Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus is the recording name of Steven Ellison, a Los Angeles artist born in 1983. He works in electronic music, experimental hip hop, alternative hip hop, downtempo, avant-garde jazz, and related instrumental forms. His music develops from beatmaking and sample-based production, but also draws on live instrumentation, jazz players, dubstep, and West Coast rap traditions.

Early life and background

Ellison is born in Los Angeles and raised in the Winnetka neighbourhood. He studies filmmaking first, making stop-motion clips with action figures and a camcorder, then earns a degree from Los Angeles Film School and continues at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. After returning to Los Angeles, he works as an intern for Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stones Throw label in 2004, where he connects with figures such as J Dilla and Madlib.

He is drawn to the Akai MPC sampler and begins producing music while also being influenced by 1990s West Coast rap, especially G-funk and records that combine programming with live instrumentation. Through his cousin Oran Coltrane, he is introduced to electronic music production and receives a Roland MC-505 groovebox. His family background also links him to songwriter and producer Marilyn McLeod, who co-writes hits including Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover” and Jermaine Jackson’s “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy.” He is the grand-nephew of Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane, and Ravi Coltrane is among his cousins.

Early releases and the Los Angeles beat scene

Flying Lotus debuts officially in 2006. Tracks he submits in response to an open call from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim are licensed for use between programme segments and commercial breaks. In the same year, he releases material through Plug Research, including “Two Bottom Blues,” which appears alongside tracks by Daedelus, Sa-Ra, and Georgia Anne Muldrow on Carlos Niño Presents the Sound of L.A. He also remixes Mia Doi Todd’s La Ninja: Amor and Other Dreams.

His first album, 1983, is issued in 2006 and is titled after his birth year. Laura Darlington appears on “Unexpected Delight,” beginning a long-running collaboration. BBC DJ Gilles Peterson helps bring wider attention to the record. The next year, Warp Records signs Ellison and releases the Reset EP, featuring Andreya Triana on “Tea Leaf Dancers.”

During this period he becomes a significant figure around Low End Theory, the weekly Los Angeles club night associated with the city’s beat scene.

Warp albums and Brainfeeder

His first full-length for Warp, Los Angeles, arrives in 2008. The album expands his sound, combining hip-hop, avant-garde jazz, IDM, and dubstep influences. It includes vocals from Laura Darlington, Gonjasufi, and Dolly, with co-production from local collaborators. The album enters Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums chart at number 16. The same year, he launches Brainfeeder, named after the opening track from Los Angeles. The label soon includes releases by Gaslamp Killer, Samiyam, and MatthewDavid.

Warp later issues the L.A. EP 1 X 3, L.A. EP 2 X 3, and L.A. EP 3 X 3 trilogy in 2009, collecting unreleased tracks and remixes. Around this time he also remixes Martyn and makes appearances on Hyperdub.

Cosmogramma, Until the Quiet Comes, and You're Dead!

Cosmogramma, released in 2010, marks a major turning point. It features Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Rebekah Raff, and Ravi Coltrane, with vocals from Darlington, Niki Randa, and Thom Yorke. The album also uses sounds recorded from medical equipment in his mother’s hospital room, and it reaches number three on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart and number 88 on the Billboard 200. The companion EP Pattern+Grid World follows later that year.

Until the Quiet Comes appears in 2012 and continues his use of guest musicians including Thundercat, Austin Peralta, Brandon Coleman, Atwood-Ferguson, Darlington, Randa, Yorke, and Erykah Badu. It reaches number 34 on the Billboard 200 and nearly tops the Dance/Electronic chart.

You're Dead!, released in 2014, brings together familiar collaborators and guests including Herbie Hancock, Kamasi Washington, Snoop Dogg, and Ellison’s rapping alter ego Captain Murphy. The album reaches the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 and tops the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Its Kendrick Lamar collaboration “Never Catch Me” is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Dance Recording category. Ellison also co-produces “Wesley’s Theory” for Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, which is nominated for Album of the Year.

Film work and later releases

Brainfeeder expands into film production with Royal and the 2017 feature Kuso, both directed by Ellison and featuring his music. He also provides music for Blade Runner Black Out 2022 and other visual projects in the mid- to late 2010s.

He returns in 2019 with Flamagra, which takes years to assemble and includes guests such as George Clinton, Solange, Anderson .Paak, Shabazz Palaces, Tierra Whack, and David Lynch, who contributes a spoken story about a neighbourhood threatened by fire. The album tops the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for the second time and enters the Billboard 200 at number 45.

Ellison continues collaborating with Thundercat on It Is What It Is in 2020, a Grammy-winning album. In the same year he is nominated for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. In 2021 he composes the soundtrack for the Netflix anime series Yasuke, based on a 16th-century Black samurai. A single titled “The Room,” featuring Devin Tracy, appears in 2022.