Courtesy of Timmy K, who was holding it down for us on the photographic tip last night as Kutmah, Flying Lotus and Martyn tore apart Roundhouse. Promotion kudos goes to Soundcrash who continue to smash it with multiple headliners on events like this.

No doubt be more appearing on the Phomandark blog and his Flickr account a little later on, but here’s a few highlights from the full reel. To see the complete shots or get at any hi-res, as always feel free to get in touch.

Gifted & Blessed, you may know him better as his alias GB, is one of the West Coast’s most illuminated beatmakers, contributing productions to Spacek and Dwight Trible albums way back in 2004 when he first appeared on the radar. He uses his music as a therapy, a healing process, and you can experience this first-hand when he comes to Plastic People this Saturday. We caught up with him for a quick interview ahead of the night.

[16:09:31] SHOOK: hey, are you there?
[16:09:51] GIFTED & BLESSED: hey man. yeah i’m here
[16:10:04] SHOOK: so what country are you in?
[16:10:14] GIFTED & BLESSED: im in norway at the moment
[16:10:29] SHOOK: how did this tour come about?
[16:12:25] GIFTED & BLESSED: i’d been wanting to come down and play one of the nonsense parties for a while, so when i heard the 4 year anniversary was coming up, i figured that would be the perfect time for me to buy a ticket to london. then i figured, if i’m going to be in london, why not create a tour for myself around europe while i’m here? things came together pretty naturally, and i was able to book 10 performances over a span of three weeks. the pace has been fast but a lot of fun.
[16:14:14] SHOOK: well done on organizing that! we’ve been hearing about you for a while now. in fact you were one of the early generation of ‘beatmakers’ to come out of LA, right? were you affiliated with dublab?
[16:15:26] GIFTED & BLESSED: yeah that’s right. i got started with the l.a. based label sound in color, which was more or less where the beat scene in l.a. came from in large part. i did some releases with dublab as well for their compilations.
[16:16:09] SHOOK: and your father was a musician, right? also west coast? or ohio?
[16:17:13] GIFTED & BLESSED: yeah my father was a musician, too, although his band only released one 7″ record back when he was in high school. it’s a pretty expensive northern soul record, almost impossible to find now! he was based in ohio.
[16:17:28] … his group was called the chandlers
[16:17:56] SHOOK: do you play many instruments?
[16:19:31] GIFTED & BLESSED: hmm…well i definitely don’t claim to be a master of any instruments at all! but my main instrument is the synthesizer. i’m a collector of vintage analog synthesizers and drum machines, which are my primary production tools. i’ve also done a lot of recording with bass, guitar, drums and other percussion instruments.
[16:20:48] SHOOK: right… so what bits of gear do you most treasure and which are you most comfortable on?
[16:24:29] GIFTED & BLESSED: well, i have a few secret weapons! right now my favorite drum machines to use are the tr-808 and mpc-1 (not the akai mpc, the british company mpc electronics). the mpc is hard to find these days, but i’ve been lucky enough to own two of them in the last few years. as far as keyboards go, i don’t think it gets any better than a well-made grand piano, but unfortunately i don’t have that kind of money. so i work with a rhodes with MIDI, and a few oberheim, roland, eml and korg synthesizers.
[16:26:36] … those are just a few that i like to use.
[16:26:43] SHOOK: word. the mpc sounds heavy! okay… ‘nother question. a lot of LA musicians seem to be grounded in some heavy metaphysical ideas. how comes everyone is reading Castaneda and that sort of thing. it goes back to the 60s and the grateful dead?
[16:31:30] GIFTED & BLESSED: honestly, i only know a couple of other guys who have read all the castaneda books. many of the people who have checked his books out have been more into drugs than anything i think. maybe that’s why metaphysics plays the part that it does in the music world, i don’t know. but i do think there is a heightened spiritual energy in los angeles. it might have to do with the sun. who knows…
[16:32:38] SHOOK: but for you, music isn’t just about party and bullshit… it can be transformative.
[16:35:20] GIFTED & BLESSED: i won’t say i don’t enjoy a good party or some good herb! but yes, music can definitely be transformative, and it can be used to uplift people.
[16:36:43] GIFTED & BLESSED: i think whether or not a musician intends to put forth a specific vibration, he/she does anyway. so my choice is to be deliberate in how i affect my listeners. when i can choose between healing/uplifting and numbing or conforming, i’ll always choose the former.
[16:36:41] SHOOK: so is that’s what’s gonna happen on saturday. what can we expect.
[16:37:20] GIFTED & BLESSED: i expect that we’re going to have a good time and we’ll dance and let loose a little bit. it’s gonna get deep.
[16:37:31] SHOOK: i cant wait for that…

