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FLYING LOTUS

Smoke DZA X Flying Lotus

Flying Objects

    Flying Objects is the new collaborative project from indie heavyweights Smoke DZA and Flying Lotus - featuring Black Thought (The Roots/Jimmy Fallon), Estelle, Conway The Machine, and more. Smoke DZA is a popular independent rapper from New York City who has worked with Big K.R.I.T., Wiz Khalifa, Action Bronson and ASAP Rocky among others, and is a founding member of the Smokers Club.

    His album, Rolling Stoned was awarded the High Times Doobie Award for Hip Hop album of the year for 2011. Other popular album releases include Rugby Thompson (produced by Harry Fraud), Dream.Zone.Achieve (features from Cam'ron, Joey Bada$$, Ab-Soul, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y), and Don't Smoke Rock (produced by Pete Rock).

    Flying Lotus is a producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles who has worked with Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Chance The Rapper, Blu and more. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. He has released seven studio albums. His debut project 1983 dropped in 2006 on Stones Throw Records and his next six projects all came out on Warp Records - to critical acclaim.

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Spiritual
    A2. Painted Houses (feat. Conway The Machine)
    A3. Zelle Transfers
    A4. Drug Trade (feat. Black Thought)
    A5. Harlem World 97 (feat. Estelle)
    B1. Spiritual (Instrumental)
    B2. Painted Houses (Instrumental)
    B3. Zelle Transfers (Instrumental)
    B4. Drug Trade (Instrumental)
    B5. Harlem World 97 (Instrumental)

    Three years in the making, Netflix’s “Yasuke” is a six-episode anime series created by Bronx-bred and Japan-based television animation creator, producer, and director LeSean Thomas (Cannon Busters, Children of Ether, The Boondocks) and starring actor / executive producer LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Sorry To Bother You) as the voice of the title character. Yasuke tells the story of a samurai warrior of African descent in a fantastical alternate universe version of feudal Japan full of magic, mechs, and of course, swordplay.

    A dream project for the producer, Flying Lotus consulted on the story, working alongside renowned anime creators Studio MAPPA as an executive producer on the project. The skillset of the GRAMMY AWARD winning producer is on complete display on the album, hybridizing synth melodies, bass lines and machine generated drum patterns while exploring new sonic territory -- traditional Japanese percussion instruments like the taiko and hyōshigi and west African percussion — a nod to the Afro-Japanese, feudal yet futuristic world Yasuke inhabits.

    'You haven't really heard an anime score do a "Blade Runner" thing,’ he says, ‘I was like, let me try and get into the headspace of that, but also there were several things that were part of the recipe for me. I thought about when Dilla would sample [Isao] Tomita and people like Vangelis, and how he had a [signature] sound when he did that sort of thing.’. 


    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: There's no way this isn't going to be massive. It sounds like quintessential Fly-Lo, with some of the more experimental elements tempered into a more evocative, hypnotic whole. Brilliantly effective as a soundtrack, and just as listenable on it's own. Wonderfully inventive and beautifully produced.

    TRACK LISTING

    LP Tracklisting
    A1. War At The Door
    A2. Black Gold (feat. Thundercat)
    A3. Your Lord
    A4. Shoreline Sus
    A5. Hiding In The Shadows (feat. Niki Randa)
    A6. Crust
    A7. Fighting Without Honor
    A8. Pain And Blood
    A9. War Lords
    A10. Sachi
    A11. Your Screams
    A12. Using What You Got
    B1. African Samurai (feat. Denzel Curry)
    B2. Where’s The Girl?
    B3. Kurosaka Strikes!
    B4. This Cursed Life
    B5. RoBomb
    B6. Taiko Time // Sacrifice
    B7. Your Day Off
    B8. Your Armour
    B9. Enchanted
    B10. Mind Flight
    B11. Survivors
    B12. Your Head // We Won
    B13. The Eyes Of Vengeance
    B14. Between Memories (feat. Niki Randa)

    CD Tracklisting
    1. War At The Door
    2. Black Gold (feat. Thundercat)
    3. Your Lord
    4. Shoreline Sus
    5. Hiding In The Shadows (feat. Niki Randa)
    6. Crust
    7. Fighting Without Honor
    8. Pain And Blood
    9. War Lords
    10. Sachi
    11. Your Screams
    12. Using What You Got
    13. African Samurai (feat. Denzel Curry)
    14. Where’s The Girl?
    15. Kurosaka Strikes!
    16. This Cursed Life
    17. RoBomb
    18. Taiko Time // Sacrifice
    19. Your Day Off
    20. Your Armour
    21. Enchanted
    22. Mind Flight
    23. Survivors
    24. Your Head // We Won
    25. The Eyes Of Vengeance
    26. Between Memories (feat. Niki Randa)

    Flying Lotus

    Presents INFINITY Infinitum - Maida Vale Session

      We skip across BBC studios to Maida Vale for the next installment of Warp's TX reissue series.

      Four tracks from FlyLo's stupendous "INFINITY INFITITUM" session, recorded in 2010. Starting with "MmmHmm", suspended on elevated chords and with his punchy, meandering bass sound resplendent throughout; it's a celestial and urgent affair all at once.

