Send "Flying Lotus " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Thephoenix |
 Only an experimental laptop artist whose music exists primarily for pensive white weedheads would purport his new album to be “basically the studies that map out the universe and the relations of heaven and hell,” as Flying Lotus — a/k/a Steven Ellison — did in a January interview with Pitchfork. You’ve gotta hand it to the guy for nailing his own pretenses, though — Cosmogramma is decidedly more, uh, cosmic, than his 2008 Los Angeles, in its atmospheric spiral away from the beat and toward a more free-flowing collage of instrumentation.An ode to his late and great aunt Alice Coltrane, this disc is heavy on jazzy flows and orchestral elements, all backlit by Ellison’s trademark crackles and glitches. And let’s not forget the star-studded guest list....full text |
| Dustedmagazine |
| Okay, we might as well get this out of the way, because every review of Los Angeles mentions one key reference point: Flying Lotus––née Steven Ellison––is the grandnephew of Alice Coltrane. It's a convenient and eye-catching association that will follow Ellison's career each step of the way. In fact, it was the extraordinary jazz musician's gentle nudging that pushed Ellison's career ambitions from filmmaking into music. And for that matter, Ellison shares Coltrane’s use of pulsing, breathy textures. His materials may be those of the Nintendo generation rather than the acoustic-based instrumentation of the 60s, but the importance of atmosphere and resonance––so crucial to Coltrane's blend of spiritual free jazz and cerebral modal music––are certainly not lost on Ellison. But just how does one recreate the sense of room and tonal development in a world of digital samplers and sequencers? In this aspect, Ellison learns from his contemporary peers. His Warp full-length debut contains sonic elements akin to many like-minded Los Angeles musicians––Madlib, Ammoncontact, Daedelus, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Nobody, Dntel, Koushik and Exile––and it’s also clear that Ellison has been influenced by the cream of the left-field instrumental hip-hop crowd––Jay Dee, Prefuse 73, Dabrye and Jnerio Jarel. All of these musicians/producers have mastered the process of stringing samples together fluidly in a haze of noise byproduct (static, fuzz, pops, crackle, etc). Likewise, Ellison’s work features few discernable loop breaks, while acoustic drums and live synthesizers work to disguise rigidity with layers of lapping sound. Somewhere along the way, Pete Rock's stiff but soulful rap productions crossed paths with Aphex Twin's avant-garde electronica and Rob Mazurek's 21st century psychedelic fusion to birth Flying Lotus, a headphone producer who bridges the world of beat, blip and bop....full text |
| Bbc |
| Along with the rising profiles of both Scottish producer Rustie and fellow Warp artist Harmonic 313, FlyLo's migration to the Sheffield label for his first full-length release indicates that this strain of instrumental, broken hip hop is whetting aural appetites. Steven Ellison's hometown provides the impetus for a narrative of city life where off-kilter beats, cloaked in ambience, set the soundscape. His is an L.A that threatens; the ominous, static fog of opener Brainfeeder seduces, while Roberta Flack is just sublime. Where David Holmes' Bow Down To The Exit Sign packed a visceral, urban punch through spoken monologues from corner street dwellers, Ellison's eschewing of M.Cs smacks of confidence. Without lyrical clutter the imagined city is as much the listener's creation as the artist's, a trick that perhaps betrays Ellison's jazz lineage (his aunt is Alice Coltrane). Prefuse 73's shadow looms large over the wonderfully-monikered Beginners Falafel and the crunchy edits of Camel. That aside, Ellison's deftness of touch, matched with the application of ethereal backdrops that recall EL P's stone cold work with Cannibal Ox, ensure this street storyboard intensifies with each listen. The rabbit-warren, rhythmic freefall of Riot, for example, baits the listener to grapple with its organised chaos....full text |
Flying Lotus lyrics
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