Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes Review
rating: 4.5
Until the Quiet Comes is Flying Lotuss most assured and cohesive record yet, and way more chilled than the hyper-kinetic far-reaching drama of Cosmogramma. Thats not to say that Until is spare in comparison, far from it, rather that this time round the dense platter of beats and instrumentation reside quite confidently in their own little sun-setting grove instead of spraying off in a million directions at once. Basically the songs here cohere as a whole in a way that Cosmogramma didnt, and it makes for a much more accomplished and engrossing listening experience. 'All The Secrets' takes the warm Detroitism of plangent piano and hiccupy bleeps, but lifts that familiar palette out of its rigid framework so that it flows serenely. The full on 16-bit bassweight of 'Sultan's Request' sounds like something Quarta 330 would cook up for a Hyperdub remix if given another chance, and 'Putty Boy Strut's' crisp percussive claps and warbly sitar-alike melody is weirdly microcosmic in the sense that it feels like an L.A. Low End Theory club night has been crammed into a music box. Thom Yorke makes a guest appearance on Electric Candyman but his voice doesnt really contribute much to the vibe of the song besides a ghostly whimper. Erykah Badus guest vocal on See Thru To U fares better, mainly because her voice suits FlyLos jazzy and idiosyncratic production style. Frequent collaborator Laura Darlingtons vocals on Phantasm augment the bewitching plink of electric piano keys that dapple like water on the songs surface. The album as a whole has a thick, verdant feel, wherein all the elements of each song accumulate to create an incredibly rich and organic sound-world. I keep thinking of a jungle environment when I listen, and on Tiny Tortures theres a moment where a softly jackhammering beat thrums in and I cant help but imagine a bird pecking furiously at a tree. In other words, this music sounds unpredictable and alive, and at times its hard to imagine that computer software was involved in the making of it. I consider this to be Flying Lotuss best work to date, and it can easily rival Actresss R.I.P as one of the most inexplicably human, and best, electronic albums released this year.