In six years, Flying Lotus has released four albums, starting with 1983 leading to his newest, Until the Quiet Comes. Beginning with a foundation of electronic music and hip-hop, he’s quickly evolved, digesting unique sounds and genres, blending samples, live music, and vocals to create something that you can’t prepare for.

For those who listened to Cosmogramma, this is both an extension as well as a diversion. It certainly sounds different, yet songs like “Table Tennis” and “…And the World Laughs with You” could be slotted in a playlist and feel right at home.

“All In” opens the album and almost acts as a blueprint of how he makes music. In an interview on his Captain Murphy project, he spoke about how after talking with Odd Future’s Hodgy Beats, he just went for it, as fear is not in his mind when he creates. Beginning with high hats, twinking bells, keyboards and a haunting background vocal, it’s upbeat and a welcoming start to the album.

“Getting There” brings out the hip-hop with a punching beat with floating bells and the vocals of Niki Randala. It’s not surprsing the way the album starts that later a song occurs called “Heave(n)”

One of the most interesting collaborations on this album is Erykah Badu, who contributes to “See Thru to U”. A jungle beat with slithering bass guitar underscores Badu’s vocals who sours above bouncing over them. The sensibilities of both Badu and Flying Lotus suggest that they were made for each other. On “Only if You Wanna”, Flying Lotus contributes focuses on his jazz side, with fluttering base opening up to a bass guitar and light drums, this could be the ghost of a blue note song come back to haunt the world.

Until the Quiet Comes turned out to be his most atmospheric LP to date, and something he must have intended, with closing songs like “Dream to Me” and “Phantasm”, the latter featuring the ethereal vocals of Laura Darlington. Once again, every Flying Lotus album so far has been exciting, watching his constant progression and evolution as an artist. His track record proves we’ll be in for something different with each release.

It’s possible that heads will never listen to an instrumental or turntablist hip-hop record without comparing it to DJ Shadow’s seminal Endtroducing. That album has reigned supreme for sixteen years as one of, if not the best, hip-hop instrumental albums ever. From the diversity of samples to the gritty vibe, even DJ Shadow himself hasn’t come close. The Gaslamp Killer flys dangerously close to the sun on this one. Like RJD2, Dilla and Flying Lotus, he’s reaching for new spaces, flipping samples and tying it all together with his own unique flavor.

You might have heard The Gaslamp Killer before, either on his earlier EP’s or on A Sufi and a Killer , which was a collaboration between himself and Gonjasufi. The album brings back that pairing on multiple tracks, the first of which, “Veins”, could be a late Beatles track if it got lost in the desert. This album contains a wide variety of samples, everything from old psychadelic sounds to futuristic buzzing and bleeping that sounds like the back alley of Blade Runner.

“Dead Vets”, which features Adrian Younge and MRR, almost could be a vintage Just Blaze production if Blaze was more Death Valley and less New York City. It features a punching organ riff and a raw guitar buzz with a slick drum sample heavy on the kick drum. This is a track just begging to be rapped over.

“Flange Face” is another that brings together so many diseparate genres and flavors its hard to know what inspired it. It veers into the space occupied by the productions of Shabazz Palaces, but maintains a faster punchier rhythm that doesn’t let up. It goes from what could be a sample from the Mediterranean or east Africa all the way to fuzzed guitar and bubbling digital beats.

Sometimes the team-ups on this album work great, but other times, as in the case of “Peasants, Cripples & Retards”, they just seem unecessary. It just does not seem like Samiyam and The Gaslamp Killer were able to mesh their sounds. There’s definitely an interesting drum pattern under all the various noises cobbled together but it never quite congeals into a single song.

“Nissim” is an interesting track, and judging from it’s sound, it sounds as if it is all instrumentation. Put together after jamming with various friends in other bands into a full fledged song reminiscent of Mediterranean rhythms, its very much like the Beastie Boys occasional own live instrumental grooves. Ultimately it works. It’s unclear if a whole album of this would have held up, but it strikes a calm effect towards the end, and is a very catchy song that was not expected to be anywhere on this album. “7 Years of Bad Luck for Fun”, which features Dimlite, almost sounds like an El-P production if only slightly less dark.

