Posted at 18:29h
in
Music,
Reviews
Flying Lotus raised the height of his electro-sonic game when he released in May this year his second full-length album Cosmogramma on Warp records, an unusual album through-in and through-out its content, style and visual form (with artwork by Leigh J. McCloseky, look up Codex Tor!).
Cosmogramma is constructed by 17 pieces, from 17 seconds to 3 minutes 20 sections; each piece titled and punctuated by unexpected wording ('Pickled!' , 'Nose Art', 'Table tennis', etc). This is not a new feature of Flying Lotus' touch however, rather it is the mark of his ever productive bend, present and evolving ever since his first dubsteps. As random as these uncategorisable tiny timed pieces and their longer siblings appear at first, they always self-audio explain their unique character as soon as you will hit play, thus falling tightly snug into the seat-beat that Flying Lotus has composed, for them, and in them.
Cosmogramma is a space opera, thus has Warp records presented it. When it was released to the press it was handed as a one long play, a very fitting format because, although dividable in the said 17 parts, each track runs inside and outside of its selves, like natural phrases in the logic of poetics rather than synthetic broken units.
Haven't listened to it yet? Let us tempt you...
From time to time I’ve found myself wondering why Jamie Lidell is not more of a household name. With some catchy-yet-credible singles under his belt, and an impressive retro voice you would think he’d have at least garnered the type of attention bestowed on his namesake and less-vocally-talented Jazz counterpart Jamie Cullum.
Looking like a science geek who harbours a kinky secret, one wouldn’t expect that kind of voice to come out of Lidell. And it’s a vocal style peculiar to English soul boys; from Jay Kay, Lewis Taylor and erstwhile Artful Dodger collaborator Robbie Craig to a pre-pop/rock Jamie Scott and more recently Mamas Gun lead singer, Andy Platts. Lidell’s voice however is possibly the most authentically soulful out of the lot, which should be riposte enough to those music journos who have rather unfairly labelled his sound as affected.
On his previous two records, 2005’s Multiply and 2008’s Jim by his own admission - and as observed by critics - Lidell purposefully moved away from Electronica, his former base to focus on material that would best showcase his voice. He succeeded too; the production on both Jim and Multiply sounded convincingly vintage without being gimmicky or over-done.
On his latest effort, Compass, Jamie experiments with different soundscapes