Download ‘GB Interprets His Contemporaries’ i.e. Flying Lotus, Little Dragon, Muhsinah & Exile

Download ‘Zerrissenheit EP’
Zerrissenheit is a term coined by William James, which he roughly translated as “torn-to-pieces-hood,” a state of being broken or in disarray. To be human is to feel fractured and pulled in a dozen different directions at times. It is precisely during these times in our yearning for self-repair that we find ourselves most open to rebirth, growth, and eventually a heightened sense of spirituality we otherwise could not have reached. This begins with confronting and assimilating our shadow selves into our being. Then as we move through our emotions, we can put these pieces back together into a more full life experience, imperfections and all.

With all that Coltrane blood coursing through his veins, Flying Lotus was always destined for big things. His albums are consistently challenging and his live shows beautifully unpredictable – and presided over by that megawatt smile, which charms the most discordant passages into something more palatable.

His gig at London’s Koko on 26 October captured all this FlyLo magic with the added sweetener of him performing with Dorian Concept on keys and Richard Spaven on drums. They apparently only practiced for 20 minutes before taking the stage for an improvised spectacular.

Spaven worked his kit for nearly two hours solid while FlyLo sampled, looped, muted and distorted his beats. Dorian Concept’s Korg Micro got the same treatment.

FlyLo mixed the sounds into fragments of ‘Dance of the Pseudo Nymph’, ‘Auntie’s Harp’, and ‘Robo Tussin’, among others, and Dorian Concept’s ‘Trilingual Dance Sexperience’ made an appearance, too.

Some of the transitions were a little messy but such is the nature of improvisation, and the trio’s energy, boldness and creative chemistry managed to smooth over the edges.

Perhaps FlyLo was aware of the odd clanger, as he made a point of telling us, while flashing his signature smile, that he likes to do something different every time. And it’s from such creative experimentation that comes moments of absolute brilliance, which is why he sells out his gigs the world over and sets the bar even higher for himself each time.

Perhaps he’ll opt for a vocalist in the future, or bring his skittish, outer space-themed visuals into his set. Could he interact with that spaceman bouncing about on the screen above and work his magic on some visual trickery? Anything’s possible.

For his finishing move, he swapped places with Dorian Concept and had his turn on the electric piano before singing along to ‘Do the Astral Plane’ and holding his arms aloft, Usain Bolt style. He was right to be pleased with his performance.

As if the video wasn’t enough, you can freely download the track here.

Recorded live in Los Angeles at Grand Performances, California Plaza July 23, 2010.

Produced by:
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Co-Produced by:
Andrew Lojero

Recording & Mixing Engineer:
Benjamin Tierney

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble:
Bilal (vocals)
Flying Lotus (laptop)
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin)
Evan Francis (flute)
Dontae Winslow (trumpet)
Joey Dosik (alto sax)
Kamasi Washington (tenor sax)
Garrett Smith (trombone)
Rebekah Raff (harp)
Marcel Camargo (guitar)
Brandon Coleman (keys)
Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner (bass)
Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave (drums)
Nikki Campbell (percussion)

And a reminder of Donny Hathaway’s original from Extension of a Man.

Over the past 24 months, ‘J Dilla’ and ‘Flying Lotus’ have undoubtedly become the two most overused comparisons for descriptions of new music, and for the most part unjustifiably. Throw in the words ‘space’, ‘cosmic’ and ‘future’ and you can start an online record store.

It is with the first listen to Flying Lotus’ third full-length – Cosmogramma – that you realise how much the cheap comparisons have tarnished the name. Across the 17 tracks on the album rarely does FlyLo put a foot wrong. With the majority of the songs clocking in under two-and-a-half minutes, Cosmogramma picks up exactly where Los Angeles left off, with more than a tip of the cap to his early work on Adult Swim and 1983.

Despite being billed by Warp as a ‘space opera’ (seriously?) Cosmogramma comes off more like the ultimate beat tape. There’s definite evolution in his work but not in the direction or shape of the music that had 1983 and Los Angeles hailed as masterpieces, only in the way it’s been constructed; the complexity of the hi-hat patterns, the effects on the snares, the ¾ time changes or the fine tuning of the digital instruments. Best of all – stretched out and flipped up and down as it may be – for the most part it’s defiantly hip-hop. Hip-hop as you’ve never heard it before, but still beats based in the genre that first embraced Flying Lotus.