One would hope that an album called Breakthrough , if not being the best, at least goes somewhere interesting. The Gaslamp Killer definitely carves out his own niche here. He proves he has his own sound, his own lane and does the Brainfeeder crew proud.

Admittedly, after the group effort of Hail Mary Mallon, expectations were lowered for Aesop Rock’s most recent effort, Skelathon. Are You Gonna Eat That? had it’s moments, but none of them resonated like Aesop’s past work on Labor Days or None Shall Pass. While we knew Aesop had his moments as a producer, the last Felt album didn’t quite deliver what the Def Jux supergroup of Murs, Slug and Aesop Rock have ultimately proved themselves capable of. Skelethon, however, is Aesop’s best work in nearly five years and quite possibly his best solo effort ever.

Some fans might have had cause to worry, as Skelethon was produced entirely by Aesop, without the assist from longtime producers Blockhead and El-P. He’s been trying his hand at production for years and definitely has proven himself capable of solid work, but Blockhead had been there for the classic anthems like “Coffee” and “Daylight.” Among the best productions on the album are opening track “Leisureforce” and standout “Homemade Mummy”, both of which feature the warm guitar fuzz and buzz heard on None Shall Pass. “Homemade Mummy” is Aesop gone horrorcore-philosopher, as he focuses on following the heart, but does it in the grimmest manner possible. “Leaisureforce” could easily fit alongside any El-P production, if not for the occasional haunting background vocals. Aesop goes hard as he describes “smash cut to a smoke bombed quarantine”, something you might imagine had this track just been an instrumental.

“ZZZ Top” is another standout, almost sounding like a lost RJD2 track from 2004, featuring a crazy drum break with snaking slow guitar riff that twists throughout the track. With references from Afrika Bambata to Led Zeppelin, this song traces the discovery of the average listener, as they open up to new sounds. “Fryerstarter” is another standout track that utilizes the Kalimba. Much like “Blast It” by Shabazz Palaces, it really proves there’s no shortage of sounds that can work with a hip-hop album. Aes also gets on Action Bronson’s emerging trend of rapping about food, bringing the listener into his world, down to the scent and ingredients of one of his hangouts. Its the type of song that might not make for a standout single, but put together into a album can give you a good idea of Aesop and where his life is at.

The biggest miss on this album has got to be “Crows 1″. Kimya Dawson is the only featured guest on this album and she just doesn’t fit. She’s modestly entertaining live, but can’t seem to get through more than a line or two without taking deep breaths. Its incredibly distracting and her part on the song just doesn’t gel with the rest of the production. They’ve toured together in the past and this may have come out of that, but ultimately Aesop Rock might be a better feature for her album then the other way around.

What was supposed to be a really down album comes out hard, strong and sometimes even uplifting. You could never really pin Aesop Rock as fake – maybe obtuse – but the man is capable of describing where he’s at. In a hip-hop culture that’s usually aimed at masking failures, its rare to hear someone come out saying “I have been completely unable to maintain any semblance of a relationship on every level.” From someone who is usually so hidden with where he’s at, a statement like this hits hard. It comes at the end of the album on “Gopher Guts”, as Aesop lays himself out bare. That’s really all you can ask from any artist. To know their failures is to know they’re human, and to be able to identify with them says that none of us are alone.

The tag team division of hip-hop has seen quite a resurgence. With everyone from Kanye an Jay-Z to Jake One and Freeway, forming a solid cohesive sound for an album is coming back in style. Being less single driven and more focused on creating a cohesive sound, this has resulted in some great, if not underrated, albums. Danny Brown and Black Milk deliver their own contribution to the trend with Black & Brown.

There are a lot of similarities between Black Milk and Danny Brown. Both have traversed the country collaborating with artists from NYC to LA, both have been among the new crop of emcees and producers pushing things forward while keeping some roots in the past and both are willing to try new sounds. Danny Brown released his acclaimed XXX tape this summer while Black Milk teamed up with Guilty Simpson and Sean Price to release Random Axe.

The album opens up with what sounds like a chopped up opening theme to a b-movie before things kick off on “Wake Up”. Danny Brown opens up going hard on this track and continues throughout the album, sounding more pinpoint focused than on his XXX tape. Black Milk takes a different approach here than on some of his more recent work. He’s sampling records more, but still using plenty of live instrument samples, sounding as hard as ever. Black Milk has always had some of the most natural sounding beats, and continues the trend on this album throwing down hard snares and high hats over a flute loop and “Zap”.

