FLYING LOTUS

LIVE AT T5

OCTOBER 7, 2012

by ERIC PETERSON

Flying Lotus pulled out all the stops for his first show after the debut ofhis most recent album, Until the Quiet Comes. After all, it was his 29th birthday party, and he could not have been more psyched. PlayingT5 to a sold out venue of diehard fans, he kept both ears and eyes mesmerized throughout the entire show. While DJing from behind a massive visualizer that blended almost too perfectly with his set,FlyLo delivered from start to finish.

Flying Lotus is known for breaking the boundaries of contemporaryelectronic music. Always years ahead of even his closest competition,he finds a way to bend time signatures and infuse jazz bliss into eachand every song. While many of the tracks on Until are subdued and introspective, he picked only his heaviest tracks for this DJ set, and called upon many samples to supplement his own work. In short, things got trappy fast. He opened the show with samples of newly formed duo TNGHT’s most recent EP as he dropped into one of his staples, “ZodiacShit.” FlyLo showed full approval of TNGHT as he mixed their tracks “Higher Ground” and “Bugg’n” into his set.

You could tell the crowd was full of huge fans—New Yorkers were truly grateful that L.A.-based FlyLo chose to kick off his tour in their hometown. Paying tribute to the boroughs, he dropped Kanye and Jay Z’s “Niggas in Paris” to a huge roar of excitement from the crowd. Still, the cheers for each of his newest songs surpassed those for even his classics, as many fans couldn’t wait to hear the new tracks live. Minds melted one song after another, the audience was treated with a set that did not dip in energy for one minute but kept on climbing until the very end. His newest songs became the highlights of the set, including the clap-driven “Pretty Boy Strut” and the jaw-dropping, bass heavy “Sultan’s Dance.” As the track “Getting There” came on, surprise guest

Storyboard P took the stage doing the same simultaneously fluid and distorted dance that was featured in the new album’s pre-release video (which you should definitely check out at FlyLo’s website).

Near the end of the show, fellow Brainfeeder labelmates rolled out on stage to wrap up the party. After the crowd affectionately sang the third happy birthday of the night, FlyLo bumped a few final songs as the crew danced maniacally around him. He was grinning from ear to ear until the very last minute, savoring the end of what could only be his best birthday party yet. <

Nope.

ERIC PETERSON