It seems hard to be an artist these days without a steady stream of mixes. The problem is, a lot of these become monotonous and similar. By contrast, this week, Flying Lotus drops a free download that feels more like getting a pass into someone’s hard drive.
Ideas + Drafts + Loops is full of random snippets of music, many of them – despite the name – fairly fully formed. FlyLo’s signature over-compression is showcased, of course, but you also get sparkling, shimmering rushes of sound, like a beautifully-romantic clip for Aqua Teen Force. (Being in California, of course FlyLo has been doing TV work, a lot of it great stuff.)
These are gentle and improvisatory, unadulterated fun without the burden of having to be a commercially-consumed track. And the results feel like a brilliant ray of sunshine in the midst of this December, a musical advent calendar (24 tracks, no less) of surprises. Personalities like Thundercat appear, musical notions are set free to roam, weirdness is allowed. “Puppet Talk” introduces a wavering synthesized and then resynthesized Satie Gymnopedie, in a shuffling, syncopated waltz.
The Internet’s ever-angry demand for more content, regardless of quality, can be oppressive. But this is its best side: it’s a chance to let the stranger corners of your imagination, the musical marginalia of production, see the light of day.
Speaking of the Internet unleashing streams of consciousness: image at the top from the FlyLo Instagram. It’s good to be Steve; I want those shoes.
FLYING LOTUS : IDEAS + DRAFTS + LOOPS [Brainfeeder + download links]
Tracklist:
About That Time
Adventure Sound – ft. The Underachievers
An Xbox Killed My Dog
Aqua Teen 24
Aqua teen inst 24
Between Villains
Chasing Apples
Colemans Groove . ft. Andreya Triana and Niki Randa
Coswerved draft
Flotus
Flying Lotus – DJ Mehdi – Mapei IDEAS 1 MIX
Hide me ft. Shabazz Palaces
Little Hours ft. Baths
Meadow Man2
Oatmeal Face
Osaka Trade
Puppet Talk
Stonecutters
Such a Square
The Diddler
TheKill ft. Niki Randa
Thundercat – Yeezus- Black Skinhead