It’s remarkable how situational music can be. I am driving through Lenton toward Castle Marina Industrial Estate. It’s the middle of the day, and first of the summer’s sun has put a smile on my face. However, Flying Lotus’s debut Long Player, ‘Los Angeles’, doesn’t sound quite right forcing it’s way through my tinny speakers. I am usually a huge fan of well-constructed instrumental hip-hop, but on this occasion, it is bringing me down to the point of pissing me off. The dark murky electronics and twitchy layered beats only truly excite when offset by more surprising sounds. The relentless sitar on ‘GNG BNG’ or the dreamily imagined synth melody on ‘Parisian Goldfish’, are the best examples of Flying Lotus succeeding in this respect. A second listen yields better results, though I don’t think this has anything to do with familiarity but a darkened room befit of such a shadowy album. When on point, Flying Lotus has incredibly tight beats, economically dispatched glitches and fuzzy electronics to match any of his contemporaries. His obvious talent for complex production as well as a deal with Warp suggest this lad has a big future of further LP’s and inevitable high-profile collaborations.

3/5

Dave Bawden

Nobody's left a comment yet, be the first!

About  |  Get involved  |  In print  |  Accessibility  |  RSS  |  Comments Policy

All content © 2006 - 2012 Impact Magazine

Comments on this website are not representative of Impact Magazine

Web design by mwtDesign