SECURE SHOPPING
Having recently revealed their new home on docklands space deep in East London, the organizers behind the Bloc Festival today added further spice with the first round of line-up details which truly straddles the electronic spectrum.
L.A. beatsmith Flying Lotus (real name Steven Ellison) will debut an all new live show in London this October.
As previously reported, Flying Lotus let loose with the news that his Brainfeeder imprint would be releasing Ghost People, the highly anticipated second album from Martyn, in October. A taste of what to expect arrives via the double A Side single Masks /Vipers.
Flying Lotus has revealed his Brainfeeder imprint will release Ghost People – the much awaited second album from Martyn – later this summer.
Flying Lotus makes directorial debut on Bilal’s “Levels”
by Juno Plus on 25.01.2011 at 11:31amFULL SCREEN
The Sounds of VTech / Bilal Levels 
LA beat wizard Flying Lotus has added another string to his creative bow, directing the music video for Bilal’s new single “Levels” [via The LA Times blog].
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After the “next level jazz shit” of Cosmogramma, you’d forgive Flying Lotus for a taking some time out and maybe hit some clubs in LA to find his next Brainfeeder signee. Instead he’s spent the past few months scouring the inner workings of his clearly impressive musical brain to deliver Pattern & Grid World, seven tracks of expansive machine funk futurism. Commencing with the hazy mist of psychedelic soul synths flourishes and intricate beat patterns that is “Clay” Ellison demonstrate an ever increasing array of beat poetry. “Kill Your Co-Workers” marries tinny drum and bass programming with an ever expanding opulence of joyous melodies whilst “Pie Face” drops outer galactic grime syncopation over kaleidoscopic bass patterns. “Time Vampires” could soundtrack the astro travelling Lord Quas referred to on the classic Madlib album The Unseen whilst “Jurassic Notion/ M Theory” splays wonked out afro percussion over belly level schizoid bass lines. The final rhythmic jolt of “Physics For Everyone” replete with head first plunges into industrial bass makes this a bewitching complement to Ellison’s highly lauded album.
Tony Poland
There was a huge sense of anticipation building in the darkened room of the ICA on Wednesday August 18. For those who had attended the Brainfeeder event the previous weekend, or the sold out live performance of his film score for Harry Smith’s 1957 film Heaven & Earth Magic at the Tate Modern on Monday, this was the final part of Flying Lotus aka Steven Ellison’s tripartite series of London events this summer.
LA beatsmith Flying Lotus will follow up his acclaimed 2010 album Cosmogramma with a seven-track EP, titled Patter + Grid World, to be released next month on Warp Records.
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Anticipation for the release of Mr Oizo’s film Rubber amongst the Gallic house loving cognoscenti is trumped only by Disney’s forthcoming Tron: Legacy blockbuster and its associated soundtrack from Daft Punk. Whereas the latter also features an Oscar winner in Jeff Bridges and some eye candy in Olivia Wilde, Rubber’s plot structure depicting the homicidal rampage of a tyre blessed with psychokinetic powers leaves a little to be desired.
At least Mr Oizo has got the music perfectly judged thanks in no small part to the presence of Gaspard Auge (you might remember him from popular beat combo Justeeece) if this four track EP is any indication. The title track “Rubber” is familiarly schizophrenic Oizo territory, commencing with a mere hint of Morricone atmospherics put through the loop grinder before the drop into a scratched line of bleeptronics and ADD vocal samples. “Rubber” finds its legs when bass patterns reminiscent of Justice in their pomp take centre stage.
Flying Lotus strikes you as an obscure choice for remix duties but the Brainfeeder don does a superlative job on his Unprotected Sex mix, laying mutant synth lines and spaced out textures atop the mix for a truly demented vision of the source material. On the flip “Tricycle Express” is a new variation on the sort of escalating retro electro synth mastodon that invariably appear a B-Sides on Ed Banger releases. “Polocaust” rounds things off with a certain degree of musical intrigue as Oizo and Auge flip the script totally, crafting a symphonia of Baroque melody which no doubt is the musical backdrop to a particularly grisly scene involving chickens. Tony Poland
Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig, Goldie (pictured above) and Flying Lotus are among the names announced to perform at this year’s Warehouse Project, which should keep everyone warm this winter.
We have found the new Flying Lotus application one of the more relaxing ways to wile away an afternoon at work.
