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.

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.