Artist: Flying Lotus
Album: You’re Dead
Release Date: 5 October 2014
Reviewer: Peter Sheehy
Review Date: 7 October 2014
“You’re Dead!” is the newest and most highly anticipated musical and artistic project from L.A. based producer Flying Lotus. “You’re Dead!” has had intense media focus from hip-hop fanatics due to the large dedicated fan base of genre bending beat master Flying Lotus, as well as the incredible Psychedelic hype inducing trailer put out when the album was announced. In interviews, Flying Lotus said that “You’re Dead!” is supposed to be an attack on your senses “OK, you’re dead. Now what?”
Every Track on “You’re Dead!” oozes color, The album is distinctly jazz influenced, songs are kept in check by Flying Lotus’ frantic and organic drums, while melodies and bass lines wander with incredible musicality. the album maintains a frenzied yet purposeful feel and is the perfect example of organized chaos. as well as being invigorating and symphonic, “You’re Dead!” has an impressive lineup of rappers and guest musicians. the album has appearances by Kendrick Lamar, as well as iconic rapper Snoop Dogg, and much of the piano on the album was done by none other than jazz great Herbie Hancock.
“You’re Dead!” makes for incredible background music, but active listening can add a very intellectual experience to the album. “You’re Dead!” Starts fast, the first half of the album being a musical slap to the face with rapidly changing rhythms and fluctuating instruments. many of the songs are less than three minutes, and most are less than two minutes, keeping the your focus. I thoroughly enjoyed “You’re Dead!” the album was original and was substantially different from many of Flying Lotus’ other albums, while maintaining the rough and metallic aspects of his L.A. album and combining them with the more melody oriented jazz and disco rhythms of Cosmogramma. Long term Flying Lotus fans will not be disappointed, and new listeners will find “You’re Dead!” to be a wonderfully confusing introduction to the L.A. beat scene.
(Notable songs: Never Catch me, Dead Man’s Tetris, Coronus the terminator)