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Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
With the Reset EP released October last year and his bootleg mixes of everyone from KELIS to MR. OIZO and MADVILLAIN circulating amongst the heads, FLYING LOTUS' name is on the lips of many as the leader of a new generation of artists emerging from California. A movement that has captured attention worldwide, fuelled by hip-hop and cutting-edge dance music, FLYING LOTUS is redefining the sound of LA. Flying Lotus is a man of many sides; from the huge sounding collabs and remixes giving indication of the slickest productions you are likely to hear on radio to his high voltage live shows (we saw earlier this year) which are somewhere between the best ever house party DJ and the most crowd-smashing live electronic act you've seen, to this new album proper - 'Los Angeles' - a deep, soulful, intricate album where glints of detail are unearthed to make this opus richer on every listen. Of course, it?s no secret that Lotus is the product of a rich musical lineage and Auntie's Harp serves not only as a collaboration with his majestic aunt (ALICE COLTRANE), but also a more fitting tribute. Testament arrives as the intro to Fly Lo's collaborator GONJA SUFI in all his mage-like splendor. Like DR. DRE & SNOOP DOGG, TIMBALAND & MISSY or BETH GIBBONS & GEOFF BARROW, the pairing of a pioneering producer & entirely distinct vocalist/songwriter is a force to be reckoned with. The feeling is only amplified with the closing opus Infintum. Enveloping vocalist LAURA DARLINGTON in a track that bridges GAINSBOURG/BARDOT territory with BROADCAST and shape-shifting post-modern R&B, it is a sublime bookend to Brainfeeder and serves as the perfect FIN to Los Angeles epic journey.

Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Thematic hip-hop June 22, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

While making a documentary in Paris about his musical relatives, a taxi driver asked Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus if he and his crew were musicians. He slumped down in his seat, but great aunt Alice Coltrane spoke up: "Yeah, this guy, he's a musician too; he thinks he's a filmmaker, though". After a few listens to Los Angeles (and all of his stellar work, for that matter), you notice that Ellison's music is the perfect mix of both, the album title, his hometown, providing the thematic element (something you'll really notice if you've ever spent time in L.A.) to this extraordinary hypercompressed, claustrophobic melange of samples, broken rhythms and analog loveliness. You hear spooky, foggy nighttime Malibu surf ("Camel"), experience whiffs of Little India's spices and rhythms ("Melt!"), see red carpet traffic jams ("Golden Diva"), pull down the wrong street at the wrong time ("Riot") and drowsily smile like a tourist in La Brea ("Sleepy Dinosaur").

5 out of 5 stars

best flying lotus work to date. June 12, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Flying Lotus takes it to another level with this album. I just got done listening to it for the second time in its entirety. If you liked the direction he took with the Reset EP in the Fall of 07, this is sure to please. Buy it for the music and also for the great artwork, the booklet inside is great! This album is also a great reminder that Warp is still capable of releasing great electronic albums.

5 out of 5 stars

Mesmerizing and atmospheric instrumental hip-hop July 10, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I'll admit, my exposure to avant-garde, left field instrumental hip hop is limited to the major players--Dilla and Madlib, among a handful of others. My first exposure to Flying Lotus were the interludes on Adult Swim that he soundtracked, although I didn't know it at the time.

FlyLo makes no attempt to disguise his influences or history. A self described member of "the Nintendo generation," this record is teeming with glitchy blips and beeps that evoke the 8-bit classics, but they're drenched in swirling synth lines and chopped apart beyond recognition. I would like to resist mentioning that he's the grand-nephew of Alice Coltrane, but his clear affinity for jazz arrangements (and relentless defiance of genre restrictions) almost forces my hand, whether it was derived from his relatives or not.

Los Angeles strikes a perfect balance between establishing a consistent (dank) sound, while never growing tiresome. Think London-based dubstep artist Burial with hip-hop leanings and a lot more variation. Colorful synthetic swirls, drum breaks, and vocal samples fall into a cinematic groove on every track, only to be deconstructed again (often in less than three minutes).

This is one of the first standout albums of 2008. Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

u cant be talkin while u listen to this cd, for real July 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

it prolly wont be liked by alotta people (cause alotta people are dumb) as a matter of fact my boy kept askin what this is. He shut up after awhile while we was listenin to it in the car, as i did also. calling it a cd aint givin it justice. if you and i listenin to the cd together in the car i bet u we both be quiet. its an experience, man. i like experiences. you dont really know what u gettin on the next track , let alone you may not catch if the songs transistion. I didnt. if u'd like a solid experience that is super replayable u should already have this cd, ya know?

3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing compared to previous efforts July 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Flying Lotus' first two releases, the full-length album 1984 and the Reset EP, featured fresh, inventive music that, while having elements from hip-hop and IDM, managed to have a sound you have never heard before. Unfortunately that's exactly what this album lacks: freshness. There are some really great beats here; the momentum picks up somewhere midway through the disc from Golden Diva to Sleepy Dinosaur. But for me there's just something missing here; rather than a full-length exploration of the sounds heard in 2006's phenomenal Reset EP, we get a merely decent collection of less than memorable tunes that dance around a theme that is tired by the end of the disc. There will certainly be some beats and hooks that grab your attention here with the danceable playfulness we know Flying Lotus to be capable of, but nothing is on par to the first time you heard "Tea Leaf Dancers" from the Reset EP.

Overall this is a decent listen but the weakest release by the LA musician to date. Start with 1984 or Reset.

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