BBC Review
It may sound like an addendum to Cosmogramma, but it's no less essential for that.
Colin Buttimer 2010-09-20
Is Flying Lotus the most interesting artist working in hip hop today? With so many contenders, it would be a silly claim to make, but his work is undoubtedly fascinating. Expectations are high after the wonderfully imaginative album Cosmogramma, released earlier this year. The title of this seven-track, 20-minute EP suggests it's a companion piece to the album; which is, in fact, the case.
Opener Clay is a busy, sci-fi workout, the whole thing threatening to pull itself apart at the seams such is the pressure of the heavily textured rhythm. The impact is psychedelic and well-night irresistible. The charmingly titled (and only slightly tempting) Kill Your Co-Workers spends nearly a minute in lighthearted toy-town mode before speeding into the distance on 8-bit video game sonics that recall Cosmogramma's prologue, Clock Catcher.
Pie Face maintains the frenetic pace before Time Vampires slows things down for a busy, trippy couple of minutes that are the musical equivalent of the morning after a really heavy night. High-pitched flutes dance in wayward fashion until a whole pack of knitting needles, some one-note humming and what might just be a chorus exclaiming "Cheese!" arrives to divest itself of Jurassic Notion/M Theory.
Camera Day is hazy and drenched in woozy sunlight, then Physics for Everyone! wraps things up with a hypnotic and all too brief rhythm/melody workout. Pattern + Grid World may sound like an addendum to Cosmogramma, but it's no less essential for that.
- - -
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you choose to use this review on your site please link back to this page.