On “Jordan VII”, Danny digs back into his more graphic lyrics with Black Milk adopting a synth and spaced out sound reminiscent of Flying Lotus. “Dada” can take a minute to settle into your brain, but Danny Brown finds a way to ride a ridiculously tweaked beat that twists and bends as Brown maintains his vocal footing.

On “Lol”, Black Milk produces one of the better compositions of his career. Funk guitar that could have come from Funkadelic, meshed with a classic soul sample, isn’t like anything he’s ever made before. Why he hasn’t been called into to work with Kanye yet, we don’t know.

They close out the album with the album title cut “Black & Brown”. Over strings, audience roars, and snapping hi-hats, Black Milk opens it up with Danny Brown closing it out, with references to Beverly Hills Cop and Wu-Tang that keep your attention right up until the last line.

The album doesn’t really have choruses, and is really more of an EP, with only 8 tracks having lyrics and most being under 3 minutes. It’s still a worthy project from both Black Milk and Danny Brown. Both are young, both are also a little experienced but both still have a lot more potential, together or apart.

Monday
This is my third time in Austin. The first was for SXSW in 2005. Things have changed. SXSW has been on the national stage most of the last decade, but even during the last six years, things have changed. The music festival hasn’t started officially, but things have been happening since friday due to the interactive portion of the 10 day long festival.

Various bands, djs and rappers have been in town playing official and unofficial parties hosted by various companies. Some you may have heard of like Pepsi or Youtube, others are being hosted by recent startups hoping they have a chance in the social media or web 2.0 business atmosphere. Most don’t. That doesn’t stop them from hiring Flying Lotus, TV on the Radio or whomever else they could get to come into town. I don’t have an interactive badge and I’m not on the programmer circuit so I haven’t been able to make it to most of these parties.

Monday was different. Big Boi was playing a show for Pepsi and Foursquare. It was a free show if you were in town. You had to check in on Foursquare randomly in Austin, follow Big Boi on the service and then if you got a certain award you could claim a free pair of tickets from Pepsi in their massive promotional space they set up downtown in the heart of about 6 hotels.

The tickets were free and the bar was open. Besides Big Boi there were also a couple rock bands opening the show. The show took place at the Seaholm Power Plant. A massive facility that Kanye would play later in the week. Its a mostly open space, built years ago its weird space to catch a show. They had illuminated the old stacks outside of the building with blue lights and the inside was illuminated by various bright lights aimed at promotional globes and other things hung from the cealing.

The crowd which was close to capacity erupted once Big Boi hit the stage. Despite the previous rock bands most were clearly there for half of Outkast. He played a little bit of everything. Luckily pretty much everything he’s done solo or as part of Outkast kills onstage. He started off the set rapping his verses from Outkast greatest hits going from Rosa Parks to So Fresh So Clean. Noticably absent was material from Atliens but it didn’t really hurt his set. Outkast has so many songs to pick from he could have just performed one of his albums and it would have killed the crowd dead.

Finally a little over halfway into the set he started to hit the huge songs from Sir Luscious Leftfoot and while the crowd was generally going nuts for anything played those songs didn’t resonate as much. Even Shutterbug which I have never failed to see move a crowd didn’t hit like songs from older Outkast albums. After about an hour he headed off stage and returned to play a quick encore. It was one of the best shows at SXSW and most interesting seeing an old facility turned into an awesome music venue.

Wednesday
The official start of the music festival things started to get crazy. After close to 20,000 people had left Austin after the Interactive and Film festivals were over somehow that’s when things started getting over the top. The Fader Fort officially opened at 12 and getting in and getting a wristband required hours of waiting. The biggest downside to these promotional parties is most of the artists not playing for more than 20 minutes so if you don’t hit them on time you might miss who you wanted to see.