The eastern influences that impressed his early offerings are ever present, alongside larger amounts of orchestral string work that itself vibes off an electronic jazz feel. No prize for guessing the inspiration behind ‘Arkestry’, but to date I’m yet to hear a finer Sun-Ra inspired track. As with the second-half of ‘Drips / Auntie’s Harp’, where he turns a computer composition into a string ensemble. It’s clear that Flying Lotus has started to take his position as a leftfield music ambassador seriously, displaying an in depth knowledge and talents of the most skilled genres for composition. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s guidance was certainly not wasted here, nor is it an indulgance.

Although I’m not a fan of Thom Yorke’s vocal contributions on ‘…And The World Laughs With You’, musically it’s the perfect example of FlyLo’s ability to walk a thin and narrow between so many sub-genres without falling prey to the clichés of any. The acoustically led ‘German Haircut’ is another surprisingly effective track, sounding like an outtake from Marc Mac’s Visioneers project, a melodic guitar looped over rough sounding live-percussion.

Amidst the hype of ‘journeying in to [him]self’, going from in-stores to festival headlines, from Red Bull student to Red Bull lecturer, and starting up his own digital label, you’d be forgiven for assuming FlyLo might disappear up his own ass on his third LP. Not at all. Flying Lotus really is next level, and listening to this album he deserves all the praise that goes his way. His live shows get better with each tour, and with Cosmogramma he’s pulled off what no other artist in his position has. Three stand-out LPs, without compromise on a single note or losing a fan along the way. Hats off to the master.

Established in 2005, LA’s weekly ‘Do-Over’ party has become known for consistently turning out the finest performance’s from the superstars of the underground scene. Even more importantly, word has been deservedly spread from cats such as J. Rocc, Gaslamp Killer & Peanut Butter Wolf about it’s good vibes and dance-floor eager crowd that turn it out every Sunday. Now with the event starting it’s fifth season, the Do-Over has recently evolved to incorporate a label, who’s first release of Flying Lotus & House Shoes on a screen-printed 10″ is now dropping in to stores worldwide. Turntable Lab recently caught up with Jamie Strong from the Do-Over to talk party history, top 5’s, and what we can expect from the label.

So how did the Do-Over come about?

Aloe Blacc, Chris Haycock and myself (Jamie Strong) wanted to create an environment where all ethnicities and musical genres could co-exist. It’s unfortunate that clubs/events can be so segregated racially and musically so we set out to change the rules. We wanted a fun-filled outlet for all of these worlds to clash with music as the core element. Fortunately, it worked and we’ve been able to fill a void with our own little niche. This is ultimately a testament to our attendees because all of our guests are kept a mystery so the main reason people keep coming back is because they know week in and week out, there will be incredible guests and music.

Any advice to people who are trying to start their own long-running club thing?

As cliche as it sounds, do it for the love of music vs the money. At the end of the day, that’s the reason why we started the party and have yet to sacrifice the musical integrity of it. If you are in the music industry for the money, you are in the wrong business. The whole reason people get into this business whether that’s as a DJ, a musician, a record store or a label is for the pure love of music. The second you sacrifice that passion is your overall demise.

Your life seems very intertwined with with your love of music and djs. What drives you?

Related to above’s answer. It’s the music. There’s so much incredible music out there (new & old) that it keeps me motivated and passionate to experience and share it with others. I am quite fortunate to be able to make a living out of something I love.

Top 5 DJ sets from Do-Over?

That’s definitely a hard one to answer because we’ve had so much amazing talent over the years that I enjoy certain sets for different reasons and if you were to ask Aloe and Chris, they would probably say the same thing. Lately, I’ve been listening to our early recordings and there’s some incredible music/guests that I forgot all about. I remember the first season, we actually had a ban on computers and it was vinyl only. I’m the last of a dying breed and actually still vinyl only, but needless to say, the times have changed. With that being said, my personal fav’s are: Jeremy Ellis (live mpc), A-Trak (debut set), Theo Parrish (second set), AM (rip) & J.Rocc’s impromptu set where he was just hanging out, but I asked him to play my records, the way I wanted to hear it so I pulled out random records for J.Rocc to play on the fly, many of which he was hearing for the first time, but he absolutely destroyed it. He was doing it so effortlessly, that I was trying to challenge him by giving him crazy songs and tempos to mix, but his skills and mixing are second to none.

Who are the best technical djs that have played at the Do-Over?

AM, A-Trak, Numark, J.Rocc

Who got the best “where did that come from” dj selections at the Do-Over?

Theo Parrish, JT Donaldson, Dam-Funk, Benji B

Who got the best behind the decks presence?

