It seems hard to be an artist these days without a steady stream of mixes. The problem is, a lot of these become monotonous and similar. By contrast, this week, Flying Lotus drops a free download that feels more like getting a pass into someone’s hard drive.
Ideas + Drafts + Loops is full of random snippets of music, many of them – despite the name – fairly fully formed. FlyLo’s signature over-compression is showcased, of course, but you also get sparkling, shimmering rushes of sound, like a beautifully-romantic clip for Aqua Teen Force. (Being in California, of course FlyLo has been doing TV work, a lot of it great stuff.)
These are gentle and improvisatory, unadulterated fun without the burden of having to be a commercially-consumed track. And the results feel like a brilliant ray of sunshine in the midst of this December, a musical advent calendar (24 tracks, no less) of surprises. Personalities like Thundercat appear, musical notions are set free to roam, weirdness is allowed. “Puppet Talk” introduces a wavering synthesized and then resynthesized Satie Gymnopedie, in a shuffling, syncopated waltz.
The Internet’s ever-angry demand for more content, regardless of quality, can be oppressive. But this is its best side: it’s a chance to let the stranger corners of your imagination, the musical marginalia of production, see the light of day.
Speaking of the Internet unleashing streams of consciousness: image at the top from the FlyLo Instagram. It’s good to be Steve; I want those shoes.
FLYING LOTUS : IDEAS + DRAFTS + LOOPS [Brainfeeder + download links]
Tracklist:
About That Time
Adventure Sound – ft. The Underachievers
An Xbox Killed My Dog
Aqua Teen 24
Aqua teen inst 24
Between Villains
Chasing Apples
Colemans Groove . ft. Andreya Triana and Niki Randa
Coswerved draft
Flotus
Flying Lotus – DJ Mehdi – Mapei IDEAS 1 MIX
Hide me ft. Shabazz Palaces
Little Hours ft. Baths
Meadow Man2
Oatmeal Face
Osaka Trade
Puppet Talk
Stonecutters
Such a Square
The Diddler
TheKill ft. Niki Randa
Thundercat – Yeezus- Black Skinhead
Thanks for the tip! I can’t wait to dig into this. I wish more electronic and hip hop producers released stuff like this.
Thanks for the tip! I can’t wait to dig into this. I wish more electronic and hip hop producers released stuff like this.
Thanks for the tip! I can’t wait to dig into this. I wish more electronic and hip hop producers released stuff like this.
One of the most interesting things about this is hearing FlyLo BEFORE his music has the additional dimension of dynamic range squashed by mastering. Even with the pre-master compression, some of it sounds airy and spacious. I often wonder what a FlyLo-James Murphy collaboration would sound like for that very reason.
Enjoy Murphy’s remix of David Bowie’s “Love Is Lost” — one of the finest masterpieces of electronic music in a long, long while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXleysIs90
One of the most interesting things about this is hearing FlyLo BEFORE his music has the additional dimension of dynamic range squashed by mastering. Even with the pre-master compression, some of it sounds airy and spacious. I often wonder what a FlyLo-James Murphy collaboration would sound like for that very reason.
Enjoy Murphy’s remix of David Bowie’s “Love Is Lost” — one of the finest masterpieces of electronic music in a long, long while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXleysIs90
One of the most interesting things about this is hearing FlyLo BEFORE his music has the additional dimension of dynamic range squashed by mastering. Even with the pre-master compression, some of it sounds airy and spacious. I often wonder what a FlyLo-James Murphy collaboration would sound like for that very reason.
Enjoy Murphy’s remix of David Bowie’s “Love Is Lost” — one of the finest masterpieces of electronic music in a long, long while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXleysIs90
Great music, and a great post about it. Yay Internet.
Great music, and a great post about it. Yay Internet.
Great music, and a great post about it. Yay Internet.