      "Golden Axe" is a showcase of musicianship - with highly accomplished bass solos and moody brass journey throughout woodland moods and into enchanted realms.

      Side B sees dancefloor-ready cut, "Tea Leaf Dancers" skip over woodblocks and fluttering organ lines with Andreya Triana's distinctive and sensual vocal delivery more than bolstering the sum of the track's worth.

      "Drips", the most electrified and experimental of the set dazzles the listener with wide-spectrum synthlines, wild saxophone and rampant bass and drum interplay. Add a fully accomplished jazz group and you've got yourself a high watermark, free-jazz staple for the 22nd century.

      Detailing an artist mid-flow state and still in his ascention, this 2010 selection show us how skilled and inventive this new force of modern jazz was, and still is nine years later. Mammoth! 


      TRACK LISTING

      A1. MmmHmm
      A2. Golden Axe
      B1. Tea Leaf Dancers
      B2. Drips

      Nearly 5 years after the last Flying Lotus album, the Grammy-nominated You’re Dead!, and Flying Lotus’ stock has never been higher. The interim years have seen him collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on the classic "To Pimp a Butterfly", directing and writing the Sundance-premiered Kuso movie, and producing much of Thundercat’s "Drunk".

      Flamagra encompasses hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, global dance music, tribal poly-rhythms, IDM, the L.A. Beat scene, but it soars above a specific vortex whose coordinates can’t be accurately charted. Other than to say that it is a Flying Lotus record, perhaps the definitive one.

      Flamagra features (in order of appearance): Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Little Dragon, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, David Lynch, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, Toro y Moi, Solange and more.

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Patrick says: Blurring genre boundaries as ever, Steven Ellison AKA Flying Lotus fucks with jazz, hip-hop, RnB, juke, soul and soft rock on his sixth LP. This time he keeps the interludes short and so so sweet, and invites the likes of Solange, Anderson .Paak, George Clinton and Thundercat to guest on his strongest songs to date. Sublime, beautiful and brilliant.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Heroes
      2. Post Requisite
      3. Heroes In A Half Shell
      4. More Feat. Anderson .Paak
      5. Capillaries
      6. Burning Down The House Feat. George Clinton
      7. Spontaneous Feat. Little Dragon
      8. Takashi
      9. Pilgrim Side Eye
      10. All Spies
      11. Yellow Belly Feat. Tierra Whack
      12. Black Balloons Reprise Feat. Denzel Curry
      13. Fire Is Coming Feat. David Lynch
      14. Inside Your Home
      15. Actually Virtual Feat. Shabazz Palaces
      16. Andromeda
      17. Remind U
      18. Say Something
      19. Debbie Is Depressed
      20. Find Your Own Way Home
      21. The Climb Feat. Thundercat
      22. Pygmy
      23. 9 Carrots Feat. Toro Y Moi
      24. FF4
      25. Land Of Honey Feat. Solange
      26. Thank U Malcolm
      27. Hot Oct.

      Flying Lotus

      You're Dead!

        Flying Lotus returns with ‘You’re Dead!’. At once reflective, restless, heart wrenching and joyous, this is a melodic ode to those who have died young, suddenly and unexpectedly, while also existing as a comfort to those mourning the loss of a loved one. ‘You’re Dead!’ serves as an exploration, a eulogy and a portal between the parallel domains of life and afterlife.

        ‘You’re Dead!’ features another set of genre-blending tracks from Fly'Lo, with fluid movement between hip hop, jazz-funk and electronica, often combining all three elements densely woven together. Across the album bassist Thundercat lays down some furious fingerwork, while the drum programming gives free jazz a run for its money. Elsewhere things get deep and spiritual, with the influence of his late aunt Alice Coltrane shining through. Flying Lotus provides vocals and rapping as alter ego Captain Murphy, and he's also joined by some to notch guest MCs (Snoop Dogg, longtime FlyLo muse Niki Randa and Kendrick Lamar - whose easy shift between spitting rhymes and a sung delivery works perfectly with the music). Other collaborations on ‘You’re Dead!’ include original jazz-funk pioneer Herbie Hancock and Dirty Projectors' Angel Deradoorian.

        “Flying Lotus has become a standard-bearer for 21st century beat construction by looking forward and backward simultaneously and making music that feels like an exploration” - Pitchfork


        Flying Lotus

        Until The Quiet Comes

          Flying Lotus finally releases 'Until The Quiet Comes', the long awaited follow-up to 2010's 'Cosmogramma' and his third album on Warp Records.

          Composed, according to Flying Lotus, as “a collage of mystical states, dreams, sleep and lullabies”, 'Until the Quiet Comes' has the distinct feel of this nocturnal trip. From the twitching descent into a subconscious state and the out-of-focus time-ether of the journey that follows, the sound is an unhinged, yet elegant evolution of the melodic and rhythmic interplay that is woven into the DNA of Flying Lotus’ aural personae.