Gaslamp Killer, Dam-Funk

Any drama ever at the Do-Over? How do you maintain a good vibe?

In the 5 years of throwing the party, this past summer was our first time ever having a fight which was rather unfortunate because the lineup that day was insane (King Britt, 9th Wonder & Maseo – De La Soul). It definitely left a bad taste in our mouths because we pride ourselves on the overall environment and for attendees to feel comfortable. We’ve been able to uphold a good vibe because we’ve created a family environment, leave your ego’s at the door and come have fun so there’s a mutual respect level amongst everyone there.

Top 5 favorite spots to eat in LA?

Casa Bianca (pizza), Shibucho (sushi), Square One (breakfast), Metros Balderas (tacos), The Hungry Cat (burger). Honorable Mention: Ye Rustic Inn (wings – ask Jemz)

Top 5 DJ records

Tough question, but I can tell you the records that never seem to leave my bag for Do-Over:

Pepe Braddock ‘Burning’ 12″
Gerardo Frisina ‘Cubana’ 12″
Baron Zen ‘Burn Rubber’ (Dam-Funk Remix) 12″
Money Studies 7″ (Ballin Jack ‘Found A Child’)
Theo Parrish Ugly Edit Series

What can we expect from the Do-Over label?

For starters, a limited 10″ Series featuring exclusive tracks from guests of the party alongside immaculate art and packaging. Just like the party, the Series will be a mystery so you will just have to keep your ears and eyes open to find out who or what’s next, but there’s an amazing roster with music ranging from beats to hip-hop to disco to house from established and undiscovered artists. We will also be releasing The C-Over Series of “cover” songs.

Sunil Chauhan asked Flying Lotus, producer, DJ and former Cartoon Network scorer to reel off a list of his personal classics. After much deliberation, he eventually settled on five choice picks, but despite delivering what’s still the best full-length to come from hip-hop’s newest, this latest member of the Coltrane dynasty to make his musical mark – in true ipod generation style – plumped for songs over albums.…

Slum Village ‘Players’

“I think that beat is a perfect beat. The mix is just so perfect, it’s a great reference point for any EQ-ing. A lot of people use Dr. Dre as a reference when they’re mastering but I think that’s as close as it gets to classic Dre mixing. It’s just a dope song. The snare drum on that is from this disco tune. It’s just incredible. Dilla at his finest I’d say. The EQ-ing, the samples, all the melodic stuff that’s happening, it’s so musical. And it’s so pretty. That’s the beat that’s hard to deny. It’s also one of those beats that can blend well with anything, so I play that song in almost all my DJ sets. I think it’s perfect.”

Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Who Am I? (What’s My Name)’

“That whole Doggystyle record, I didn’t listen to any album more than that one. To this day. That was an album I would listen to from front to end. As a youngster, growing up in the 90s, hearing the musicality of that coming from west coast hip-hop at the time, it was super influential. That was our time, man. When I heard What’s My Name?, I was convinced at that point that I was gonna make beats.”

John Coltrane ‘Stairway To The Stars’

“He didn’t write it but his version of it was amazing. Being a kid, I knew it was good, but it’s hard to really take in some of that stuff when you’re younger. But that was the first one I really connected to. And I think it was just because I’m into a lot of the weirder shit and abstract shit now, but I’m into melodies mostly. And I just found that a really beautiful piece.”

Aphex Twin – 54 Cymru Beats

“It’s a fucking weird title, but this shit was crazy! No one’s fucking with this shit today, even. This was the first time I really heard super spastic electronic shit that made sense. I heard it a few times and thought ‘this is noise’ but he made the noise make sense. I think that’s obvious in my music too. That’s what I’m trying to do. I like the way it sounds so fucked up, but it’s all in the pocket. Vordhosbn, that other one on Drukqs, I remember being at college doing mushrooms listening to that. I didn’t get into his ambient stuff ’til later on, but Stone In Focus, I listen to that a lot.”

Vangelis – Blade Runner Blues

“I used to play this track so much. After coming home from school, after a long day, you’d just wanna lay out with some fucking weird drug pills and zone out to this. They actually made a Blade Runner video game for the PC and at the point in the game where they played this, I was like ‘whoooh!’ I noticed it in the film but I really took to it more in the game. I also heard the orchestral version of it which was sweet, but different. The first track of Los Angeles is definitely my homage to Vangelis and the Blade Runner vibe.”

Also, the Brainfeeder kingpin has recently uploaded some new productions to his myspace. Perhaps a taster of what is due from the man in 2010, they’re obviously pretty damn good. Especially ‘Prince’, which sounds like anything he’s done so far, and another Lil Wayne remix.

