Flying Lotus: Until the Quiet Comes

By working with some of the biggest names in music, Flying Lotus (Steve Ellison) has emerged into the Urban music industry as a top producer. Collaborating with artists such as Earl Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu, and Hodgy Beats, FlyLo has brought his unique style of music into the main stream spotlight. On October first, he will release his most recent album titled Until the Quiet Comes. UTCQ will be the first album that he has released within the last two years since his phenomenal Cosmogramma album.

The style of Flying Lotus’s music may be considered experimental Hip-Hop with a jazzy inspiration. Speaking of jazz, Ellison is the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane, the wife of the phenomenal saxophonist John Coltrane. With this being said, great music runs through the veins of Flying Lotus. He has been compared to the legendary, late beat maker known as J Dilla, due to his production of Hip-Hop. By showing his appreciation to Dilla, Flying Lotus recreated one of his famous beats, “Fall in Love.” His second album, Los Angeles (2008), exemplifies his superb ability to make experimental hip hop beats. Ellison has been compared to the Jimi Hendrix of this generation. According to The Observer newspaper, Flylo recorded, “the rhythmic bleeps and whirring of the machines that kept his mother alive while she was unconscious in a Los Angeles hospital,” because he wanted, “this extremely traumatic moment to be part of its genesis,” of his Los Angeles album.” With this said, one can almost feel the passion in Ellison’s compositions.

Many creative videos will be produced for various songs featured on his new album. His record company, Warp Records, released a video for the featured song “Until the Quiet Comes” on Sept. 6. Flying Lotus’s music videos reflect his abstract thinking, and also represent his appreciation for film. The release for the album Until the Quiet Comes will allow music enthusiasts to experience a unique form of experimental hip-hop by going on a journey through the metaphysical notions of Flying Lotus’s mind.

By Jabari Canada

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