Playing Spaceland on the 25th..

Ty Segall – SO ALONE from tab_ularasa on Vimeo.

Janelle Monae – “Many Moons”

It feels weird to announce– in June– that a mainstream pop R&B artist has made what will certainly be my Album of the Year…but there you go. It’s completely brilliant, top to bottom. And if the producers of the next James Bond movie have an ounce of common sense…

Record Club: INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

This is a band my man Jimmie J in Chicago just turned me on to.  They are pure bliss in the face of it all.  They hail from Austin and are playing Costa Mesa..Detroit Bar on June 25?  Around there……I would hit it up if i still lived around ya’ll.  Check it……rock out.

“In October 2008, while Steven Ellison’s mother lay dying in a hospital bed, he was at her side recording her.”

It has been some time since I last posted. I’ve just been so stoked on an artist lately that it has compelled me to throw out a little post on him.

I give all credit to Bruce for revealing Flying Lotus to me, through this site actually. I found the L.A. EP and Los Angeles LP to be absolutely fantastic after only a couple listens. I caught his set in the Gobi at Coachella this year, and it was damn near one of thee greatest performances I’ve seen throughout the years at Coachella. While 2010 was not a very great overall Coachella experience (don’t get me started on Clusterfuckchella 2010), I did experience some of the greatest performances yet. In no particular order: Flying Lotus, Fever Ray (I may have to do a huge post on that performance alone), Plastikman, and Bassnectar.

So anyways, back to Flying Lotus. I fully admit that his music isn’t for everyone. In fact, I came across someone who described his music as “shoes-in-a-dryer”. While I completely understand (and like) such a comment, I don’t agree. His latest album, Cosmogramma, is far more Jazz infused than his earlier releases. On the first couple listens I was a bit jarred at the seemingly duality of it. The first half initially comes off as more erratic and uncontrolled, and the second half comes together quite pleasantly. After a while I realized the heavy Jazz influence throughout the album, and eventually the album started to come together.

Seeing him at Coachella was a fine treat. It was *exactly* what I needed at that exact moment. It was Saturday night, we had been in the polo fields since 11:00 AM, and I was burning out hard by the time 10:45 rolled around. No one wanted to see Flying Lotus with me, so I went solo. I was much too tired for an “in your face” jam session (i.e. Bassnectar), so once his set started I just melted. I also need to comment on the fact that his overwhelming enthusiasm and huge honest grin made his performance all the better.

Check out this solid article on the guy:

http://www.thisisbrandx.com/2010/05/flying-lotus-is-the-king-of-la-electronic-music-but-he-wants-more.html

“In October 2008, while Steven Ellison’s mother lay dying in a hospital bed, he was at her side recording her.

The L.A.-based musician, who records abstract electronic music as Flying Lotus, brought in a mobile recording rig and gathered audio samples: the hypnotic wheeze of a respirator, the ambient pings of vital-sign monitors.

In the stillness and sadness of his mother’s last days, he found comfort in the rhythms of the machines.

“I know it was a weird thing to do,” Ellison said. “I’m not the type to go out recording things like that. But I didn’t want to forget that space.”

For Ellison, music exists in those kinds of transcendent spaces. The 26-year-old wants his jazz-infused and beat-centric electronic compositions to evoke daydreams, hazy memories, drug trips and even the dim hours between life and death.

It’s a difficult, immersive style in the spirit of his great-aunt, jazz composer Alice Coltrane. But it’s also made him a superstar in the thriving Los Angeles electronic music underground, particularly at the Low End Theory club series in Lincoln Heights. With his new album, “Cosmogramma,” which came out Tuesday, Ellison may well become famous outside of that scene as well.

Erykah Badu and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke sing on the album. Lotus’ earlier remix of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” turned mainstream hip-hop ears, and a generation of twentysomethings know his music for Cartoon Network’s gonzo “Adult Swim” series.

“Hendrix obliterated the boundaries with guitars as Lotus does with electronic machines,” said Mary Anne Hobbs, the influential BBC Radio 1 DJ. “His live performance is totally incendiary, melting devastating primal sound and visual art into a hyper-sensory experience.”

Ellison is a prodigious marijuana smoker — on opening his door to a reporter, he mock-grumbled, “It smells like weed in here.” A steep stairway to his basement studio — piled with synthesizers, vinyl albums and Ellison’s artwork — is treacherous enough while sober.

Many artists explore space travel and altered states. And like them, Lotus balances that sensibility with a maniacal devotion to his craft. “Cosmogramma” might be the most difficult work to come out of Los Angeles this year. Given the mind-bending new releases from rising Low End peers Shlohmo, Ras G and the Glitch Mob, that’s a real feat.

“My time working with Steve was one of the most treasured, rewarding things I’ve done,” said Kevin Moo, a.k.a. Daddy Kev, the founder of Low End Theory who mastered the “Cosmogramma” LP. “But a mastering job that normally takes a few hours wound up lasting four months.”

Paradoxically, as Ellison’s work grew more esoteric, his audience grew. He recently toured with Yorke’s new band Atoms for Peace, and last month he performed at Coachella. Alone before a jubilant tent of thousands, he brought forth a hail of broken beats and blissed-out synthesizers. “You just look out and see girls losing it,” he said in disbelief. “You feel like you could just play air horn all night and they’d still love you.””

2010 thus far has been a year of moving, lack of internet connectivity and being stretched so thin that I thought I might crack for good at times. Yesterday though,I saw a video titled “You did not exist” from lungfish that reminded me what is important in life. Phonons.

Thusly come get your fill as the liars perform tomorrow at the El Rey. One time I ran in 105 degree weather across a desert in Indio California in order to not miss a moment of these brooklynites playing. Tomorrow should not require the same efforts….hopefully.
Let me know if you want to carpool I will be leaving at 8ish.

Details: The El Rey

1. Capt
2. Shabbaz