Flying Lotus myspace

(Sunil Chauhan)

Here are some images from the Leaving Records event. Mitchell Brown, Matthewdavid (above), Dntel, Ras G, and Flying Lotus gave amazing performances, and the Lucky Dragons endless looping cassettes were really fun to experience.

Via Saw You On The Flipside (Laurent’s blog)

Airhorn. It’s sometime around midnight on a warm June Saturday night in a carpark near Liverpool St in London’s east end. This carpark has been taken over for the night by the Brainfeeder label/collective (headed by Flying Lotus) and Warp records for the second edition of Brainfeeder in London. Kode 9 is on the stage, located at the back of the carpark’s main ‘area,’ which acts as the dancefloor for the night, honking a yellow plastic airhorn while setting up for his live show as Gaslamp Killer finishes his set.

Rewind a couple of hours. I reached the venue, Hearn St carpark, around 10pm thinking that pacing may well be key to surviving Brainfeeder’s second London party, following their debut in the capital in June 2008. With an impressive lineup of modern beat/hip hop/electronica/dubstep/good music luminaries and an advertised ending time of 5am, I thought pacing might well come in handy later on in the night. And it did.

One of L.A’s long-standing pioneers of the beat scene and one of its best kept secrets, Take (who is in the process of renaming himself Sweatson Klank – you try and google any info about an artist named Take and see how long it takes you to sift through the irrelevant results), was getting into the full swing of his live set as I stepped in. Having seen his live show a week before at the Gramaphone, where it didn’t quite get the reaction or have the setting many of us felt it deserved, it was a pleasure being able to see it once more this time in a setting much more conducive to its full impact – the crowd was amassing in the carpark and the walls of speakers were pumping out Take’s beats, as he twisted and turned them from his laptop.

Brainfeeder is a label and collective set up by Flying Lotus sometime in early 08, though the name was already floating around before that and the first time I heard it was in the summer of 2007 when Flying Lotus and other L.A beatsmiths did a 4h Brainfeeder Radio broadcast via the excellent Dublab radio station. Brainfeeder’s, the label, artists include Flying Lotus alongside many of his L.A and U.S peers and newcomers, such as Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Ras G, Lorn, Mono/Poly and Teebs. Brainfeeder, the party, which if I’m not wrong was first held in London in June 08, has gained a reputation as one of the best around in the last year, using Flying Lotus’ increasing popularity to put together the kind of forward thinking line ups most fanboys and discerning music fans crave for and which also serve as the perfect introductory point for lesser aware fans and passer-bys to discover a new world of modern musical possibilities. In the last year Brainfeeder has hosted parties in London, San Fran, L.A, New York and Barcelona.

The second edition of Brainfeeder London brought back a selection of the label’s own artists and friends, Flying Lotus, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer and Take, alongside some of their European friends, namely Bibio, Kode 9 and Spaceape, Dorian Concept, Joker and Benji B. As I said the kind of line up that ticks all the right boxes of any knowledgeable fan and is sure to open the eyes and tickle the minds of those who may not be too familiar with the music.

Following from Take’s set, another two Brainfeeder artists stepped up. First was Samiyam, who dropped what I’m assuming is what has been referred to as his ‘West Coast hip hop set’ online. 45 or so minutes of his own beats, old and new, with their deliriously loose and fun drum patterns and at times squelchy synth lines, combined with hip hop club bangers and older gems from the West Coast’s rich hip hop history. The result was a carpark full of people happily dancing and swerving, and getting fuller by the minute too.

Following him was The Gaslamp Killer, a man known for his eclectic tastes and equally eclectic DJ sets. He lived up to his fame, punctuating short bursts of some of the most ‘what the fuck’ indulging dubstep drops currently doing the rounds with funk and psych rock gems. Watching the crowd’s reaction as he switched from one to the other was nearly as entertaining as the set itself. Two things I remarked during and after his set: the first one is that in many ways GLK is like a wilder, longer-haired Z-Trip. He talks to the crowd (something European DJs pretty much never do) and he generally quickly switches between genres and styles, creating mixes that are like giant collections of peak moments, of all those ‘whoa’ moments in songs we all know, two things Z-Trip used to do (I haven’t seen/heard him in ages, so maybe the comparison isn’t valid anymore, regardless it’s tongue in cheek, so don’t get on your high horses in the comments please). The second thing his set made me realise is that while I don’t really have much time/preference for the more in your face, lowest common denominator dubstep that’s around these days, the way he plays it, going from drop to drop, focusing on those peak, ‘what the fuck’ moments this strain of dubstep excels at, is perfect and makes it a lot more bearable and enjoyable.

