flying lotus: c/d, s/d

Yeah, Caribou's always been a bit weedy on the bottom end, until this album at least, and particularly on those first few albums.

Part of the issue is that I don't go out dancing to this music (or any music, really), so it's all about home-listening to me (even if Caribou and FlyLo records aren't really about dancing to, obviously), and my home-listening is atypical to most, and FlyLo records are clearly not made for how I generally listen, even if the aesthetic appeals.

I very much mean the current Polar Bear album, which is very different to their previous records and doesn't really have that 'live band' feel; there are a lot of programmed beats that the drummer plays around, and some tracks that really move into hazy drone territory. It's much more electronic feeling than anything else they've done. That said, it is still jazz first, and it's also quite minimal.

I listened to Cosmogramma yesterday and, after the first couple of red-lined tracks, I did enjoy it much more than I remember doing previously; UTQC really irritated me when I played it on Friday night, though.

I just think he could do what he does better sonically, without having to compromise the vision of what he's doing or the aesthetic he's going for.

Chuckled when I read this, and immediately thought of Scik:

https://twitter.com/flyinglotus/status/521324219423277058

Ha!

actually the fusiony stuff on this reminds me a lot of the jazzier squarepusher records. Really liking it so far.

like esp Music is Rotted One Note

kinda sucks it's like a really watered down version of cosmogramma. this guy really fell off.

Pissed about the Kendrick Lamar guest spot?

worst song on album though

not even sure what that song is doing there. i guess to grab some attention after his disaster last record. he's so far away from cosmogramma right now. inventiveness, cohesion, arrangement, sound, melodies, energy.

"a live band playing dance-influenced music"

most dance music that has ever been created has been played by live bands btw

lol this is the first album of his I've really loved

i really like the hectic jazz fusion parts at the beginning, lukewarm on the more "beats" oriented second half

Same here. The first half is the Flying Lotus I've liked the most so far, because on past records I've mostly felt like he was doing something interesting but constrained by a slightly tired "beats" paradigm.

ok that new video for is very wtf

I feel like the jazzier he gets the least interesting he becomes
― Matt DC

i kinda miss the solo approach of Los Angeles
― festival culture (Jordan)

Yes and yes

i think there is an ongoing snobbery - more in the uk than the us i would say - against jazz fusion that i think is unmerited. im suspicious of people who think its all just 'wanky' or 'noodly'. its like something q magazine readers would say.

also, youre dead is only really about 50% jazz

his transcendental stuff like on cosmogramma i think is all superficial and just window dressing but the stuff on youre dead is really good, if not exactly original, but the originality comes in the editing, not the performance itself

cosmogramma by far his best, brilliant, almost like he didn't do that

this album is not worthy of much attention

thus spake tanuki

stilladvance otm

dont think im going to pay to see this guy live again - three times he's been billed as having a 'full live band', and unless hes really into hiding musicians where no one can see, all he comes with is a laptop. which is fine if you want to hear an ableton set with some occasionally memorable visuals but i didnt pay £35 for a glorified dj set. he is also a pretty boring rapper, if he isnt changing the pitch of his voice. i did like his specs however.

is his dj style still a bunch of stuff kinda mashed together? I haven't been amazed by the mixes I've heard from a few years back.

basically, yeah. all pretty much pitched at a 'party vibe!' level. so none of the jazzier tracks, no real sense of ebb and flow (i know asking for a journey/narrative from mixes is corny, but when done well, its great), which is what i would expect after the latest album. it was just one big smashed together club set (with some dj rashad tracks here and there) where everything seemed to blur into one mush. kode 9s DJ set before the show had some cool tracks, but i dont know if it was him, or his equipment, but he made some serious clunkers (dizzee's sittin her being mixed into footwork sounded terrible).

this is sounding great so far:
https://kutmah.bandcamp.com/album/blk-smr

"coronus, the terminator", wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

and "siren song"!!!!

so good

Found it surprising that this didn't make the top 77 of 2014. Yeah, it doesn't really maintain the breakneck fusion pace of the first couple of tracks but there are still plenty of ideas in the latter half.

he should prob stop tweeting for a while.

https://twitter.com/flyinglotus/status/743485020241698817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

My art is like a sacred vagina,I'm very selective of who I let smash and prefer it not to be fondled inappropriately

was excited to get free tickets to see him this weekend but then i remembered he’s kinda been acting shitty recently ...

This guy has always been an overrated asshole but I’d feel better having my instincts proven right if he’d ever mattered to more than a few thousand geeks who only discovered IDM in the 200xs

Well, I was disappointed to find out he's such an asshole because I enjoyed his last few albums and I was the type of person who looked down on IDM nerds in the 90s because they were too uptight to dance. So congrats, I guess?

having trouble parsing what you wrote there, tombot

curious though why you think he's always been an asshole?

He's saying he knew Flying Lotus sucked both as a person and musician all along, but would feel more vindicated if his fans were higher up on the coolness totem pole.

i got the first part

second part seems like a parody of the worst impulses of early ILM ... judging music primarily by judging its fans, bad sociology masquerading as music criticism

still curious why you thought he was an asshole all along?

on the topic of judging music primarily by judging its fans, i have it on good authority that he's crossed over with the festival trap crowd (TNGHT fans) so not expecting to see many IDM geeks there, instead expecting lots of bros in tshirts and fluorescent sunglasses

I'm disappointed by how much he's been coming off like an edgy Reddit bro lately, but I still like his records.

Because everyone who wasn’t into my shit, but knew what I was into, told me it was awesome and I had to check it out, so I did, and meh

I’ll get into this tomorrow after sleep and coffee

xp yes whereas i found the "you're dead" imagery a little off-putting but still acceptable, i have no desire to go anywhere near kuso

Because everyone who wasn’t into my shit, but knew what I was into, told me it was awesome and I had to check it out, so I did, and meh

Long lost verse from "Losing My Edge"

ha!

yo tombot ... i'm waiting ...

Oh right.

When people I trust recommend things to me, including critics I follow writing positive reviews, and those things disappoint me, I end up disliking those things in a way that is different in both category and degree from the way I dislike, say, mediocre club music, or any other by-the-numbers shit you care to name. Hate is too strong a word. But it certainly factors in the disappointment with the person(s) who recommended the thing, and then bundles that with the thing itself, plus the money I no longer have because I spent it on the thing that was recommended. Anyway, that's probably normal and not at all interesting so thanks for reading!

Great run, guys.

??

I've paid no attention to him but liked his albums well enough. He opened for solange the other night with 3d projections and those, in conjunction with the contact high I got from everyone around me smoking, gave me a fairly credible LSD flashback experience so that was neat.

yes i am seeing the 3d show - how was it?

well i guess you said it was neat, can you tell me more? was he playing new music?

I'm honestly not familiar enough with all of his stuff to say. He did about 35-40 minutes (it was an opening slot after all) and the 3d animations were really impressive, great graphics.

it was ok