If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth millions, and there's a YouTube clip that reveals volumes about Flying Lotus. In it, the L.A.–based producer is doing an in-store performance, head bobbing heavily, stunna shades on, alternating between his laptop and MIDI controller, dropping J-Dilla and MF Doom tracks in front of an appreciative London audience. Just another hiphop DJ set, if not for the fact that through it all, "FlyLo" is rocking an Aphex Twin T-shirt.

The dissonance between the music he's playing and the T-shirt he's wearing disappears in Flying Lotus's production, which combines Dilla-esque atmospherics and Warp-ed experimentation. Beats aren't so much broken as they are battered and bruised, with some tracks lurching and wobbling their way through existence, others forming walls of texture, and still others hitting more directly. With all of the bleeps and bloops and squelchy synths, the sound moves beyond hiphop. This is chiphop.

If you've got cable, you've likely heard some of Flying Lotus's work, if only in 10-second snippets. He produced many of the beats you hear during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, providing the soundtrack to the programming's short bumpers (the segments preceding and following commercial breaks). Producing since the age of 14, he released his debut album, 1983, in 2006 on Plug Research, garnering attention from fellow beat deconstructionist Prefuse 73. That led to Flying Lotus's signing to Warp Records, for which he released his latest EP, Reset, in late 2007.

The Reset EP is a more purposeful release than 1983. Starting off with the smooth "Tea Leaf Dancers," the release stays relaxed until the fourth track, when the drums kick in midway through static-y bass-driven affair "Spicy Sammich." After the brief "Bonus Beat," the EP closes with the synthy "Dance Floor Stalker." The tracks cover a lot of territory, making Reset a good introduction for Warp audiences that might not have heard 1983, which is equally ambitious, but has more time and tracks to explore ideas (it even has a loungey detour, "Unexpected Delight," which would be right at home on a Stereolab album).

A lot of attention is paid to Flying Lotus's musical roots (he's the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane), but instead of looking back, listen to the musical voice that Flying Lotus is still developing. "Spicy Sammich" treads into dubstep territory, and it wouldn't be surprising if he stretches his hiphop and IDM influences even further in future releases. Flying Lotus is on the front line of artists defining the future of hiphop. The challenge is to ensure that the audience can keep up.

Flying Lotus plays the SunTzu Sound Five-Year Anniversary on Sat March 15 at Chop Suey, 9 pm, free, 21+. With Benji B and SunTzu Sound.

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In local label news, you'll want to be sure to check the latest Orac release. The title track from the new Lighthouse EP by Parisian trio Dop dwells in the magical nexus between techno, house, and broken beat, with a subdued baseline layered with skittering percussion and vocals right out of a Pharrell Williams production. "Lighthouse" aspires to be many things simultaneously and succeeds where so many have failed before. If there's any justice in this world, it will blow up on the DJ circuit. It deserves all the attention (and plays) it can get.

For more information, see www.orac.vu.