Airhorn. Enter Kode 9 and Spaceape with a rare London live show. As the show starts, with Kode 9 feeding what sounded like frequency tests through the system’s speaker stacks, it occurs to me that I’ve never seen the two of them ‘live’. It’s always been DJ sets and while I’d never seen them do a live show it felt like I already knew a lot about it, having spoken to Kode about it when he was over in Japan in the summer of 07 (when he showed me how he was using Ableton to play with loops of all the different elements that make up his tracks) and heard recordings of previous ones (including the excellent Mutek performance, which you can download here). Unfortunately their show ended up plagued by one major technical ‘fault’ – Spaceape’s mic was barely audible, essentially removing/muting half of the live show’s content. I thought it might have been because we were towards the back (I’d forgot my earplugs and there’s no way I was paying the price of standing at the front for the whole night) but speaking with them after it turns out it was like that for everyone pretty much. It’s one thing not having the mic properly leveled at the start of the show, but for a whole 45 minutes? Shame really.

Despite the technical itch, Kode and Spaceape (more dancing than singing) delivered one of the highlights of the night for me. As per their own admissions it’s a ‘risky show’, and despite the mic issues and unconventional venue I still feel that they pulled it off brilliantly. Layers upon layers of drums, bass, synths and melodies looped together, switched, changed, faded, brought back… Kode 9 controlled the music in a way I’ve rarely seen in a live electronic music show, sitting comfortably somewhere between the more traditional electronic live shows and the very basic, loop based fundations of hip hop shows. While there were a fair few high points in the set, most of which are slightly blurred in my memory at this point, the one for me is their use of a loop from GZA’s ‘4th Chamber’, the first bar of the synth line that comes in after the intro. A simple loop that in many ways serves to link the Wu’s ahead-of-its-time, gritty productions with the current beat scene and alternative movements in hip hop and dubstep perfectly. As their set ended, with Kode once more feeding those frequency tests through the system, the crowd erupted into cheer and applause, which I thought was strange considering the seemingly subdued reaction of people during the set, even at its most upbeat, funky moments.

Flying Lotus was next. The man of the moment as it were, the reception at the start of his set was as loud and impressive as when I saw him play the Ligthbox in London a couple of months earlier. What followed was an hour or so along the same lines of what I’d witnessed earlier in the year. I’m not going to lie, I spent most of his set at the bar next to the stage, and whenever I paid attention I heard elements from the recent set as well as some new bits, including a well-placed mix of Snoop’s ‘What’s My Name’ into his own remix of Mr. Oizo’s ‘Stunt’ (see this video for footage of that particular bit). The best bit of Fly Lo’s set this time for me was a seemingly impromptu freestyle jam with himself on the drums, Dorian Concept on the synths, Gaslamp Killer cutting and Alex Bonfanti on bass. Again see the video below, I did a double take when I first heard it from the bar as I wasn’t sure if Dorian’s set had started or not, and watching the video a few days later not only clarified what my tired/alcohol tainted brain was trying to make sense of but also made me realise just quite how good that segment was (it wasn’t just the alcohol speaking then).

Following Flying Lotus was Dorian Concept, a blond Austrian wunderkid that pretty much stole the show. Dorian likes synths (see this interview and exhaustive video list for proof), and he likes to think outside of the production box too, making the kind of hip hop that you could lazily tag wonky but which really is the perfect examplification of someone taking some of the influences that have shaped the beat scene over the last ten years (from Dilla’s drum programming to insane mid-range, at times ravey synth melodies) and making them his own, creating something out of them that is entirely its own thing. Over the space of 45 or so minutes, Dorian very nearly brought the roof down on Hearn St carpark, hyping the crowd into a frenzy and showing that not only does he have an ear for unusual yet attractive melodies and rhythms but that he can also take his music from the studio and onto the stage like few others can. This was no nerd, chin-stroking fest, despite the high proportion of males in attendance.

By the time Dorian had finished making everyone sweat and go slightly mental, Bristol’s young prodigy and purveyor of purple funk Joker took to the decks. It was about 3 am at this point, and considering what had come before him it was going to take a good DJ/producer to carry on the show as it were. And that’s where Joker showed that despite his young age he has the seeming ‘musical’ wisdom of someone much older, something even established names in certain dance music scenes can lack.

