Cosmogramma

Flying Lotus finally pays tribute to his origins

Flying Lotus, a.k.a. Steven Ellison, a.k.a. FlyLo is a 26 year old producer. Using the minimum of equipment, i.e. a laptop, a sampler and a drum-machine, he mixes artfully most varied styles from hip-hop to rock, of course smearing each layer with electronic cream. The output product is difficult to classify but each of his music dishes has an inimitable taste and flavor. Charismatic, very active on stage, Flying Lotus constantly keeps visual contact with his viewers, improvises easily and bravely arranges his pieces with the help of various audio-effects, beats and samples. He has recorded for the first time several compositions which are the closest to jazz stylistically on his third album Cosmogramma. The reason for this is first of all his genealogy. Stephen is a nephew of a famous jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, and he finally pays tribute to his origins. He also goes on exploring the potential of live instruments and digital electronics.

Cosmogramma: a whole imaginary world

The album Cosmogramma is 17 compositions from another world, each lasting about 2 or 3 minutes. A part of them is based around danceable or chaotic beats, some are melodious and laid-back. The record opens with a completely unbelievable sonic sequence on Clock Catcher, surreal and wonderful in its harmony, and next a whole world drawn from the young producer’s imagination is unveiled before us. One can think of traveling on a space ship and listening to the world’s music at the same time when Intro/A Cosmic Drama is playing, one can fly in the open space to the accompaniment of Zodiac Shit or dance with robots and aliens And The World Laughs With You. The latter is also interesting for the vocal part provided by Tom York (Radiohead) which can not but make the fans happy. Jazz lineament is revealed on Do The Astral Plane, the meeting of a danceable sample with romantic melodies, on the ringing and clattering Satelllliiiiiteee, on the sniffing and buzzing German Haircut. The composition Table Tennis featuring Laura Darlington is also very interesting, one could want to paint other planets’ landscapes listening to it. The album closes with Galaxy In Janaki with a smooth beat, mesmerizing harp and fiddles sounds and a many-layered percussion.

The music of present and future

Besides that several musicians with live instruments have been involved in the recording process of Cosmogramma it is also a practically conceptual album. Looking at the play list one can see that space, astrology and everything that has to do with the stars appears in the most compositions’ titles. Therefore the record’s atmosphere is filled with fantasy, something unearthly and endless like the Universe itself. What one can do immerging into this new world is another question, and Flying Lotus offers a multitude of variants. The general tendency is never to stop experimenting, having fun and discovering something new. Of course, Stephen does not create ordinary music especially for those who has never heard anything like that before. Nevertheless new technologies have gone so far that such performers as FlyLo are getting to the foreground. The album Cosmogramma is definitely the best of his three works: classic instruments combined with electronic effects – this is the music of present and future, so remember this record for it will surely become historic.