Los Angeles is highly accessible, but wonderfully complicated and with its myriad of angles, atmospheres and faces, it is at once profound and enduring.
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.
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.
It's an inventive reimagining of hip hop with huge basslines underpinning the otherwise cinematic atmosphere.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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
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
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.
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
1 | Brainfeeder 1:31 | 79 |
2 | Breathe Something / Stellar Star 3:20 | 92 |
3 | Beginners Falafel 2:28 | 86 |
4 | Camel 2:22 | 88 |
5 | Melt! 1:45 | 79 |
6 | Comet Course 3:01 | 86 |
7 | Orbit 405 0:43 | 64 |
8 | Golden Diva 4:01 | 89 |
9 | Riot 4:02 | 80 |
10 | GNG BNG 3:38 | 90 |
11 | Parisian Goldfish 3:01 | 92 |
12 | Sleepy Dinosaur 1:55 | 86 |
13 | Roberta Flack 3:07 feat. Ahu | 89 |
14 | Sex Slave Ship 2:14 | 84 |
15 | Auntie's Harp 0:55 | 78 |
16 | Testament 2:28 feat. Gonja Sufi | 76 |
17 | Auntie's Lock / Infinitum 2:44 feat. Laura Darlington | 85 |
#3 | / | Resident Advisor |
#10 | / | FACT Magazine |
#21 | / | PopMatters |
#25 | / | A.V. Club |
#28 | / | Cokemachineglow |
#28 | / | Pitchfork |
#40 | / | Treble |
#47 | / | MOJO |