Over the next hour or so Joker played a devastating set composed mainly of his own productions (with a few choice exceptions from the likes of Mala and others) and ranging from dubstep to grime, and from hip hop to his own purple wow flavours. Not only did he show talent in how he controlled the crowd over the duration of his set, but also in his flawless mixing and selection, taking people on a little ride, increasing and dampening the energy levels and never losing them. Talking about DJ sets is always a bit strange for me, but if I had to pick out some highlights they’d definitely include a new hip hop track called ‘Tron’ or ‘Planet Tron,’ the kind of production that could easily become a new template for hip hop club bangers (or as Ninja Tune put it in the press release of his new remix ‘what Timberlake might sound like if he smoked skunk in St Pauls’), a track that by his own admission he’d finished ‘12 hours ago’ and a remix for a female vocalist that once more showed a potential for crowd pleasing and cross-over success while staying firmly grounded in the sounds and elements that have made him ‘famous’ so far.

Airhorn. By that point it’s past 4am, Benji B has taken over from Joker, playing a deep selection of hip hop, beats, dubstep, electro and more as the crowd continues to exit the carpark, now bathed in early morning light through the glass panes on its roof, while the rest get closer and closer to the speakers. Kode 9 keeps popping up on stage honking his plastic yellow airhorn as Benji drops classics. As confident as those before him, Benji shows his experience guiding the crowd to the end of a long and highly memorable night.

I can’t quite remember the last time I stayed out till 6am, but if there was ever a worthy combo-breaker than Brainfeeder London 09 was it. Not only did it show just how vibrant, and vital, the current adjacent movements in hip hop, dubstep and other electronic genres are right now, it also proved that you can pack a ‘venue’ and make people dance (even girls!) with music that too often results in sausagefest-like small events.

Without taking anything away from any of the artists on the night, one thing did occur to me – the Europeans (Kode, Spaceape, Dorian, Joker and Benji) stole the show that night. Having missed the first Brainfeeder showcase in 08, which featured another stellar line up of U.S and U.K producers, I don’t know if the Americans were the show stealers last year or not, but one thing was for sure this year: the Europeans showed that the music being made on these shores, whether it be beats or electronic/dance music, is as exiting as it’s American counterpart.

Despite the increase in popularity and attention surrounding Flying Lotus and the whole beats/electronic hip hop movement in the last year, Brainfeeder London 09 proved that there is a lot of substance to the hype. Brains were fed and bodies moved, and that’s ultimately what it boils down to.

Check this Flickr set for photos of the event. And also check the Brainfeeder site for videos and plenty of mixes from the artists and affiliates. Flying Lotus’ last Los Angeles EP, 3×3, is out now on Warp Records featuring remixes from Take, Dimlite, Matthew David and Breakage.

Having moved to Japan in January 07, I witnessed Flying Lotus’ rise to fame from a distance for the best part of nearly 2 years (since the release of his ‘1983′ debut or so). Following the release of his ‘Los Angeles’ album on Warp in spring/summer 08 I was increasingly keen to catch the man live, subsiding instead on a diet of releases, beat tapes, bootlegs and radio mixes. I ended up chasing him half way round the earth (unintentionally might I add before someone thinks I’m some sort of crazy stalker fan) after leaving Japan last June – he played Tokyo a few months after I left, I missed him on the U.S West Coast by about a week when I was there in July, and I then missed him in Europe in Autumn 08 after he had to cancel due to his mother’s passing. So when I found out he’d be playing a London date in early April this year it was a no brainer really. Add Kode 9 and Zomby to the bill and one of London’s most visually ‘interesting’ venues and, well, I’d have really beaten myself up for missing that one.

The venue in question was The Lightbox, a fairly small spot in Vauxhall, South London, located in the arches underneath the train lines and renowned for its interior decor: the walls and ceiling are covered in LEDs, hence the name. The first thing that came to mind upon walking in the venue during Kode 9’s first set of the night was Space Invaders as the LEDs flashed in various patterns and shapes not to dissimilar to how the little aliens crawled slowly across the screen as you tried to destroy them before it was too late. In many ways the venue, normally home to House/Techno nights as far as I can tell, was the perfect setting for what would be a very different kind of club night.

Kode 9 started things off with a short set before the man of the hour stepped up. As I queued to get my only drinks of the night, alcohol prices and lack of staff prohibiting any further attempts at getting anything from there, I noticed how Kode’s Funky-infused selection seemed to leave most of the audience ‘cool’. Instead of dancing, which to me is the most logical reaction to Kode’s recent sets with their irresistibly infectious riddims that invite your body to move, people seemed to be standing around, talking, milling and even looking a little ‘confused’. Maybe it was the view from the bar, towards the back of the venue, but considering the later reaction of the crowd during Flying Lotus’ set this striked me as strange, probably even proof that certain audiences are unable to realise that someone like Kode 9, known as a dubstep DJ and producer due to his close affiliation to the scene, would play something other than dubstep. This is a discussion I had with Kode and Spaceape when I was with them in Amsterdam in March and which I think speaks volume about the need for DJs like Kode, and Flying Lotus, who are actually willing to do something different in their sets/live shows as opposed to catering to the lowest common denominator.

