Flying Lotus: You're Dead! Deluxe Vinyl 4LP Boxset (Limited Edition)

Flying Lotus is an interesting artist with an ear for many styles, all of which come together on the present album, with a roster of guest artists who can bring fans of many styles to the album. For the jazz fan, consider. Herbie Hancock. That name alone may be sufficient for some jazz aficionados, but it does not stop there. Kamasi Washington. It keeps going. Those of a more modern R&B/jazz/funk fandom will note the presence of Thundercat, whose bass proficiency allows him to draw in a wide audience, and that makes his presence appropriate. The guest roster includes a wider list still, but consider this from the jazz perspective. Hancock and Washington, for example, connected to Thundercat. That gives one a sense of breadth, history and funk. Yet connected through something based in electronics, with more modern inclinations, the sound is very different. Flying Lotus comes to recorded music through an interesting career, which can be elaborated on elsewhere, but it is appropriate that the entire album has the sense of drawing on what Hancock was doing in the 70s once he started to build his career independently from Miles (think Headhunters) through more modern trends in order to sound almost like the soundtrack to a modern/retro movie like Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill duology. One can imagine the music playing in the background amid homages to the David Carradine Kung Fu sequences, and then with him on screen. One can imagine the music being presented, because it touches on that tradition from the 70s, and because the use of more modern elements allows it to feel modern and, one hates to say “relevant,” yet that is probably the word one may use. This is not an album of fusion/funk solos, as one may think when one mentions names like Hancock and Washington. Flying Lotus is playing in territory centered in a more electronic conception of jazz, which may actually feel more at home in the UK, with groups like Ezra Collective, Melt Yourself Down, The Comet Is Coming, and others, and Nubya Garcia’s electronic remixes of her debut will be an interesting touchstone. Given the electronic inspiration for GoGo Penguin, their experiments pushing those remixes will similarly be interesting, but what one does not hear is Herbie doing a full Headhunters groove, nor Washington just going all out, as on his solo works, or the projects he leads, like Throttle Elevator Music. Rather, Flying Lotus incorporates their contributions in subtle ways, as he draws inspiration from their general approach to jazz, and in particular, their use of funk and old R&B within jazz, modernized.Is it even really jazz? Probably not, but labels stop mattering after a point, if they ever did. What matters is that Flying Lotus is doing something interesting, drawing on old fusion, R&B, modern electronics, and styles beyond to draw together audiences who might not normally meet, and that’s just cool.Even if it may sound like a soundtrack for a movie that never was.

Great vinyl, great album. Highly recommended if you like Jazz, IDM and Hip Hop.I won’t go on about the musical accolades of the album because other reviewers have done so far better than myself.What I do want to go into is how this particular engineering for this vinyl is weird (in a good way).The album is divided into two LP vinyl. This album probably didn’t need that and there’s a lot of wasted space on each side.That is actually a good thing from an audio perspective because it means you’re always getting the best tone because of the lack of inner groove distortion. It absolutely shows too. This vinyl sounds fantastic.I wasn’t a massive fan of this album going into it. Now I am and this vinyl is responsible.

The vinyl is gorgeous. The cover art is amazing and the media came to me perfectly packaged and undamaged.Now for the actual review. This is seriously Flying Lotus's most complex and profound work of music. He has taken jazz to a new ground with weird distortions and synthetic sounds that fit the dying theme to a unique style and level. For an album that spans only 40 minutes, he conveys all his emotions and ideas extremely well, toppling the feelings of each track to submerge the listener to a ghastly-sounding feel that leaves the listener in a hollow shock. Some tracks just sound so morphed and eerie that it leaves the listener kind of confused as first, but multiple listens are required to understand those tracks. For his jazz tracks, they are stunning. Herbie Hancock and Thundercat pierce the layers of jazz as they enter the void with deep and unforgettable jazz chords and solos. The singing in this album is phenomenal as he takes Niki Randa's voice to a whole new realm. Overall, I would give this album a 4.5/5 stars. I am taking half a star off due to the length of the album as most jazz recordings are pretty lengthy and I enjoy long solos, which this album doesn't necessarily have for being a half-jazz record. There was one track that kind of didn't fit the vibe of the album, (Ready Err Not), but it is forgivable as the opening to closing is breathless. No work of art can be complete perfection, but this record is near there, leaving me with high hopes that FlyLo touches even deeper into his jazz roots in future records.

You’re Dead is an ambitious and beautiful work, a thrilling mashup of jazz, hip-hop, R&B. If you’re not familiar with it, check it out on your favorite streaming service.My review is about the vinyl version. It is spectacular. The vinyl is perfectly flat with no surface noise, pops, or ticks. The sound quality is excellent. Compared to the CD-quality FLAC version, the vinyl sounds fuller, richer, more alive.I’m not a vinyl snob. I have lots of CDs and music in other digital formats (AAC, FLAC), and my iPhone is loaded with > 300 LP’s worth of music. Vinyl is less convenient and more expensive than digital, so I only recommend the vinyl version of a recording if it really sounds better than the digital versions.For “You’re Dead!”, the digital version sounds very good, but the vinyl IMHO sounds better. The LP format also makes it easier to enjoy the amazing artwork.

Ace jazz tech mad beat mash up. Will become a collectors item with the weird and wonderful artwork

;)

10/10 brilliant album

hip hop to crazy beates love it

I love flylo and this is no exception. Pretty jagged and avante-garde at times. Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart and Can are having dinner with Gong and Hawkwind! To be honest the comparisons are not fair as Flying Lotus is a fresh sound.