I didn’t hit music until it started to get dark. I eventually headed up through the steadily growing crowds on Red River street to see Rhapael Saadiq playing at an Outdorr Venue called Stubbs. He came on after a few rock bands and played almost entirely new material he has coming out in the next month. He’s basically going for a late 60′s half rock half soul feel to his music. Like his last album only with more guitar. He played a quick and fast set jumping from song to song, with a great backing band helping him out. The music he’s making now is great but he does it with such ease, its hard not to think he could stretch himself and make something a little more challenging.

After leaving Stubbs I headed over to the Mohawk Patio, another Pseudo outdoor venue, it has 3 platforms going from the Floor where the stage is at, to a slightly elevated 2nd floor which is to the right of the stage and then a third floor that is up and to the back but provides a great view. This was one of the best hip hop showcases of SXSW and I got there just in time for Curren$y to hit the stage.

As he opened his set the speakers shut down and he mostly had to rap acapella until things got going. For some rappers they might panic, or stop and just wait until everything was set but he was able to keep things like, joke and talk with the crowd and make sure that everyone was able to keep enjoying themselves, backing tracks or not. He even opened his set by telling everyone he knew “my music is what you clean your rooms to” alluding to the laidback tone of Pilot Talk 1 and 2.

After the set got going for real he blazed through some of his new songs and hit some of the more known stuff on his past albums. He even brought up Fiend for a quick verse and Fiend was so good I was hoping they’d stay around and perform all their features together but he headed off stage for the rest of the set.

Next up was Big K.R.I.T. Who had down as a must see for SXSW. He was playing multiple slots during SXSW including parties which understandly lead him to delay the release of his newest mixtape. Normally I don’t think you have to see someone live to know if they’re good. Some people are just better at making music then they are at performing it, but seeing K.R.I.T. Perform I can’t say I was surprised at how much he killed it, but if there’s any doubt he’s gonna be huge, after watching him I can’t say it won’t happen.

He tore up the stage performing nearly every major song from K.R.I.T. Wuz Here bringing up both Curren$y and Smoke DZA to tear up the stage. He was rapping hard with a vengeance. The fact that he produces and raps and already knows how to kill it on stage is crazy impressive. I almost get scared that he’s so good his major label will get shelved out of confusion. He doesn’t make dance tracks or club songs though. K.R.I.T. reminds me of Big Boi crossed with David Banner. Whatever he ends up doing its going to be exciting.

After K.R.I.T. Played a lot of people in the venue headed out before Cyhi da Prince was set to play. I figured I’d stick around and catch his set. He was definitely solid. He raps hard and he moved on stage but he couldn’t relate to the crowd like Curren$y and didn’t have the fury of Big K.R.I.T. I’ve heard him before but he just doesn’t seem to stand out from anyone in particular and an entire room full of hip hop heads leaving his set doesn’t show a lot of promise for his future.

It seems like its been years since MC’s hooked up with one producer exclusively for their LP. Artists like DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Guru & Premier, and Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth joined together, creating some of the best albums in hip-hop ever. But lately we’ve seen the trend reinvigorate itself, with team-ups like David Banner & 9th Wonder, Statik Selektah & Termanology, and Freeway & Jake One. Since Asher Roth arrived on the scene he’s worked on and off with Nottz, a producer who might just be one of the most underrated in the game. Having a resume that shows production for each Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Drake, and M.O.P., his rep speaks for itself, so if he’s producing for Asher, we’re listening.

“Don’tcha Wanna Be? (My Neighbor)” kicks off the album with some light and tight spacey synths with a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood sample, as Asher Roth and Nottz give their origin stories. “Gotta Get Up” features Asher Roth recalling his familiar party tales over a Harry Nilsson sample.

It goes to say that if some of these tracks had come out when the chipmunk-soul Kanye production was big, many of these might have been huge hits. “Coming & Goin’” featuring Rhymefest is easily the stand out track on the album, as Nottz lets loose in a way that suggests he should have picked up the mic a long time ago. Rhymefest – the album’s only guest – makes the feature on “Comin’ and Goin” worth his while, proving he’s as solid as anyone out right now. “Enforce the Law” is another sonic standout. Nottz manages to incorporate sounds that at first sound like some big budget track, before it recedes back into the solid underground sound he’s known for.

