Album: You’re Dead!
Artist: Flying Lotus
Label: Warp
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Recording under the pseudonym Flying Lotus, instrumentalist/producer Steven Ellison has been stretching the bounds of jazz, R&B and hip hop since 2006. His latest album “You’re Dead” is his densest work to date.
Coming from a family tree that counts Ravi Shankar, John and Alice Coltrane and Marilyn McLeod among its branches, Ellison’s music lives up to his eclectic pedigree. Like most of his work, “You’re Dead!” is a sterling example of how astute Ellison is a weaving disparate forms of music into a highly original hybrid.
Around 70 percent instrumental with occasional vocals from the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Angel Deradoorian, the true guest star on “You’re Dead!” is legendary keyboardist Herbie Hancock. Since Hancock was involved with the genre busting electric jazz work of Miles Davis, it makes since that he lend his talents to the “You’re Dead!” track “Tesla,” which also benefits from the manic but measured guitar work of Brendon Small.
This music doesn’t so much flow as it swoops in from all directions. Although many of the 19 tracks clock in at under two minutes, there is a lot of information to absorb. Tracks such as “Cold Dead” (1:54) and “Ready Or Not” (1:45) could easily be developed into longer pieces, but Ellison seems intent on making his point and quickly moving on to other things. Just as the listener is about to figure out what’s going on, the song is over.
Whether by accident or design, this approach makes the material ripe for repeated listening.
Flying Lotus is an accessible project that also manages to plow new ground. Anyone looking for fun, interesting music will enjoy this release.
Classic album: A Trick Of The Tail
Artist: Genesis
Label: Atlantic
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Released in 1976, “A Trick Of The Tail” was the first Genesis album to be recorded without original lead singer Peter Gabriel.
At the time of Gabriel’s departure, the band held lengthy auditions in the hopes of finding a new vocalist. Eventually it was decided that their drummer — Phil Collins — would take the job. Collins had been singing harmony with Gabriel for years, so his voice was already well suited for the job.
Five years before he would begin a side career as a pop star, Collins asserted himself brilliantly on “A Trick Of The Tail,” although keyboardist Tony Banks and bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford were still dominating the songwriting. On full group compositions such as “Dance On A Volcano” and “Los Endos,” guitarist Steve Hackett also began to assert himself like never before.
Several songs hover around the eight minute mark, but gone are the 20-minute epics of previous Genesis lore. The Banks/Rutherford ballad/part prog mini-epic “Ripples” stands to this day as one of the strongest melodies in the band’s history, with Collins turning in a superb, nuanced vocal that was as genuine as anything Gabriel did with the band.
“Squonk” and “Robbery, Assault and Battery” fall under the darker side of the Genesis sound, while Banks’ “Mad Man Moon” borders on romantic. The title track, however, is a jaunty tune that sounds like the kind of song children might learn in kindergarten.
Although they were never darlings of the music press, in hindsight it’s impossible to overlook how versatile the members of Genesis were as writers and performers. As it turns out, there was life after Gabriel and before “Sussudio”, and “Trick Of The Tail” stands as one of the band’s greatest achievements.
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Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com.