As postmodernist space odysseys go, Flying Lotus’ “Cosmogramma” has confidently weaved itself into the lineage of Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra’s “Strange Strings”, Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell To Earth” and Afrika Bambaata’s “Planet Rock”…
While “Cosmogramma” is a monolithic convergence of 20th and 21st century musical forms, high in concept and wide in musical collaboration, “Pattern+Grid World” pulls the focus back to Steven Ellison and his machines. It’s a synthetic counterpart to the grand string and harp arrangements of “Cosmogramma”, making acclaimed illustrator Theo Ellsworth’s subtly psychedelic cover image of vision-through-noise all the more intimate.
Flying Lotus has become a patriarchal figure of the beat scene, blazing the trail for scores of young artists with new conceptual notions of what can be done with a drum machine and a dream. And if you listen closely you might just make out