Sounds

Today’s Sounds: Flying Lotus

by Darcy MacDonald

A lot of his fans give producer Flying Lotus “can-do-no-wrong” status, and that won’t change with album number four.

Is it deserved? Rappers wanna rap to it, singers wanna sing to it, and FlyLo gives it up to the right participants. A lotta producers of this magnitude have made the decision to have nothin’ to do with those types, or least keep it limited to their own creative terms and instincts, but Lotus has been generous with his time and talent, and the payoff is audible on Until the Quiet Comes.

Record:

Flying Lotus, Until the Quiet Comes (Warp)

A lot of his fans give producer Flying Lotus “can-do-no-wrong” status, and that won’t change with album number four.

Is it deserved? Rappers wanna rap to it, singers wanna sing to it, and FlyLo gives it up to the right participants. A lotta producers of this magnitude have made the decision to have nothin’ to do with those types, or least keep it limited to their own creative terms and instincts, but Lotus has been generous with his time and talent, and the payoff is audible on Until the Quiet Comes.

The album is twitchy but subtle. This is not “Electronica: The Musical,” bang-’em-over-the-head with warbly bass and synth. FlyLo approaches layering with strategies akin to Dilla or Madlib, but those comparisons aren’t meant to be easy sells. The producer has not made a name for himself by regurgitating form and fashion, and there is a strange undercurrent to the 18 short, tight tracks woven together. This isn’t theme music, it’s dream music.

Describing something as “cinematic” is so played, but as you listen, defy yourself not to identify certain movements in the music with the motions of your day, whether on walkabout with headphones, chilling on the couch, sharing a conversation. If there’s one thing FlyLo has the superior touch for, it’s the blend.

High moments outside the rhythms are provided by guests such as Erykah Badu, Thom Yorke and Thundercat on the ridiculously trippy “DMT Song.”

Until the quiet comes, tranquility is only a click away.
 

Track:

Kanye West, “White Dress”

 
From the soundtrack of the the forthcoming film The Man With the Iron Fists (directed by RZA and co-written by RZA and Eli Roth), a new song by Kanye. Listen for the lyrics alone, and try to not to picture Kim Kardashian in a wedding gown.
 

 

Video:

Boys Noize, “Ich R U”

 

 
Directors Patrick Jean and Sebastien Loghman have made a video that’ll really push your buttons. The track is featured on Out of the Black, the latest album by Boys Noize (aka Alex Ridha).
 

Bonus Video:

Roxy Music, “Love Is the Drug” (Todd Terje Disco Dub)

 
You’ll want to watch this psychedelic montage of vintage Roxy Music footage intercut with movie queens from Hollywood’s golden era (and a bit of retro Euro-sleaze for good measure). You’ll also want to dance.
 

Posted in Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.

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