Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!
Flying Lotus is not dead.
Neither am I… does he think that I am?
Am I dead? Are you?
Who is the title aimed at then?
Maybe he is after all, maybe we all are.
There’s nobody on this planet that does what Flying Lotus does. He’s at once a brilliant producer, an eclectic composer, an underground hip hop icon and a modern day jazz pioneer. His aunt was Alice Coltrane, she is dead. She was the second wife of Jazz Hall of Famer John Coltrane, he is dead. He has worked with folks like Earl Sweatshirt, Mac Miller, Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke, they are not dead.
‘You’re Dead’! doesn’t play like a hip hop album, and I don’t know enough about jazz to say why it sounds so good. All I know is that it’s compelling from start to finish. Beats and loops laying foundation; sounds and voices swelling in and out from the ether, like lost souls traversing the underworld (see Disney’s Hercules for reference). Organised noise. Drawing you in. Enticing you.
You could sit there with the album on repeat all day trying to decipher all the little intricacies or you could just lose yourself in the flow. I suppose that’s what jazz is: An aesthetic and an intellectual art form at the same time. Simple yet challenging.
For a meditation on a literally grave subject, ‘You’re Dead!’ can be quite light and breezy at times. Hitting grooves and riffing off them at whatever pace. FlyLo’s not a morbid man. He’s lost some friends, some family, some acquaintances. We all have and will. This song cycle was streamed early on a 24 hour loop with an accompanying animated video, dedicated to Austin Peralta, DJ Rashad and DJ Medhi. All fallen soldiers. I’d say Rest in Peace but that’s not really the point here. More like rest in eternal cosmic euphoria.
As much as ‘You’re Dead!’ draws from the well of classic jazz fusion, it also has elements of video game soundtracks and Dragon Ball Z. Like George Duke playing Street Fighter. A hypnotic attack. Instruments were recorded live but separately, mixed together by the mastermind in post.
Guest stars pepper the liner notes, but they never draw away from the major spectacle. Kendrick Lamar drops by on ‘Never Catch Me’ to drop a typical blitzkrieg assault. It’s the closest thing to a single here: Pop music structure, verses and chorus. Snoop Dogg adds his iconic, laconic stylings to ‘Dead Man’s Tetris’. You have the legendary Herbie Hancock on a couple tracks. And Thundercat, he’s all over this thing. One of the Brainfeeder Crew, TC is a bass guitar genius. Where he goes, good music will follow.
Lotus’ albums all have an overarching concept, this is the same. It’s hard to isolate tracks from the bunch but that’s the point. This is not a collection of individual songs, it is a cohesive whole. A concept. Tracks blend together, melting into the meditation.
There are wonderful moments. Transcendent moments. Like all jazz records, some last a full song others just a few notes. Maybe a riff here or there. Just make sure you do it justice. ‘You’re Dead!’ is an album to listen to in an entire 38 minute chunk. Cut corners and you miss out on the majesty, the bliss, the discordant splendour hidden within.
So who is dead? ‘You’ are, according to the album title. But I doubt you are if you’re reading this. Is that what FlyLo is after, a new perception on consciousness and Being Alive? Or is it the opposite?
The great thing about it is that the answers are yours to apply.