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)