Flying Lotus has crafted a masterpiece. Cosmogramma is a state-of-emergency tidal wave of an album. This self-evident space opera is a rollicking behemoth, sweeping all imitators aside and redefining any and all notions of what this genre can be. This album is a clear step above everything else I’ve heard in 2010, and what I can only hope is a harbinger for the next decade of music evolution. Oh.. and it’s out today.
Method Man. The most charismatic and possibly most well known member of the Wu Tang Clan, dropped the first solo album of the group after their monumental debut as rap’s first supergroup. It remains one of the most essential recordings in Wu – and the genre in general – history.
Fuck yes. Firmly lodged in the holy triptych of Wu legend, between Enter the 36 Chambers and Liquid Swords, Tical is a timeless slice of hip hop tastiness, as fresh now as the day it dropped 16 years ago. 16 years ago, to think of it, is a long way back for any album, much less one in the constantly evolving (or revolving, depending on your take) hip hop universe, to hold relevancy. But it’s true, through and through. Put this on right next to whatever your friends have been digging lately and watch as nothing happens: no jarring shift to ‘old school’ sound, no ratcheting back of production intricacy, and certainly no stale whiff surrounding Meth’s iconic vocal delivery. Blunted is blunted, and this album defined it in 1994. No update required, just inhale and enjoy.
If Liquid Swords was a jagged rusty blade flashing in the dead of winter, Tical is the bare-bulb-lit basement beneath a sticky summer night, full of smoke and apprehension. Isolated, paranoid, incubating ideas for the outside world, it’s an environment unto itself, an album to truly be immersed in. Coming up for air when the last track ends is understandable, but the stoned reverberations beckon again soon. Spinning from the opening PBS library fanfare through dusty organ laments like All I Need and the exhuberant 70’s-action-flick horn laden highlight Release Yo’ Delf, there’s not a more consistent Wu release in existence. Tical lays down a mood and explores every nook and cranny therein. And hell, if you share my allergy to skits, there’s no more undiluted source of Wu mastery than this release – even my beloved Liquid Swords has the one “Tony Starks” intro (not that I mind it) and no matter how funny the ‘torture mothafuckas’ segment on 36 Chambers is, it breaks all sense of flow. This piece is straight genius shot from a glock, the proverbial all killer, no filler work. If you somehow haven’t become intimate in the intervening years, you owe it to yourself to dive in. Lacking any better words of encouragement than the man himself, I leave you with his words:
“Throw your hands in the sky
and wave ’em from side to side
and if you’re ready to spark up the Meth- Tical
let me hear you say STIM-U-LI!”
…so yeah.
[pick this up virtually anywhere. amazon for instance. or cduniverse]
In my prior post sharing about Flying Lotus‘ recent appearance in Ann Arbor I mentioned the film Heaven and Earth Magic and shared a single image. Now I’ve come to find, there are not only two video segments from the event shared online, but a good portion of the insightful and honestly funny interview with the guys afterward. Basically the film is impossible to fully describe to the uninitiated. So just catch a bit yourself. This doesn’t convey the complete impact of the hourlong film and black-hole score in a dark theater, but it at least gives a glimpse to those who couldn’t make the show. Here’s hoping, as Flylo himself hinted at, they release this piece in some form, so everyone can share in the magic.
Watching this now, I’m brought instantly back to the warm realization that Mr. Ellison is as personable, endearing and humble as imaginable in person. That he has not only the chops but the charisma to be a star. It’s exciting to witness this artist’s skyward trajectory.
Not only that, but Dr. Strangeloop proved a worthy foil and equally appealing force. The man is quickly scaling my to-watch-for list. The best part is that the show aftwards blew everything about this event to dust. At least for a while. It was a unique experience to take in two entirely different sides of an artist in one day.
Last weekend I had the pleasure to see Mr. Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, perform twice in the same day. The first event was a live collaboration with Dr. Strangeloop for the Ann Arbor Film Festival, scoring the 1962 avant garde animated film Heaven and Earth Magic as it played in the Michigan Theater. Truly one of the strangest media experiences of my life, the film itself is an utter mind fuck – stark black and white 19th century cutout images swirling, grinding, and making Dali proud – while the accompanying score blew the doors off my perception of what Flying Lotus is capable of. This material was a straight up experimental drone symphony and shared few commonalities with the ostensibly beat-centric music the man is known for. Of course, I gave myself to it wholeheartedly and was spit out the other end with wild eyes and an expanded level of respect and admiration. And some dizziness.
