Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Critic Score
Based on 17 reviews
2008 Ratings: #44 / 806
Year End Rank: #30
User Score
Based on 734 ratings
2008 Rank: #40
Liked by 101 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic
Loaded with 17 tracks, it's an entertaining and fitting addition to the Warp catalog that makes for some highly hypnotic video arcade/coffee parlor mood music.
100
Clash
He teeters on the edge just for the thrill, knowing that this music is too powerful to come apart under any kind of pressure. Some might feel ‘Los Angeles’ oddly cold given its title – but we prefer to think of it as effortlessly cool.
100
Resident Advisor

Los Angeles is highly accessible, but wonderfully complicated and with its myriad of angles, atmospheres and faces, it is at once profound and enduring.

90
XLR8R
There’s little doubt that trendy clothing chains will be using this stellar album for background music, but these instrumentals represent true forward-thinking headphone hip-hop with the off-kilter yet sturdy drums, a wide range of collaged cosmic samples, and just enough silky vocal contributions.
85
Pitchfork

Hip-hop's earliest records often relied on faded, scratchy source material run through entry-level equipment. Even as technology advanced, the grain and the gristle stuck around-- sometimes out of necessity, sometimes as an extra ingredient. Over time, those aged, decaying sounds burrowed their way underground to crop up in pockets of IDM, dubstep, and indie hip-hop, resulting in music, built around texture more than bass or treble, that often sounded ragge

d at birth.

80
Drowned in Sound

Los Angeles is most definitely a journey – not through sound specifically, but certainly powered by it. Like you’re driving a bass-rigged Chevy through a drowned L.A., and it’s not a world you want to leave quickly. Warp haven’t just struck gold, I think there’s some platinum down there too.

80
The Observer

It's an inventive reimagining of hip hop with huge basslines underpinning the otherwise cinematic atmosphere.

80
The Skinny
Listen closely and you’ll get the prowling bass of Curtis Mayfield, the vampish grandeur of Diana Ross and the epileptic electronica of The Orb and Underworld. This is a full-on, heart-pounding, tension-inducing, sweat-soaked sonic journey from an artist at the peak of his powers.
80
SPIN

Los Angeles may sound familiar to keen listeners — parallels will be drawn to Burial and, of course, Dilla. But it’s a unique, holographic version. Ellison paints a portrait of L.A. culture that simultaneously prophesies its future sound.

80
PopMatters

You could literally leave Los Angeles on repeat for hours and hear something different each time. It’s a gritty, spacey, and ultimately beautiful record that is sure to give Flying Lotus some much-deserved attention.

77
Coke Machine Glow

Assured in its fastidiousness, with enough schizophrenia to make whiplash a factor, Los Angeles cements Flying Lotus’s status as the best producer in a burgeoning scene bursting with talent, categorization eluding whatever scene that may be, whatever it means to be a producer.

70
HipHopDX

On Los Angeles, Flying Lotus cleverly defies the odds by giving listeners an album that sheds light on the genre’s more technologically-driven roots. He completes his mission when adding the necessary elements of Funk and Soul to his computer-driven creations and accomplishes much less when he relies too much of his efforts on studio manipulation.

65
Prefix
It does manage a nice arc in terms of overall pacing, with some interesting though not entirely successful vocal works at the end (“Testament” and “Infinitum”). Yet the album feels a bit too similar for how crowded it is.
60
Uncut
It is, like LA itself, heavy on style.
60
Record Collector
With a mélange of styles, it will be interesting to see the Lotus mature a little to give focus to his creativity.
60
The Irish Times
In terms of a narrative, the producer relies on textures and patterns to illustrate the plot. While these sometimes don't always work as well as the producer thinks, you're happy to share the ride nonetheless.
ImpalaLT
99

Man, FlyLo is on the way to becoming my favorite music artist of all time lol

Favorite: GNG BNG
Least Favorite: N/A (as expected)

CJay
80

While Los Angeles isn't as refined as Flying Lotus' later projects, it still has some amazing and weird moments to offer. On LA, the mixing on this album is rough around the edges. However, I think that's what makes this album that much weirder. Also, LA isn't as jazzy as Cosmogramma or You're Dead!, which makes this album more tougher to listen to and digest. But even with less jazz and rougher mixing, LA is still a great album that I really love for being more weird and abstract. You have ... read more

cfnugent
50

Thank you to @UltimateLifeFrm for the recommendation (11)! If you have any album/song you'd like to recommend, feel free to drop it in my shoutbox.

I'm not quite sure why this album was harder for me to grasp than some other things I've heard over the past few weeks. Hearing this a few nights ago for the first time, my brain was having a hard time deciding what to make of any of this. I've listened a lot more now, and I feel much more confident now saying it's just sorta... fine?

Is it fair ... read more

Gstv
80

Thanks to BogusDexller for the recommendation!
Bogus had already sent me a "Flying Lotus" album for me to listen and I really liked it but I feel like, compared to that one, this is not that good. It still has got some really nice songs and rhythms throught the album but it got a little boring.

_V33_
92

And THERE are the vibes
This thing is so wet sounding, like a really damp towel.
You got that classic early FlyLo production to top it off too.
Love this one.
Favorite Tracks: all

85

J Dilla for weird people. i like

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Track List

1Brainfeeder
1:31
79
2Breathe Something / Stellar Star
3:20
92
3Beginners Falafel
2:28
86
4Camel
2:22
88
5Melt!
1:45
79
6Comet Course
3:01
86
7Orbit 405
0:43
64
8Golden Diva
4:01
89
9Riot
4:02
80
10GNG BNG
3:38
90
11Parisian Goldfish
3:01
92
12Sleepy Dinosaur
1:55
86
13Roberta Flack
3:07
feat. Ahu
89
14Sex Slave Ship
2:14
84
15Auntie's Harp
0:55
78
16Testament
2:28
76
17Auntie's Lock / Infinitum
2:44
85
Total Length: 43 minutes
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