Until the Quiet Comes

by Flying Lotus

I think Flying Lotus's new album, Until the Quiet Comes, is probably my favourite album of the year.  In these eighteen tracks, FlyLo takes his music into some places he hasn't gone before, delivering a complete package that is more thoughtful, beautiful, and also accessible than anything he's done before.

I've admired his work for some time now, but sometimes have found listening to him to be distracting or a more cerebral than enjoyable endeavour (depending on my mood).  With this album, he wraps everything in such lush, atmospheric sounds, that I find I can leave the album on repeat for hours and just get lost in it.

A big part of what makes this album work so well is the blending of electronic music with live instruments, with guests such as Thundercat, Austin Peralta (RIP), and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson adding to the richness of the tracks.  There are vocals by Niki Randa, Laura Darlington, Thom Yorke, and Erykah Badu, providing some of the nicest tracks on the album.  My favourite track, though, is 'Putty Boy Strut'.

Flying Lotus is one of the most exciting artists in the business right now.  His music is almost impossible to categorize - he uses the phrase dubstep, but I still think of it more as post hip-hop - and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Raw Money Raps

by Jeremiah Jae

I've reached the point where any new album or project coming out from Brainfeeder is something I'll buy on sight, even if I'm not previously familiar with the artist.

Where most of the Brainfeeder are left-field electronic artists, trading in instrumentals, Jeremiah Jae is a double-threat producer and rapper.  His beats definitely fit with the label's aesthetic, and his raps work well with that type of sound.

Jae produces the same layered tracks that we've come to expect from label mates Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and Teebs, but he adds that verbal layer to the proceedings, in his blunted, laconic style.  He approaches a lot of the standard hiphop tropes (the album is called Raw Money Raps, so this shouldn't be a surprise), but he manages to transcend the lazy boredom of most hiphop.

The second half of the album gets a little lost amid some interlude-style tracks (with the exception of the sublimely driving 'Hercules Versus the Commune'), but the first half is pretty fierce.  Tracks like 'Seasons' and 'Guns Go Off' showcase Jae's skills perfectly.  The stand-out track is 'Cat Fight', which is actually produced by FlyLo, but it's where Jae sounds best as well.

If you are looking for hip-hop that is moving in some new directions, this is worth checking out.

NoYork!

by Blu

So, after years of releasing albums on his own, or on independent labels, Blu finally drops a major-label album, and it has poorer distribution than anything else he's done.  I haven't been able to find this album on sale anywhere in Toronto, and instead had to mail-order it from the US (I am not a downloader).  When I get the album, it's in a cardboard sleeve with no name, credits, or track listing.  The picture shown to the right shows the four different packages that this disc comes packaged in one of.

Anyway, who cares about all that stuff, because it's all about the music, right?  Blu has been on my radar since Below the Heavens, his excellent debut with producer Exile.  This is easily the most solid release he's had since then.

There are a few sides of Blu.  We get the young rapper who likes to brag about his early exploits - sexual and otherwise, but we also get a more thoughtful, contemplative artist (like on 'Spring Winter Summer Fall').  He has a great voice, and a nice laid-back flow.

The production on this album is wonderful.  Blu works with Madlib, Flying Lotus, Shafiq Husayn, Samiyam, Dibia$e, Exile, and Knxwledge.  I think he produces a couple of tracks himself too - there are some with credits missing on the album's Wikipedia page.  He is joined by Edan, Jack Davey, Sa-Ra, U-God, Tiombe Lockhart, and a number of other singers and rappers I'm not that familiar with.

This is easily one of the best hip-hop albums I've heard lately, from an artist who is maturing nicely into a unique and consistent voice. It's well worth getting if you can find a copy (it's not available on Amazon).

The Golden Age of Apocalypse

by Thundercat

One of my favourite albums of 2011, The Golden Age of Apocalypse is a treasure trove of jazzy chill-out music.  Thundercat, a protege of Flying Lotus, who produced this album, plays bass and sings on some of the songs.

Unlike a lot of what I've come to expect from Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label, there is not a lot of weirdness to this album.  Instead, there are plenty of lovely songs made all the better by Thundercat's slightly haunting voice.

I lack the musical vocabulary to really explain what makes this album so special; it will have to suffice to say that I like it a lot.

Pattern + Grid World

by Flying Lotus

It hasn't been very long since Flying Lotus dropped his Cosmogramma album on us, yet he's already back with this very brief, eighteen-minute, seven-track EP, Pattern + Grid World.

This disc is pretty much exactly what you've come to expect from FL.  There are some kooky abstract beats, but there are also some instrumental tracks that seem to tell a story, such as 'Kill Your Co-Workers'.
The EP moves from sparse and calculating to lush and soulful over its short lifetime, and should be checked out.

It's hard to tell what the intentions of the artist are on a work like this, but with track titles like 'Physics for Everyone!', 'Time Vampires', and the aforementioned 'Co-Workers', it's easy to assume that Flying Lotus is just kicking back and letting loose.

The cover artist's work looks very familiar, but is not credited on the case anywhere that I can find.  Can someone fill me in?

Cosmogramma

by Flying Lotus

The new Flying Lotus album starts with ten seconds of the growing sound from Super Mario Brothers, and you think you're in for one annoying piece of work.  Twenty seconds later, you're listening to some of the most textured and beautiful post-hip hop electronica you've ever heard, and you can relax and let this disc wash over you.