From a production standpoint, this album delivers on every level, but on the rhyming front, Asher seems to be it’s weakest link. He holds his own on this EP, but Nottz manages to out-MC Roth on a good portion of the album. The Eminem comparisons are irrelevant at this stage in the game, but aside from that, he just never seems to have the passion or even voracious appetite on the mic, even when he’s got some of the best beats in the game to fall back on. Nevertheless, Rawth is still a pretty solid EP, and a step in the right direction for one emcee / one producer collaborations.

Since the record industry effectively imploded, sales might be down, but music is still being made. More importantly, it seems like things are more interesting and bizarre than ever before. Gangrene is a group project between Oh No and The Alchemist, the former a Stones Throw stalwart, the latter being one of the most seasoned producers in the field. Combining the best of both producers-on-the-mic, Oh No finds unique samples and twists them into something usable, while Alchemist emulates the classic east coast boom bap sound of DJ Premier, the RZA, and other east coast greats. On Gutter Water, they managed to pull each others best strengths together for something cohesive. It resides in an East Coast state of mind, but Oh No pulls in the spacey bounce of the west coast to transform and uplift Al’s working-class gangsta sounds.

The guest list consists of classic emcees, both old and new. Raekwon kills the Blaxploitation-esque title track, while Planet Asia lends his voice to the epic, eastern strings of “Boss Shit”. Fashawn and Evidence contribute some solid guest verses on “Wassup Wassup”, which makes the normally upbeat Fashawn sound down right grimey. While this is an album where the beats surpass the vocals, it’s not a problem when the sounds are all this good.

“Chain Swinging” continues the eastern sound, with what sounds like bongos, a guzheng and some solid scratching, while “All Bad” resonates with sneering, bared teeth mentality with it’s stabbing pianos and fantastic scratching, a lost art in itself. On “Standing On The Shadows”, Oh No utilizes the same brand of eastern rock and psych samples as heard on his Dr. No’s Oxperiment LP, showing you don’t need a Linkin Park type rock outfit to get some solid guitar fuzz. The album closes with one of its most solid tracks, “Not Leaving” (Feat. Big Twin), which mixes up some different piano loops and quick playing chopped up under the occasional saxophone part and twisted horn parts.

From the West Coast to the East and back again, the sounds on this album are twisted, traveled, unique, and a great distillation of what each coast is best at. The music industry may continue to deteriorate, but a little Gangrene forming ain’t such a bad thing.

In tandem with TWV.

Right now, Dam Funk is part Dr. Dre, part Madlib and part George Clinton. However this was an evolution, as the early demo tapes that comprise Adolescent Funk show he started more as a disciple of Prince, Michael Jackson and Egyptian Lover.

“Fonky Island Life” kicks off the collection which starts with odd samples of explosions and birds before turning into a New Jack Swing groove. It’s a song like this that makes you imagine what he might have come up with had he had a massive budget circa 1990, even as he aims there with the sound of jets soaring overhead. “It’s My Life” is almost a Devo take on Prince, if possible, with pulsating stabs as Dam Funk sends some coarse, but smooth vocals over the top of a simple Casio type beat.

Don’t think the album is all soft though “The Telephone Call” which features rocking drums under nothing but pretty much a telephone ring sample and little vocal shutouts has that P-Funk hard hitting weirdness vibe. This compilation definitely starts things off with its high points as “I Like Your Big Azz (Girl)” is one of the standouts. Sounding like a laid-back Bobby Brown, Dam Funk smoothly floats his vocal over a thumping bassline and the occasional record scratch.

Even when things are odd, like “I Love Life”, which is just varied versions either Dam Funk (or sample of someone) saying “I Love Life” or a busy piano line and more Casio keyboards, its still sounds like something you wouldn’t be surprised to hear slipped into a DJ set.

“When I’m With U I Think of Her” continues Dam Funk’s exploration into other established sounds coming off like a Bell Biv Devoe track only without the occasional rapping. There’s even a few songs that show the evolution of Dam Funk’s production, with “Raindrops” sounding nearly radio ready and featuring some of his best vocals of the whole album.

The album is given a thoughtful sendoff with the track “I Appreciate Life” which is a great coda from where Dam Funk started off to where he’s gone. These songs aren’t polished, but there is something funky or something great in each and every one of them. Maybe the keys, maybe the vocal squelches, something always comes through.

In association with TWV.