In case you missed it critically adored Warp beat-maker Flying Lotus has been going through a jazz phase of late. In fact at this point it’s less a phase and more a full-on identity one he further explores on his latest LP You’re Dead!
Following 2010’s Cosmogramma and 2012’s Until the Quiet Comes FlyLo revisits some now-familiar territory on album five taking his post-jazz approach and mashing it up with heavy doses of hip-hop prog fusion and experimental IDM. Of course this leads to some heady atmospherics — not to mention some manic instrumental noodling. Add in the theme of death and its ever-approaching inevitability and You’re Dead! is indeed a trip.
But Flying Lotus hardly goes it alone with the producer born Steven Ellison enlisting everyone from Kendrick Lamar (for standout “Never Catch Me”) Snoop Dogg and FlyLo’s own rap alter-ego Captain Murphy to former Dirty Projector Angel Deradoorian Herbie Hancock Thundercat and even Ennio Morricone via some ethereal “la la la” samples.
At its core though You’re Dead! is pure Flying Lotus who once again proves himself to be one of modern music’s finest cosmic explorers.
