- Multimedia artist Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison is set to release his first full-length album in five years, titled Flamagra. This follows the 2014 album You’re Dead. In the time since he hasn’t been idle however, scoring an animation and some films and directing his own feature-length film in addition to producing well-received albums from Thundercat and Kamasi Washington. For Flamagra, however, Flying Lotus is back at the helm, doing the thing for which he's most revered, serving us sixty-plus minutes of beats and electrified jazz.
Takashi is a personal favourite and a mid-album highlight. Essentially it’s a great disco track with a lot going on under the surface. The repetitive form of the disco is elaborated on, punctuated by some fantastic instrumental performances and improvisational elements. The last two minutes are a particular treat. As a development of his sound, a number of the tracks have a similar disco flavour, such as Spontaneous which features Little Dragon and The Climb with Thundercat. All of them boast funky clavinet and are dancefloor freindly. Inside Your House is an intriguing, uptempo waltz while 9 Carrots featuring Toro Y Moi has a laidback feel with its CR-78 drum sounds.
There are more straight ahead hiphop numbers in the mix too, like Andromeda and FF4. I really dig the obligatory electro track Yellow Belly featuring Tierra Whack. She’s a total star, managing to keep her lyrics absurd and hook-laden at the same time.
In addition to the features there are numerous instrumentals. Say Something is an interesting departure, a mostly acoustic cut with piano, strings and guitar that sounds like it belongs in a movie scene. Hot Oct. is a jazzy interlude that reminds one of Sun Ra.
To be honest I’m not crazy about every track here and, beyond the hype your mileage may vary – but hey, that’s the beauty of a mixtape (you can pick and choose). Regardless of any of it, Flying Lotus is a good producer who has carved out his own space (a space with a lot of chimes). Part of this is due to his frequent collaborators Thundercat and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Together with his friends and for the first time in ages, FlyLo has come surging back. Carried along in that musical king-tide, you'll find that Ellison has brought some great tunes.
- Hillfolk.