it features MF DOOM in his Viktor Vaughn persona, the single talented cat from the Odd Future collective, plus frequent Lotus collaborator Thundercat who adds some real nice bass lines to the haunting piano keys and overall dark mood of the track. Titled "Between Villains", the single is a sequel/remix to the Captain's previous collaboration with Earl Sweatshirt called "Between Friends". For some reason I can't seem to embed the Soundcloud link, or even find it once I click on it, so I'll link you over to Okayplayer below til' I'm able to fix that! Link borrowed from EarMilk, much thanks guys!
As I have stated several times over the passed year, Flying Lotus is one of my main inspirations at the moment as I've always been a big fan of experimental music and FlyLo is by far the one doing the most experimental while not totally abandoning his hip-hop roots. Besides fantastic recent albums like the Captain Murphy joint, "Until the Quiet Comes" and some of his loose productions, FlyLo has been producing theme music and things like that for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series. Beside the original 30 second beat for the end credits of the channel's "Adventure Time", the Soundcloud link below also features an extended remix version called "About That Time / A Glitch is a Glitch". Love it or hate it, but give it a chance. Spotted @OKP.
Flying Lotus has been one of the most incredible artists ofthe last year; all genres considered. First inviting us to the dream-like world created by the mostly instrumental "Until The Quiet Comes", and now opening up a completely different chapter as the voice-altered emcee Captain Murphy. The concept is similiar to what Madlib did with Quasimoto, yet Lotus completely makes it his own, providing a unique weirdness that makes "Duality" one of the most interesting LP's of the day. From that album we now get the official video for the Batman-inspired tale called "The Killing Joke".
NPR brings out another appreciated "First Listen" with an early preview of the upcoming album by much praised LA producer Flying Lotus. Possibly less experimental than previous outings, "Until The Quiet Comes" features a soothing blend of dusty jazz and scorching hip-hop breaks. Guests are kept at a minimum, but Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke both pop up for a guest apperance each. The physical album will be available in stores on October 2 via Warp Records. Click here for tracklist and individual song streams.
