CD Review: Flying Lotus – You’re Dead

The audacious new Flying Lotus album You’re Dead is an audio journey through the afterlife.

You're Dead! by Flying Lotus. Warp Records / AP photos
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Flying Lotus: You’re Dead

(Warp Records)

Five stars

Now, if you baulk at this, you're forgiven – Flying Lotus's fifth LP is, according to interviews with the innovative producer also known as Steven Ellison, an audio journey through the afterlife. It begins at the moment of death, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead is among the LA auteur's sources. But wait – it also ranks up there as one of the year's most impressive records. You're Dead! is an accomplished achievement – a genre-bending hotpot of influences that'll excite even the most jaded listener. Clocking in at just 38 minutes, the album's 19 tracks seamlessly flow into nu jazz, funk, hip-hop and electronica. Guests include Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and – yes – Herbie Hancock, but even big names can't overshadow Ellison's vision. The audio equivalent of a gourmet burger with everything on it, the dense productions might overwhelm casual listeners, but for a seasoned ear, the joy comes in mentally picking apart their many layers. Ellison is the great-nephew of the jazz pianist Alice Coltrane (the wife of John). Whether such restless invention runs in his blood or was inspired by family example, one can't help but be bowled over by its fruits.