Flying Lotus
Big Mama
BRAINFEEDER
Beyond last year’s soundtrack to his own feature film Ash, the Big Mama EP marks Flying Lotus’ first proper release on Brainfeeder, the label he launched nearly 20 years ago. Despite clocking in at under 30 minutes, the release is a hodgepodge of electronic textures, genres, and styles: downtempo, chillout, energetic yet unconventional jazz rhythms, video game arpeggios, and glitch pop. The music feels improvisational, even though it was created through meticulous musicianship, and it highlights FlyLo’s precision as an artist by not relying on loops to do the heavy lifting. The result is unpredictable at times, relaxed and soothing at others, while never lingering on one idea for too long.
Although Flying Lotus rightly defines Big Mama as “maximalist” and “hyperfast,” it’s far from just those two things. In melding electronic music and jazz in a surreal way that feels chill yet frantic at the same time, this incarnation of the project is reminiscent of Miles Davis’s electric years (see the vibe of “Ascent” mixed with “Bitches Brew”), only filtered through the glitchy prism of electronic music. The EP opens with an engrossing, manic rhythm juxtaposed over chilled ambient synth. The title track sets the mood for what’s to come as conflicting elements are melded mellifluously together. It’s jarring yet engrossing, and as the album plays out it only gets more intense. The most explosive turn happens at the midpoint with “In the Forest - Day,” after which the melodies become more infused with glitches, video-game synths, and other chaotic rhythms.
This unhinged electronic tapestry found on the second half of the project is more in line with Coltrane: furious and energetic as FlyLo moves through different scales and triads over manic rhythms in unexpected ways. The intensity of certain passages can be jarring, but he slows for tiny moments, giving the listener time to breathe. As a whole, Big Mama is an adventurous foray into a unique space within electronic music. Its spontaneous characteristics are uncommon in a genre that relies so much on repetition. With this latest project, Flying Lotus moves away from his early dubstep roots as he finds a way to create electronic music that feels human and brimming with life.
