Having sold over ten million albums, been nominated for a Golden Globe and hosted a jazz show on Radio 2 for the past four years, Jamie Cullum is also a huge fan of estoteric hip-hop and electronica. So who better to review the new album by Warp Record's soulful beat-master Flying Lotus? Read Cullum's exclusive review for Gigwise below.
"If we are supposed to fear death, then Flying Lotus doesn’t want us to. His latest album You’re Dead! is a technicolored, sonic patchwork that grabs hold of you as forcefully as the reaper himself, then convinces you there is a life to be lead on the other side.
There are a few familiarities to hang your hat on: Fly-lo’s signature wonky beats, those crushing, un-quantized hi hats, gorgeous washes of stacked vocals, huge black holes of side-chained compression, many moments of sheer beauty but then....hold on a second - Prog Rock? Jazz? Fusion? Gospel?
Flying Lotus has never made his jazz credentials a secret, related to Alice and Ravi Coltrane, he had stated “You’re dead!” started out as jazz record. The winding and furious lines of Thundercat’s bass, Herbie Hancock’s probing fender rhodes on ‘Moment If Hesitation’ channeling one of his most experimental periods when he was known as Mwandishi. There is some furious brush work that could easily be Elvin Jones alongside John Coltrane.
Unlike jazz, electronic music can be visualized, expecially if you are familiar with the software. Songs can look like giant games of horizontal Tetris. In starting from a jazz point of view, he gives this music a wholly fresh layer of humanity. Odd time signatures, dissonant piano chords, improvisation, complex poly rhythms peppering every frequency - it all pushes everyone to greater heights. Kendrick Lamar delivers his best verse since 'Control', Snoop sounds playful and dangerous again, Captain Murphy (Fly-lo’s rapper alter ego, his Quasimoto if you will) holds his own against the heavyweights. The references to music past, present and future are dazzling.
Below: Watch Flying Lotus 'Never Catch Me' Featuring Kendrick Lamar
It all amounts to something incredibly special - a true game changer. Here is a piece of work that sits alongside the experiments of Miles and Herbie, Alice and John, Dilla and Madlib. It sets it sights high and delivers. It gallantly demands a lot from the listener and suggests if we are to live a full life, you cannot be afraid of what is on the other side."
You're Dead! by Flying Lotus (Warp) and Interlude by Jamie Cullum (Universal/Island) are both out 6 October. Read more of Cullum's writing at jamiecullum.com
