28 • uNCuT • juLY 2019
Fouryearshave
passedsinceFlying
Lotus’slastalbum,
You’reD ead!, the
LAproducer’sgoofy
ruminationonthe
cosmicfinalityof
things,andinthattimeStevenEllison
hasbusiedhimselfwitha stackofprojects.
HeproducedforKendrickLamar’sToP imp
A ButterflyandThundercat’sDrunkand
lastyearcelebratedthetenthanniversary
ofhisrecordlabel,Brainfeeder,an
imprintverymuchinhisownimagethat’s
mappingtastefulnewterritorybetween
jazz,hip-hop,soulandelectronica.
He’spursuedhisinterestinfilm,
composingthesoundtracktosci-fithriller
Perfect, releasedthismonth,andin 2017
hisdirectorialdebut,Kuso, cameoutto
mixedreviews.A grotesquebody-horror
blackcomedypackedwithgenuinely
disturbingscatologicalscenes– audience
memberswalkedoutoffestivalscreenings- it wascalled“thegrossestfilmever
made”byTheGuardiananditsrotten
Tomatoesratingis 33percent.But,gonzo
ornot,atleastit provedthatEllisonwas
seriousaboutfilmmakingandthathis
cinematicvision,a termreadilyappliedto
hismusic,notablyhis 2010 breakthrough,
Cosmogramma, could be expressed with
a movie camera.
By extension, given their LA milieu,
it’s not a surprise to find David Lynch,
a key influence on Ellison, making a
cameo on “Fire Is Coming”, Flamagra’s
lead track. “Fire is coming,” he warns,
dressed as a wolf in its video, “fire is
coming.” Ellison suggests that this album
is “a lingering concept about fire, an
eternal flame sitting on a hill”, and for all
its existential allusions – George Clinton,
who starred in Kuso, appears on a fine
stomp called “Burning Down The House”,
while flames crackle at the album’s
beginning and end – you might reason
that the terrible fires that ravage great
swathes of California every summer
in recent memory must have affected
Ellison in some way, too.
In a sense, Flying Lotus might have
envisioned each of his albums as a
personal movie, had he the skills at the
time. His 2006 debut, 1983 , referred to
the year of his birth; Los Angeles, its
follow-up and his first for Warp, explored
his home town; and Cosmogramma, his
grandest statement so far, attempted to
articulate profound universal feelings.
on 2012’s Until The Quiet Comes, he dealt
with the death of his mother in a classy
and restrained manner and then chose to
loosen up on You’re D ead, which featured
turns by the likes of his pal Kendrick
Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Herbie Hancock and
Ellison’s trusty foil Stephen “Thundercat”
Bruner. Like his great aunt Alice Coltrane,
Ellison gives the impression he operates
on a more spiritual plane, distanced from
the vagaries of the industry, and certainly
the intent of his recent albums would back
this up. What’s curious is that he does
not necessarily have a signature style
or a noticeable desire to write a hit.
rather, he’s progressed from the
intricate electronics and beat-making
that landed him a deal with Warp to
becoming something of a producer-cum-
band leader, marshalling a Brainfeeder
ensemble at his home studio whosemembers – notably Brandon Coleman,
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Thundercat- possess outrageous chops.
And they’re all over Flamagra. Five
years in the making and consisting of
27 tracks that tend to segue into one
another, if Flamagra were a film it
would be messy, chaotic, silly and, in
places, deeply moving. It would feel
far longer than its 68-minute running
time. originally conceived as a 10-track
beats album with zero jazz moments,
Ellison had an epiphany last autumn
when he realised the album should
evoke transcendental sensations and
capture childlike feelings of wonder – an
intervention triggered, perhaps, by the
death of his good friend, the musician
Mac Miller, who overdosed in September
aged just 26. Calling the album “a refuge
for pain”, Ellison dedicates two swirling
instrumentals to Miller, “Find Your own
Way Home” and “Thank u Malcolm”.
By looking to present everything he’s
been up to, Ellison crams a lot – arguably
too much – into Flamagra, assembling a
flawed masterpiece that infuriates as often
as it dazzles. From oily jazz and dubby IDM
to jam-band grinding and rococo piano
miniatures, interludes litter the album,
stalling any momentum generated by the
main cuts. This is a shame because he
brings out the best in his all-star guests:
Anderson .Paak’s priapic Prince-styled
preacher on “More”, rapper Tierra
Whack’s spaced-out monologue on the
acid-trap of “Yellow Belly”, and Denzel
Curry’s magnanimous jousting on “Black
Balloons”. These spots take place during
Flamagra’s frenetic first half, alongside a
so-so Little Dragon collaboration and “All
Spies”, a cute cover of the theme tune of
’80s computer game Spy vs Spy.
The Lynch-narrated “Fire Is Coming”
ushers in the album’s second movement,
whereupon events take a more sombre,
dream-like turn. In his rap alias Captain
Murphy, Ellison slurs his words on the
oxycontin sigh of “Debbie Is Depressed”
and practices piano on “FF4” and “Hot
oct.”, while Thundercat’s “The Climb”
is a lovely Philly soul-searcher with the
line, “As soon as I think I’ve got a grip,
shit starts to slip.” The apocalypse arrives
with “Land of Honey”, a lush orchestral
number featuring Solange singing
hallelujahs as the storm builds and
the fire starts to burn.
Is this fire crackling in the final track
“Hot oct.” meant to evoke the domestic
bliss of a smouldering hearth, the
mindless destruction of a Californian
inferno brought about by climate change,
or the flame of hope that burns in us all?
Frankly, by this point, you’re just glad
you’ve made it to the end of Flamagra.
Ellison is clearly in the form of his life,
bursting with ideas and innovative
ways to execute them, and this indulgent
audio patchwork is how he has always
chosen to communicate. Its moments of
brilliance burn bright, but all the smoke
obscures the quality.
newalbums
F LY I N G
LOTuS
Flamagra
WARP7/1 0
Burn, baby, burn: LA
polymath’s sprawling jazz-
fusion odyssey, starring
David Lynch, George
Clinton, Solange and more.
By Piers MartinRenata Raksha
1 heroes
2 Post Requisite
3 heroes In
a half shell
4 More feat.
anderson .Paak
5 Capillaries
6 Burning down
the house feat.
George Clinton
7 spontaneous
feat. Yu ki m i
nagano/Little
dragon
8 takashi
9 Pilgrim side eye
10 all spies
11 Yellow Belly
feat. tierra
Whack
12 Black Balloons
Reprise feat.
denzel Curry
13 Fire Is Coming
feat. david Lynch
14 Inside
Your home
15 actually
Virtual feat.
Ishmael Butler of
shabazz Palaces
16 andromeda
17 Remind u
18 say something
19 debbie Is
depressed
20 Find Your Own
Way home
21 the Climb feat.
thundercat
22 Pygmy
23 9 Carrots feat.
toro y Moi
24 FF4
25 Land Of honey
feat. solange
26 thank u
Malcolm
27 hot Oct.Produced by:
steven eliison
Recorded at:
Flying Lotus’s
studio, Los
angeles
Personnel
includes: steven
ellison (various
instruments,
vocals,
programming),
stephen
“thundercat”
Bruner (bass,
vocals, various
instruments),
tierra Whack
(vocals), david
Ly n c h (vo c a l s) ,
anderson .Paak
(vo c a l s) , to ro
Y Moi (vocals),
solange (vocals),
George Clinton
(vo c a l s)SLEEVE NOTES