FLYING LOTUS
Sonic Space Cadet
Four years ago Flying Lotus was an intern at Stones Throw Records, taking out the trash and recording his debut album 1983 at his grandmother’s house in the middle of the night. These days, life is a little different. After re-routing the direction of modern electronica with his 2008 magnum opus Los Angeles, the Californian beat champion is now widely regarded as one of the world’s most innovative producers. Mary Anne Hobbs recently went as far as to liken him to the second coming of Jimi Hendrix, while Thom Yorke felt moved enough to make a cameo on the talented basshead’s killer forthcoming album, Cosmogramma.
His success has enabled FlyLo to create the ultimate bachelor pad in Echo Park. The house is most men’s idea of gadget heaven, and full of enough skunk to keep Snoop comatose for months.
However, even with all the sold-out world tours, critical plaudits and boys’ toys, the 26-year-old seems subdued. Maybe it’s the nerves of following up such a massive album when everyone seems intent on jacking his sound.
“Ha!” he says after inhaling a lungful of Cali’s finest green. “Well, it’s true that a lot of stuff I’m hearing is a lot of bullshit motherfuckers biting, trying to run the sound into the ground. But I’m doing some other shit now. I’m not trying to be cocky, but being a fan of beat music, you can hear it. That’s cool, I did my little thing, fuck it. But now I am doing this thing, so whatever.”
After playing the entirety of Cosmogramma – a genre sprawling 17-track “space opera” – FlyLo reveals the true source of his blues. “For me, this album was cathartic, man. I needed it, if I didn’t have this record, I would have lost my mind. A year ago my mum passed away. It’s weird not to have my parents around any more. I’m now in a situation where I’m put out in front of people, but you always need that person you can go to. When my mum passed away, I thought about a lot of things, and I confronted a lot of things from my past. I explored my ideas of spirituality and what I understand this life to be.”
Part of his self-exploration involved experimenting with DMT. Books on entering the fifth dimension are littered around the house. And, although he’s fascinated with its ability to open up “spiritual realms”, Cosmogramma is not a bloated druggy sob story. If anything it’s his sketchbook of the memorable times he and his family shared, both good and bad. Starting with the heart-pounding Amon Tobinesque “Clock Catcher”, the producer also indulges his love of P-funk (“Do The Astral Plane”), jazzy glitch-hop (“Nose Art”), and, with Yorke, melancholic techno-soul (“And The World Laughs With You”).
“I’ve got so many voices in my head that tell me to do all types of shit – telling me to be scared, to be happy, to be confident – but at the end of the day, I think people just want me to have fun making my shit, and if I forget to do that then you’ll be able to tell. Things in my life have been so chaotic and crazy. I lost everything. But here I am, you know? I feel like I’m growing, and I hope the music says so too. I just want to try and turn all this into the craziest dream that I can.”
His success has enabled FlyLo to create the ultimate bachelor pad in Echo Park. The house is most men’s idea of gadget heaven, and full of enough skunk to keep Snoop comatose for months.
However, even with all the sold-out world tours, critical plaudits and boys’ toys, the 26-year-old seems subdued. Maybe it’s the nerves of following up such a massive album when everyone seems intent on jacking his sound.
“Ha!” he says after inhaling a lungful of Cali’s finest green. “Well, it’s true that a lot of stuff I’m hearing is a lot of bullshit motherfuckers biting, trying to run the sound into the ground. But I’m doing some other shit now. I’m not trying to be cocky, but being a fan of beat music, you can hear it. That’s cool, I did my little thing, fuck it. But now I am doing this thing, so whatever.”
Part of his self-exploration involved experimenting with DMT. Books on entering the fifth dimension are littered around the house. And, although he’s fascinated with its ability to open up “spiritual realms”, Cosmogramma is not a bloated druggy sob story. If anything it’s his sketchbook of the memorable times he and his family shared, both good and bad. Starting with the heart-pounding Amon Tobinesque “Clock Catcher”, the producer also indulges his love of P-funk (“Do The Astral Plane”), jazzy glitch-hop (“Nose Art”), and, with Yorke, melancholic techno-soul (“And The World Laughs With You”).
“I’ve got so many voices in my head that tell me to do all types of shit – telling me to be scared, to be happy, to be confident – but at the end of the day, I think people just want me to have fun making my shit, and if I forget to do that then you’ll be able to tell. Things in my life have been so chaotic and crazy. I lost everything. But here I am, you know? I feel like I’m growing, and I hope the music says so too. I just want to try and turn all this into the craziest dream that I can.”
© TIM NOAKES 2010