A still from Heaven and Earth Magic.
Then, we hit the Blind Pig and became truly and completely blown away. We were the faithful masses and he was our prophet. Everyone around me surrendered to the tunes; even the most reserved students were compelled to move at least a bit. The live set eclipsed anything I came prepared for, and set the bar for live electronic acts at least a few notches higher than I’d perceived possible. Here’s a glimpse of him weaving Idioteque, one of Radiohead‘s towering productions, into the maelstrom:
[enjoy, and remember that Cosmogramma is coming May 3 in UK and 4 in US! Preorder now!]
Created by the singularly iconic Brothers Quay, this breathtaking video for one of His Name Is Alive‘s earliest singles rockets the term subjective understanding to new heights. What is it about? Do the visuals reflect the lyrics? How about that ball of light?
The Brothers Quay are a set of identical twins whith a body of work exemplefied by short form masterwork Street of Crocodiles, which has been hailed by filmmaker Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time – the most intriguing bit of praise this writer could imagine, being a deep seated fan (and occasional entrenched defender) of Gilliam’s art. Instead of regurgitating what can be found on wikipedia and elsewhere, I’ll simply extend my affection for this form and admit that I’m both held in rapture yet slightly repelled by the brothers’ creations. Creepy and spiritual, dark and warm, with empathetic arms wrapped around all that is neglected and forgotten in the world and our hearts, this is the stuff we only wish Tim Burton were still aiming for.
[the Brothers Quay Collection, a dvd from Kino Video, is out of print. fortunately the Phantom Museums collection is easily obtained through amazon]
Skyramps is the combined efforts of Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never – loved here recently) and Mark McGuire (Emeralds), spinning electric gold through a tight 33 minute set. If you’re picturing the homespun sci-fi synthesizer burblings of the former soaking in the ethereal guitar ambience of the latter project, you’re on the right path. This is basically mana from heaven for those of us who happen to be fans of both.
Click the artwork to download the album as a zip file.
When I heard about this release, I practically shat myself. 2009 saw the rise of a more user-friendly, nearly pop natured breed of drone music the likes of which had never yet crossed radars. Drone for the masses? Not quite. But this is, for instance, far more palatable to your radio listener friends than a Final or Scorn, or even latter day Seefeel album. There’s more dynamic movement than the Gas discography and an airy, inviting tone accompanying the head-nodding foundation. Intertwining lush guitar melodies with Lopatin’s signature synth histrionics, the album soars and soothes in all the right places. The first two tracks feel almost like personal intros for the artists, opening with the prominent sounds of one and slowly adding a dose or two of the other until a fine balance arrives at the end. The second half of the album is where the alchemy truly shines with a blend unique to this recording, and is the gut-level satiating reward for those venturing into this eerie place.
The two obviously know their audience and the images these sounds tend to conjure: warm memories of genre films on tattered VHS (or better- Betamax!) tapes, doodling pictures of Spinners and Darkness, and the unshakable knowledge that anything electronic and/or spacey was the definitive way of the future. These four tracks evoke the optimistic pulse of accelerating full-bore into a strange land of colored light and skyscraping wonder. Maybe it’s not utopia but it’s different than here. More interesting. Lopatin and McGuire also seem to be acutely aware of how this earnestly nostalgic sensibility lends itself to parody and have pre-empted the inevitable jokes with a wonderfully tongue in cheek title: Days of Thunder. There aren’t many more emphatically day-glo versions of 1980s Western hubris than the eponymous Nascar thriller and another certain flick by director Tony Scott. Thankfully the album’s palette hews closer to brother Ridley‘s then-unparalleled visions of alternate realities.
Folks of a certain age, eat this up. You’ll be digging through dusty childhood crates and pre-ordering tickets for that new Tron movie in no time.
[although printed in a limited run of 75 cdr copies, there are a couple available via discogs for reasonable price, and of course, *elsewhere* in digital form]
*And seriously, watch that Tron trailer. It looks quite a bit more than alright!
Black To Comm came to my attention in a single instant: walking with my girlfriend into her favorite Manhattan record shop, Other Music, and spotting this artwork on the new release rack. I was drawn in, picking it up, staring into its depths. I had absolutely no idea who the artist was, but I wanted to know how it sounded. Unfortunately, at the time I was short on cash and wanted a known quantity – an album sure to justify my purchase. Fortunately, my friend Samuel at Bubblegum Cage III highlighted the error in distrusting my gut instincts that day.
Optimistic Underground 