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Warp Records genre-bending producer extraordinaire, Flying Lotus (née Steven Ellison), returns with the follow up to his highly successful and oft imitated Los Angeles with Cosmogramma – arguably the most anticipated electronic album of 2010. And from the opening seconds of first track “Clock Catcher”, it quickly becomes evident that Fly Lo is working on a whole new level of ‘next shit’ here. This may throw some listeners for a loop at first, however, after a couple of listens you’ll begin to understand exactly why Fly Lo has described the album as his “space opera”.
The obvious stylistic difference with Cosmogramma is that it adopts a jazzier feel to it, rather than the fragmented hip-hop of Los Angeles and 1983. Its closest reference point seems to be the stuff a later Miles and Trane would have made if they had access to the technology. The album is definitively out there, and will no doubt be just as railed against as highly lauded by the critics because of this. But for this listener, it’s a fantastically heady album with amazing beats, funked-out basslines (at times reminiscent of Squarepusher), smooth jazz breaks, and overall it comes across as a much more personal recording for Ellison, as he attempts to tap into his family’s rich musical roots.
Fly Lo is nephew to Alice Coltrane, wife of John, and a highly accomplished jazz musician in her own right (read more about that in our recent interview with Ellison), and auntie Alice’s influence is in the forefront here, as he samples her playing the harp, and her son Ravi playing the saxophone throughout. His collab with Thom Yorke is fine, and will no doubt be deemed a highlight, yet tracks like “Zodiac S**t”, “MmmHmm”, “Do The Astral Plane”, and “Recoiled” are major hitters on the record, and all so very different stylistically, you just gotta hear it to believe it. The album ends with “Galaxy in Janaki”, his most hip-hop track on the album, yet instead of it being a dark and ominous closer, it features a swirling symphony, frenetic bass, and seems charged with a bright optimism for the future evolution of his sound. Next shit indeed.
Review: Matt Leslie
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LA’s favourite leftfield hip-hopper Flying Lotus will preview tracks from his new album Cosmogramma on a live radio broadcast from 8pm tonight (GMT).
Artist: Andreya Triana
Title: Lost Where I Belong
Label: Ninja Tune
Genre: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
Format: Digital
Buy From: Juno Download
Already a veteran of a number of collaborations within Tru Thoughts (TM Juke and Natural Self) as well as within the Ninja Tune family (Bonobo and Mr Scruff), singer Andreya Triana finally breaks out on her own this year with an album and this single both entitled “Lost Where I Belong”. It should be hot property if this release is anything to go by.
Produced by Bonobo aka Simon Green, it’s a laid back and beautifully relaxed affair with a lightness of touch on the drums, acoustic guitars and double bass – pitching it somewhere between Bill Withers and Nick Drake. Triana’s vocals fit like a glove with this kind of backing as she takes her time over every line, growing over the choruses until her melody is joined by strings on a rousing middle eight. It’s delicious stuff, and if you prefer an even more pared-down version, the single comes with an acoustic version that let’s the melody shine through even clearer.
The presence of LA beat wizard Flying Lotus on the remix makes “Lost Where I Belong” an even more essential purchase. With Triana having already lent her dulcet tones to Fly-Lo’s “Tea Leaf Dancers”, the favour gets returned here as he jumbles the ingredients into a psychedelic stew, adding some cool vibrato to the strings as well as throwing in harps and off-kilter drum hits into the mix too. It’s easy to see why Fly-Lo has attracted such a legion of fans (recent collaborator Thom Yorke included), and he certainly won’t disappoint anyone yet another exquisite treatment.
Review: Oliver Keens
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Flying Lotus – aka Steven Ellison – is about to release one of the most anticipated records of 2010. Cosmogramma, the follow up to the much-vaulted Los Angeles LP, is “more dynamic, bigger in scope and more textured” than his previous work, according to the man himself.
The Warp-signed producer grew up in auspicious musical surroundings – his great aunt was Alice Coltrane, the acclaimed pianist and composer, who he cites as his biggest inspiration. As such he brings a fluid, jazz-like style to his futuristic hip-hop tinged electronica – an incredibly unique and fascinating combination. Juno Plus caught up with Ellison during a recent visit to London for the Red Bull Music Academy.
Californian producer Flying Lotus has announced a busy March tour schedule, which takes in live shows at Berghain, fabric, the BLOC weekend and the prestigious SWSW festival in Texas.
The new Flying Lotus album, to be released in May on Warp Records, will feature a collaboration with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, it has been revealed.
