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.
***
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.