          All this stylistic mingling and genre-melting has contributed significantly to shift music in a direction that makes intellectual leaps without forsaking the all-important heft of a bassline or unimpeded ‘swing’ of a drum beat - the same way so many masters of soul music have infused their songs for lovers and dancers with brilliant and heady subtext for decades. 'Until The Quiet Comes' follows this tradition while clearing a path distinctly its own, which is a mark of a classic.

          The album sees longtime FlyLo muses Niki Randa and Laura Darlington return, as well as Thom Yorke, Thundercat and the inimitable queen of leftfield R&B herself, Erykah Badu, whose turn on the epic rumble of ‘See Thru To U’ is one of many highlights.

          Flying Lotus

          Pattern+Grid World

            With the recent album "Cosmogramma" FlyLo created a self-proclaimed ‘space opera’ masterwork of breathtaking scope, instrumentation and acclaim (#5 best reviewed album of the year, according to Metacritic). On "Pattern+Grid World" Lotus pulls the focus back to his machines. The seven tracks provided here happily sit at the edge of the alt-hip hop sound spectrum, dishing out scrambled beats and angular keyboard riffs with all sorts of Heath Robinson or Radiophonic Workshop-esque electronica seeping into the mix. A large proportion of the these new tracks have been a staple of Flying Lotus recent live shows and are now finally available for fans to own.


            Looking back, Flying Lotus’ full-length Warp debut, "Los Angeles" appears to be much more of a mission statement than a simple introduction – laying the foundation for a field on which an entire generation of artists would soon be playing. While that album was an introspective, moody travelogue through the Californian metropolis, it certainly hinted at his inclination to expand his sound beyond terrestrial means. As you may deduce from the title of his latest opus, he’s done just that. Not only has an entirely new range of sounds been unlocked by our intrepid astral traveler, but every genre touchstone associated with his name has been merged into a self-described 'space opera'. Seamless in execution and too wide in scope to properly describe, it's the authentic embodiment of his unique musical heritage. The spirit of his famed aunt, Alice Coltrane permeates the record, notably in the powerful collaborations with relative Ravi Coltrane, bass virtuoso Thundercat and the brilliant harp prodigy, Rebekah Raff.

            Certainly these are further reaches into a musical space that Flying Lotus had hitherto been exploring, however other collaborators such as Erykah Badu and Outkast string arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and guest vocalists Thom Yorke and a returning Laura Darlington (featured on "Los Angeles"’ epic closing track "Inifinitum") help deliver "Cosmogramma" to dizzying new heights. All this name-dropping, however, is not to detract from the genius of the wizard-like figure behind it all. The most powerful aspect of FlyLo’s output has always been its ability to communicate his boundless love and enthusiasm for music in all its forms and that is what is boldly on display here.

            People speak about ‘important’ albums all the time, but rarely is it so apparent that person behind them is following their own, chosen path – Flying Lotus is one of those precious few artists. When one is presented with an invitation for space travel, it’s not something to pass up.

            TRACK LISTING

            01. Clock Catcher
            02. Pickled!
            03. Nose Art
            04. Intro//A Cosmic Drama
            05. Zodiac Shit
            06. Computer Face//Pure Being
            07. ..And The World Laughs With You Ft. Thom Yorke
            08. Arkestry
            09. Mmmhmm Ft.Thundercat
            10. Do The Astral Plane
            11. Satelllliiiiiteee
            12. German Haircut
            13. Recoiled
            14. Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph
            15. Drips//Auntie's Harp
            16. Table Tennis Ft. Laura Darlington
            17. Galaxy In Janaki

            Flying Lotus

            Los Angeles

              Hip hop has come a long way since the days of Adidas shell toes and 'yes yes, ya'll', splintering into a variety of guises, from blinged-up cartoon gangsterism to the most leftfield, underground 'but is it hip hop?' sounds. Steven Ellison, using his Flying Lotus moniker, falls into the latter camp, producing some of the most interesting, subtle and beautiful hiptronica / wonky-hop around right now (alongside the likes of Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Dabrye etc). On his second long player "Los Angeles", the tracks (all 17 of them) are built on standard hip hop beats-and-samples foundations, but then take the left-hand fork in the road, crunching and distorting those neck-snapping beats and slicing the samples up into intricate snippets to create layered textures of woozy future electroid psychedelia. If you fell in love with Burial in 2007, and are ready for something with a bit more oomph, then look no further.

              Flying Lotus

              Reset

                Debut Warp EP from one of the world's freshest and most anticipated production talents. Straddling seemingly insurmountable musical divides and impossible to pigeonhole, Flying Lotus already boasts an imposing and diverse list of admirers, including alternative heroes Prefuse 73, Madlib, and the late J Dilla, respected tastemakers Gilles Peterson, Mary-Anne Hobbs and Benji B and leaders of the UK underground Kode 9 and Digital Mystikz, to name just a few. These props were for tracks made while still in his teens on the album "1983" (a limited release on the influential Plug Research label) to the remixes of Kelis, Madvillain, Mia Doi Todd and Dabrye / Dilla that have spread like viral wildfire online.


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