Three layers, two projectors, one man. Well, alright – sometimes two personas. If this sounds familiar, you must have been one of the lucky audience members who has caught the most recent live-stage production setup for Flying Lotus, a.k.a Steve Ellison. Hailing from Los Angeles, FlyLo has encountered well-deserved critical acclaim and accolades for his most recently released album Until the Quiet Comes – and he brought that same level of production value over to his performances.
The first thing that you’ll notice if you happen to catch Flying Lotus (or Captain Murphy, his villainous rapper alter-ego) in his current form is that he does not place himself directly in front of the crowd. Often, electronic artists/producers/DJs are criticized for standing behind a table with their turntables, mixers, or even worse – laptops, as if that is somehow less of an instrument than a drum set or keyboard. Instead, Ellison decided to experiment with the idea of his physical presence being just one part of the spectacle, rather than an awkward stand-and-hype presence, like most DJ performances. With Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog (or is it Lion now) practically resurrecting Tupac for this past Coachella, performers are realizing the power of technology and the importance of visual production alongside aural quality.
Placing himself between to screens and projectors allowed for the creation of a new kind of DJ/producer performance, for what he calls the 3-layer show. Bizarre visuals have always been a typical part of an EDM show, but this was an entirely new take on it and was welcomed by many.
As soon as he walked on stage and let the cheering subside, the next hour and a half were filled with transitions and layer blending that would make any EDM fan enthralled, and even non-fans get out of their comfort zone and start to groove. It is difficult to not talk about the music first, but I suspect that for many of the individuals in the audience, that is not what they will remember – because his choice of curative audio, blending one genre into the next, highlighted with choice samples (Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” into “Do the Astral Plane”, anyone?) were impeccable…if you were in the first five rows. This is not the fault of Flying Lotus’ by any means, but there is no doubt that if you were off to the side, towards the back, or practically anywhere that was not the first few rows…you just were not receiving an adequate level of audio production. Subwoofers on the floor, only two columns of speakers, and a massive influx of bodies inside of a non-acoustically considered warehouse basically muffled the sound anywhere else.
Regardless of the technical disparities, Flying Lotus’ performance was an absolute masterpiece. He carefully crafted a set that included the right amount of his own nostalgic older material, a pinch of related artists and genres sound to bring non-fans in, and sprinkled in some of his newer material from Until… which kept it fresh and interesting. Luckily, not only did we get the producer/DJ combo Flying Lotus/Captain Murphy, but Earl Sweatshirt of rap collective Odd Future also joined the fun.
Breaking the fourth (or third?) wall, Flying Lotus left his DJ throne, broke free of his screen cocoon, and stepped in front of the projector so as to let us know that this was going to be breaking a few boundaries. He and Earl exchanged a few verses, gave New Orleans a shout out (“Y’all survived the apocalypse!”) and eventually returned to his comfortable position on the decks.
Graceful, humble, and enthused, Flying Lotus finished his set in a way that many did not expect: calmly. There was no final drop, no loud explosions of confetti or laser lights, and no gratuitous into-the-mic shouting matches. If anyone understands the flow and energy of a show, it was he, and he knew that we had just danced ourselves into exhaustion for two hours. Lulling us back into a relaxed state, as he is known for with his Adult Swim produced beats and bumps, Ellison left the stage to the chants of “One more song!” and faded into the background – letting the audience reflect back on what they had just experienced allowing us to take his expressions of “layers” just one step further into our own lives.
Your life is a constant flow of sensual perceptions…not always jarring or abrupt transitions. If you let him, Flying Lotus can help soundtrack your life, ensuring a smile on your face…And The World Laughs With You.
