Visions

Compilation EP from Denver-based electronic collective Dirty//Clean contains some real gems, like this Amor, Est. joint that sounds like a lost bonus track from FlyLo's Until the Quiet Comes. Plenty of interesting bass sounds from the whole crew. Check out the whole EP. 

Flying Lotus x Azizi Gibson

Digital new south from the west. 

Flying Lotus x Erykah Badu

You already know.

Flying Lotus' "Lovers Melt 2"

Been hearing a lot of stuff coming from Flying Lotus the last few months, and I'm not complaining. The batch of previously unreleased stuff he put up on Soundcloud had some real gems, then there was a nice mix for/of Thundercat, and now this, the follow-up to Lovers Melt 1. Enjoy the waning days of summer. Check it out via BrainFeeder.

Summary of Recent Discoveries Pt. 173

 Here are some things I've enjoyed recently:

• A Flying Lotus mixtape of Thundercat songs (the emerging electronic musician, not the classic cartoon of the late 80s), including stuff from his new album, plus some older joints, remixes and unreleased material.

• A superb reggae documentary streaming online.

• A stream of the highly anticipated (and released digitally today) Jay-Z x Kanye collaboration album Watch the Throne, which is cool to listen to first, but which I can unequivocally say is one of the strongest hip hop albums in the mass cultural cache division, and good enough to merit purchasing it in order to make a statement that major labels need to promote hip hop as much as ignant club/trap rap. Money talks.

• Roy Ayers discusses the merits of sampling. 

Mophono Ft. Flying Lotus

If you like 'em ominous and crunchy...


via rcrdlbl

Tayler McFerrin "A Place in my Heart"

Taylor McFerrin is a new addition to FlyLo's Brainfeeder imprint. Here's a collab with vocalist Ryat that is pretty intense. Any relation to Bobby? [silence] Bet he never hears that. If you yearn for a brighter but equally emotive Portishead, or can interpolate the existence of a song made by Bjork and Lovage-era Dan the Automator - this might be for you...

Taylor McFerrin feat. Ryat - Place in My Heart from Simon Benjamin on Vimeo.

Best Albums of the Year

It's that time of year - the end of it - when we all take a look back at all the stuff, in order to figure out what was good and what was bad. If the time capsule were getting filled with all the albums I've been seeing on Top 10 lists, I'd feel pretty bad about how the future viewed us musically.
I'm not mad at a lot of what's on everybody's list: Kanye's album, for example, is praiseworthy - although I don't think it's his best work to date (and it has the least of his creative input of any of his releases - like not making most of the beats, for example). However, the critical world's obsession with Vampire Weekend I fail to see eye to eye with...I digress...
So, in no particular order, with no claims of being exhaustive or final, and with no particular focus on an exact number of total albums, I give you: My list* of albums from 2010 that were really good, and which I would recommend picking up if you don't already own. [*With help from my wife]

Malachai's The Ugly Side of Love - a mix of thrusting garage psych and spaced out trip hop.
*It was released in the UK in '09, but I didn't hear it until it was released stateside in 2010.


Blockhead's The Music Scene - a listening adventure along a road paved in beats.


The Black Keys' Brothers - the gut bucket blues rocking duo blossoms into a beautiful flower


The Chemical Brothers' Further - the big beat team returns with something interesting and unexpected


Daedelus' Righteous Fists of Harmony- The crazy victorian drops a gorgeous electronic concept album


Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma- the future-beat prophet delivers a masterpiece in quick, eclectic bursts of energy

 
Gorillaz Plastic Beach - this is definitely one of the best albums of the year, and one of the best Gorillaz albums yet



Gold Panda's Lucky Shiner - eclectic results of micro-sampling and textured walls of sound


Lorn's Nothing Else- if you wanted beats that bordered on John Carpenter scores with sub-bass frequencies


Caribou's Swim - a departure from his earlier stuff, which took a few listens to adjust to, but clearly an exceptional piece of work.

If I think of any others, I'll be sure to add them...I know there are some that I'm forgetting.

Flying Lotus "Kill Your Co-Workers"

This is without a doubt the cheeriest song with 'kill' in the title...It also confirms my suspicion that we are about to see a re-emergence of late-90s/early 00's experimental drum & bass type stuff. Dubstep has been circulating long enough that it's only a matter of time before someone (like FlyLo) pushes the tempo back up a little. This track reminds a lot of Jega, and/or some of the cheerier Aphex Twin stuff.

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.

New Flying Lotus EP

Futuristic beat maestro Flying Lotus leaked a track off his upcoming 7-track EP today.
"Camera Day"
   Flying Lotus - Camera Day (taken from Pattern+Grid World) by Warp Records
The new album is called Pattern+Grid World, and it hits the streets on Sept. 21. He's touring North America too, so if you live in a major metropolitan area, take notice.

Things that make you go 'mmhmm'

This is so good. 

Flying Lotus "Heave(n)"

Just take a deep breath and marinate on this hazy groove, a lost and found track from Flying Lotus that he dropped seemingly at random, unrelated to any sort of album or whatever. Thanks for sharing.

I found this thanks to Fader.

New Gaslamp Killer EP out August 4th

Get your freaky electronic celebration on because Gaslamp Killer is dropping an EP on Flying Lotus's imprint Brainfeeder. I've got to say that I've never been so excited for an album from an artist I actually knew less about musically. He dropped one amazing track on the Art Don't Sleep compilation a few years back - a downtempo gypsy trip beat - and ever since then I've just been waiting to find more. Then he dropped a sweet mix for the Stones Throw podcast a year or two ago when the Heliocentrics' debut dropped, which was also excellent.

I've only heard this one song off the new album, but it is reminiscent of the Heliocentrics in so far as it is a sparse, spaced-out, drum-heavy groove that might make stoned tweens lose their minds. By the time the cymbals drop on the latter half of the song the overall effect is vaguely reminscent of classic Venetian Snares jungle played at 3/4 speed. Ridiculous.

Welcome your ears to the digital land of post-apocalyptic milk and honey.

Here's the leaked track: "Anything Goes"



Buy it when it drops on the 4th of August.