Flying Lotus - You're Dead!

So it's here, as everybody on the planet already knows the new Flying Lotus album You're Dead! is out now on Warp Records. In the last couple of weeks, I was overcome by the same awkward feeling that returns whenever there's news about an album by Los Angeles native producer Steve Ellison. It's an unsettling mix of fear, doubt and skepticism. What if he might has lost it, sold out. The big marketing machinerey surrounding such an event certainly plays its little part in this, for I don't really care about those leaked tracks. Especially when I know a Flying Lotus track is best enjoyed in the context of the full album it's released on — which at this point is still weeks away.

Anyway, I'm glad to say that there's nothing to fear or doubt, Mr. Ellison outpaced everything you had in your books, doing it in such ease. So this is his jazz record? It's what a jam session with Thundercat, Herbie Hancock, and rappers Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and alter ego Captain Murphy sounds like? The Kendrick Lamar collaboration is a good example for those feelings I described in my intro, for I have to say I wasn't exactly blown away when I heard it for the first time. But now it works so much better hearing it in the context of the full record. There are a lot favourites to choose from, yet interestingly for me it's those little interludes with just him and Thundercat noodling on the bass, that I love the most. Well, „Coronus, The Terminator” has been a charmer before (by the why, who is singing on there?) and “The Protest” is an equal masterpiece.

You can buy your copy of „You're Dead!” just about everywhere (Boomkat, iTunes, I said everywhere!) or stream it on Spotify. There's an limited box set including the instrumental LP and I think you can only buy it on the Warp-associated Bleep store.

Oh, and let me recommend you this interview with in The Fader.

October 7, 2014 Read a track-by-track review by Flying Lotus himself!