Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus is the alias of Steven Ellison, a producer from Los Angeles who makes experimental electronic music. He started releasing music under that name in the late 1990s, putting out an early EP called 'Clouddead' in 1997. His sound pulls from the jazz and soul he heard growing up, but he arranges it into something more fractured and atmospheric.

His albums like 'Cosmogramma' and 'You're Dead!' are built on complex, skittering rhythms and layers of texture that don't fit neatly into one genre. A track like 'Never Catch Me' with Kendrick Lamar shows how his production can anchor a rap verse while still feeling unmoored and spacious. He often works with other artists, including Thundercat and Niki Randa, who appears on 'The Kill'.

Ellison's music tends to avoid straightforward patterns, favoring collage-like structures and a cinematic, sometimes psychedelic, scope. It's headphone music that rewards close listening, full of small details and unexpected turns. The song 'Unexpected Delight' is a good example of that approach, a piece that unfolds patiently, more about mood and texture than a conventional beat.