Following Kode’s set, which still seemed to go down well despite part of the crowd’s confused/unsure reaction, Flying Lotus stepped up to the decks, well actually not the decks but rather his laptop and controllers, to a raucous round of applause. What followed was nearly 1h30 of some of the most mind bending, strange and at the same time fascinating and pleasurable live music I’ve had the chance to witness. Contrasting with Kode’s upbeat selection, Flying Lotus delivered some seriously disjointed, loose and at times really downtempo riddims to which the crowd reacted as if they were at a rave ‘having it large’. A reaction that surprised me, and made me laugh, in a good way.

Having waited this long to see him live it’s fair to say Los Angeles’ wonderkid didn’t disappoint – he weaved together styles, tempos and genres fairly flawlessly, building the energy up, winding it down and then sending it soaring again. He played old stuff but never without ‘remixing’ it, changing known elements, whether a vocal sample or something else, in the process making you realise that what you were hearing was much more than a producer playing to what works but someone that was instead delivering a real ‘live’ show. Some of the highlights of the set (among many) include an unexpected tangent into some filthy electro, a strangely hypnotic baby crying through auto tune (which apparently could well be some sort of collective joke or someone’s production if you check this video of Major Lazer live at SXSW which features the exact same baby crying through auto tune) and an unknown (to me anyway) remix of ‘Throw Some Ds’.

Flying Lotus’ live set was masterful in many ways, not least when put within the context of the recent surge of attention surrounding the whole beat/electronic hip hop scene, a scene that people may rightfully think is not the most conducive to making people dance in a club. Thing is it does work, incredibly well too, when it’s done properly and with some serious work put behind it as Flying Lotus, and others, have demonstrated (see the LuckyMe parties for example). Looking back on the evening a few days later I couldn’t help but wonder if ultimately the crowd’s reaction was a direct result of the music and its strange inverted energy output – the slower it got the crazier people seemed to go – or more of a combination of the music but also the ‘cool’ factor associated with the recent rise of fame and interest surrounding Flying Lotus and others. This may well just be cynicism on my part, and by no means does it take anything away from what was definitely one of the best live shows I’ve seen in recent years. While it’s a little hard for me to shake the thought off my mind, Flying Lotus’ set is definitely one of the most challenging and rewarding live shows for any fan.

With a big smile seemingly fixated on his face at all times, it was also a pleasure to see an artist connect with his audience and be appreciative of their reaction and his own music, something you don’t see enough of these days and which reminds me a lot of Mala in many ways. Flying Lotus is obviously a fan of the music and the people who enjoy his work first and foremost and that shows not just through his physical reactions but through the power of his live show.

I had to leave shortly after Flying Lotus’ set ended, and so missed Kode’s second set and Zomby’s set. Somehow though I’ve got a feeling I’m going to catch them both again very soon. The last question at this point may well be how Flying Lotus, and his music, will weather the hype and interest surrouding him in 2009. With my own current cynicism towards the whole attention/hype thing and my interest in his music, I’m really curious to see the outcome of it.

You can view some very nice pictures of the night on this Flickr set, from which the picture at the top was taken, courtesy of Josh M-G.

Flying Lotus will be returning to Europe very shortly for additional dates, check the myspace for full details. Even better news for London people is that the Brainfeeder festival will be returning to the capital this year, something I am eagerly awaiting considering how gutted I was to have missed last year’s instalment. To finish this off I’ve included below the following: a link to download a shorter version of Flying Lotus’ live set as performed at Plastic People a few days after I saw him (courtesy of Tranquera and the Rinse FM stream) and a video of Flying Lotus live in Glasgow the night after his London show alongside Rustie and Hudson Mohawke.

The 3rd and last L.A EP should be dropping on Warp Records later this year, and in the meantime Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label has gotten off to a pretty good start with regular podcasts, the new Ras G album and forthcoming releases from Lorn, Mono/Poly and more. It goes without saying this is all highly recommended.

Many thanks to Martina at Warp, Kode and everyone else for a memorable night.

Flyint Lotus live at FWD>> at Plastic People
Download (right click and save as) – via Tranquera

Flying Lotus live at Pyramids of Boom with Rustie and Hud Mo