The first moments of Flying Lotus’ Los Angeles come on as lush analog
waves, just distorted enough to sound like a faded memory of something
you once heard on a radio from across a room. Essentially, it’s instant
transportation. Whether it is forward or backward in time, you’ll never
know as the shounds of the record leap reckllessly into the future while
keeping a sly glance back towards the classics of every genre.
In this case, establishing a timeframe is not nearly as important as establishing
the setting...which, as the album’s title may have tipped you off, is
none other than southern California. Like Flying Lotus’ full-length Warp
debut, Los Angeles and its surrounding areas are studies in deep contrast:
haves and have-nots, glitter and grime, sunshine and shadow, whimsy and
tension.