Flying Lotus/Rekordah/Samiyam, Bristol Start The Bus

Flying Lotus

May 4th 2009

A shout from behind; “Tell us about DMT!”, a reference to Flying Lotus’ well-known appreciation for psychedelics. The man himself grins.

“We’ll get to that later.’

It’s an appropriate point of reference; Steven Ellison’s music has a humid and hallucinogenic quality that tonight transcends the slightly inappropriate venue choice. There is a palpable sense of anticipation in the air; his mercurial Los Angeles long player was one of last year’s finest albums, a Lynchian evocation of that city’s endless sprawl and shimmering heat, its shallow obsessions and sleazy underbelly. Its release has seen him propelled from relative obscurity to cross-scene popularity, buoyed by his reputation for blistering live performances.

This evening sees the launch of a new night, Pattern, which promises cutting edge visuals along with an impressive first night line up – Pollen Records’ Rekordah starts early with off-kilter hip-hop and dubstep before a slightly muted set from the residents and the appearance of Samiyam. As Flying Lotus’ protégé/partner-in-crime, their music shares several characteristics – in particular a debt to J Dilla’s penchant for heavy atmosphere and unusual beat structures. Tonight’s set sees him take the mic and deliver a set heavy on vocal hip-hop punctuated by tunes from his Hyperdub releases, as well as a couple of new ones.

Live, Flying Lotus’ music becomes even denser than on record; each mix feels like a slow motion car-crash, bass suddenly cutting out before dropping again off beat, bursts of static like splintering glass. Technical brilliance aside he is a hugely charismatic live performer, dancing loose-limbed on stage and continuously engaging with the crowd. Too often live performance of electronic music can feel clinical, lacking spontaneity and humanity. Yet there’s a twisted sense of humour at work here and a certain sense that a lot of this shouldn’t carry, but still somehow does – witness the emergence of Snoop Dogg’s laconic drawl through the haze of distortion at the end of ‘Melt!’ By this point it’s becoming increasingly hard to tell whether it’s the music or the cider that’s making the room feel this woozy. As a long and drawn out tempo increase drags through the brutal electro fuzz of his remix of Mr. Oizo’s ‘$tunt$’, the segue into ‘Parisian Goldfish’ marks the start of a faster and looser second half. Two new Joker tracks and Kode9′s immense ‘Black Sun’ are dropped in quick succession, as Samiyam reappears to share the stage for the last few minutes.
As the final curtain of noise dissolves into silence we’re left with the sound (and sight) of FlyLo groaning and cackling into the mic, face to the monitor, eyes rolling. He turns to the crowd, breaks into a grin.
“Now, that’s DMT.”

No related posts.