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Flying Lotus

Warp

“When I signed to Warp I saw it as a chance to end a lot of speculation about my sound, I didn’t want cats to think I just did one thing, or one style. The EP was a chance to start over with a new perspective and vision.. That’s why I called it “Reset”…” Flying Lotus Los Angeles is a sunny land with a shadowy side. Sunshine soul music and hazy psychedelia are the more well-known musical exports, but if you peer into the city’s darker corners it’s not hard to find their skewed musical cousins. This is the place Flying Lotus inhabits, turning out his electric brand of shadowy funk. Signed a few short months ago, his Warp debut, Reset is the perfect opportunity for Lotus to stretch out and give a small taste of his wide-ranging talent. From the skeletal electro of “Dance Floor Stalker”, which brings to mind a more sinister Egyptian Lover, to the subterranean soul knocker “Tea Leaf Dancers” and the bass workout of “Spicy Sammich” no stone is left unturned. All the music begs the question: “Where did Flying Lotus come from?” It all started with a little album called Doggystyle. Says Lotus, “I heard Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle when I was thirteen, after that I knew I wanted to make music. So, when I was 14, I got my first machine, a Roland MC-505. Damn…to this day that album still has some of the best beats I’ve ever heard.” Since that fateful encounter with The Doggfather’s music, Flying Lotus has been hard at work in the lab perfecting his unorthodox style. Not unlikely will you have heard his bugged out remixes of Kelis, Madvillan and Mia Doi Todd which in going head to head with the original have spread like viral wildfire. Or these new Reset tracks that are at once percussive and epic – it’s no wonder there’s more to it, “It starts with a concept then it becomes a visual thing with me. I get a story in my head, and pick out tracks that complete it. The next couple records are on some blowed cyberpunk shit.” While there’s no question that Flying Lotus’ roots are in hip-hop, there is an undeniable influence from growing up in and around the Coltrane family. In particular sharing music and ideas with his great aunt Alice before her recent death has meant that the music he’s creating is something new, something transforming and viewed from a very unique perspective. This mind set and playing shows around the world has allowed the young gun a window into scenes across the globe which are reflected in his own music, “Hearing dubstep in London, the new stuff from Paris, cats in Glasgow…the best part is seeing how excited folks are to hear new sounds, cats freak out!” he says. So feel free to freak out to Reset until the upcoming album makes it way into your hands in 2008…and what to expect then? Says the man himself, “Some new tricks”.

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