Back in the office beaming with pleasure after purchasing some bargain PJ smoothies. If you bought them at Tescos, one meagre bottle costs about the same as a packet of fags. Health rules but my wallet can't keep up with it. That's why Britain's sub classes are often obese & can't walk up inclines without coughing up a lungful of something horrid. What has that to do with the new Flying Lotus LP, 'Los Angeles'on Waaaaaarp? Well, precicely jack! Except this is music for healthy minds, some seriously dope atmospheric/futuristic hip-hop & techno soul (no, this has nothing to do with Jamie Lidells current incarnation) that pushes boundaries with it's widescreen scope & tantalisingly crisp production. This is what Warp are about, absorbing, forward thinking electronic music that sets a benchmark. Track 5 melt is bloody stunning, all swaggering tribal dub techno but seriously, you can't pigeonhole anything on this album. It's a pioneering blend of styles that's easy on the ear and teasing to the feet. Some of the sounds are a move on from ideas born in the 90s with producers like Plaid who took ambient moods and stapled them onto progressive breaks and scintillating samples. Then in the last few years we've had folk like Prefuse 73 infusing instrumental hip-hop with some real smarty pants jiggery-pokery & jazzy flecks. Flying Lotus lets go of a lot of the glitchy cut up nonsense & lets the music floooow like a river of kaleidoscopic dreams. The beats are amazing, forward thinking but definitely not too abstract. The wall of sound produced is spacious & hugely absorbing. You'll really have to listen up y' all! This album is the finest thing i've heard on Warp for quite some time, it really massages your musical mind. No wonder ex towers beard Mingus was such a fan of this bright new spark! CD/Dbl LP
Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.
What their label says...
A truly rare talent whose inspired mix of organic hip hop, maniacal
synths, chest-punching bass and deep, intricate electronic textures is
making waves and influencing a new generation of electronic producers
worldwide. Of a rich musical lineage, his grandmother wrote songs
for Diana Ross & The Supremes and Motown, and his aunt was beloved
jazz luminary Alice Coltrane. His list of early fans reads like a
who's who of progressive pop music; Wu Tang’s RZA, with whom he has
just finished a UK tour, Massive Attack, who personally invited him to
play Future Sounds Of Hip Hop at Meltdown, and Portishead’s Geoff
Barrow, proclaiming him as a major influence on his band’s stunning
album ‘Third’. Flying Lotus is no faceless producer, instead
building an awesome reputation as the most crowd-smashing live
electronic act you’ve ever seen – “Madlib dancing with Man Parrish… A
warp five gospel of the mind” - Plan B. Gorgeous, premium packaging across a deluxe CD with art booklet, card wallet and varnish slipcase, and gatefold double vinyl.
Other items by Flying Lotus
1983 Flying Lotus LP (vinyl), £10.79 Sorry - sold out.