This is a very accomplished collection of music that moves between a number of different moods and atmospheres, although there is an underlying feeling of optimism throughout the experience.  While there are dark tracks, this is by no means a dark album.

Flying Lotus makes use of a number of interesting sonic combinations, including on 'Table Tennis', the sound of ping-pong balls getting whacked around.  Some tracks feature some truly psychotic drum'n'bass breaks, while others have lovely harps and strings, some of which are provided by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, of 'Suite for Ma Dukes' fame.

Much like Los Angeles, his previous album, this complex work is hard to describe, and is better simply experienced.  While the influences range through hip-hop, jazz, electronica, and more, I got a definite Portishead (circa Third) vibe off the end of the album.  This is something that's going to stay in heavy rotation for a while I feel.

A Sufi & A Killer

by Gonjasufi

This is a hard album to describe.  It opens to the sound of native drumming and chanting, creating a sinister feel to the album.  From there, we begin to hear a very distorted hiphop beat; it's a little like listening to rap music coming from a different floor of an apartment building, while a few units over another neighbour sings through a megaphone.  That's how 'Ancestors', the second track, sounds to me.

This aesthetic is the dominant one, but there are other tracks, such as 'Sheep,' a song about the differences between lions, sheep, and vegetarianism, which is very loving and delicate.

The production is mostly by The Gaslamp Killer, with other tracks provided by Flying Lotus and Mainframe (sounding nothing like his Johnson & Jonson album with Blu).  This disc constantly surprises as it moves through many moods and themes.  At times I detect a country influence, and I thought that 'Klowds' sounded a lot like Mos Def, circa The New Danger.

This works as a nice companion piece to the new Flying Lotus album, both musically and in terms of its artwork and design.

A Pipe Dream and a Promise

by Finale

This is Finale's first solo album, and it is a bit of a mixed bag. There are plenty of fine producers here, representing the D and from elsewhere, but some of the tracks don't quite live up to the promise mentioned in the title.

Invincible and Finale work well together, as seen on their other releases, and that continues to hold true for 'The Waiting Game'. Waajeed supplies the beat for 'The Senator', which loops Senator Clay Davis on The Wire saying his trademark "Sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiit" and makes me laugh every time I hear it.

Dilla provides some 'Heat', but it's clearly a B-list beat from the master. Other notable producers include Kev Brown, Khrysis, Black Milk (of course), Nottz, Ta'Raach, Oddisee, and various Lab Technicians. It is a consistent-sounding album, it's just that a few of the tracks are boring. Finale is great when he's spitting truth, but when he attempts some more radio-friendly tracks, the energy sort of dies out.

The stand-out track to me is the last one 'Paid Homage (RIP J. Dilla)'. In it, Flying Lotus remixes 'Fall in Love', and Finale rhymes about the influence Dilla has had on him and his music. It's a touching song, and a lovely way to round out the album.

I Am Not For Sale

by John Robinson

I think it was an interesting decision to give the album's producers as much space on the cover of this cd as the artist himself - it is quite a list of buzzworthy beat-makers he's assembled, and this became the big draw of the album for me, as I was underwhelmed by John Robinson's last release.

There is definitely an experimental vibe to the beats here. Flying Lotus's contributions evoke the language of insects, and Jneiro Jarel provides beats that are recognizably his without having to scan the liner notes. J. Rawls comes correct with a Lone Catalysts style track as well.

As for the songs themselves - Robinson is basically stating his claim of independence on almost every song. We get it - he's not happy with the state of hip-hop, and so he's going to make the music he likes. This is an admirable thing, as the songs he creates are consistently good, if over the course of the half-hour album, a little repetitive.

I find that Robinson wears his influences on his sleeve. 'Don King' sounds like it belongs on Nas's Lost Tapes, and 'Fly Prezidente', with its rhyme about cafe con leche, could have been ghostwritten by MF Doom.

Heavy Water

by Sasha Frere-Jones

In the Pop Music section of this issue, Frere-Jones reviews the work of Steven Ellison, a.k.a. Flying Lotus.

He manages to do an admirable job of describing the computer wizardry that makes up Ellison's music, and places him in a musical tradition that moves from Aphex Twin to J. Dilla. He also reveals that Flying Lotus is the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane.

Ellington is an important new voice in an over-looked corner of hip-hop, and it's great to see a magazine like the New Yorker place him in the spotlight.

The article focuses on his Radiohead remix, which can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/flyinglotus.

Los Angeles

Flying Lotus

It seems that there has been a real resurgence lately in instrumental hip-hip albums that can stand on their own merits, without the need for mc's or hooks. This album is one of the better examples of the genre.

Flying Lotus has created a lush soundscape of varying beats, deftly mixed and matched to create an album that sounds best as a complete whole, instead of as individual tracks on your ipod.

He shows a lot of variety - at times his tracks pulse with a strong driving force to them, and at others, they are minimalist, stripped down wonders.

The most beautiful track is the last one, Auntie's Lock/Infinitum, with vocals by Laura Darlington. It has a haunting beauty evocative of the best of Portishead.

I've heard that Flying Lotus has produced some tracks on the new John Robinson (Lil Sci) album - I'd love to hear an mc try to flow over his beats.