You're Dead!

by Flying Lotus

Overview

An early form of You're Dead! was the length of a double album -- a large mass of brief tracks that, for Steven Ellison, possibly signified nothing more than his fifth Flying Lotus album. As the producer and keyboardist spent more time absorbing and shaping the recordings, the title, initially comic in meaning, gained emotional weight while he was provoked to consider his mortality and the losses he has been dealt, including the deaths of his father and mother, his grandmother, his great aunt Alice Coltrane, and creative collaborator Austin Peralta. The completed You're Dead! consists of 19 tracks averaging two minutes in length that are intended to be heard in sequence from front to back. Its flow is even more liquid than that of Until the Quiet Comes, though the sounds are more jagged and free, with roots deeper in jazz. Ellison once again works extensively beside longtime comrades and pulls new collaborators into his sphere. All of them -- bassist and vocalist Thundercat, drummer Deantoni Parks, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and many others worthy of mention -- help him push jazz, R&B, rap, and electronic music forward at once. Most striking and powerful of all is "Never Catch Me," easily the longest cut. An album's worth of ideas and a whirlwind guest appearance from rapper Kendrick Lamar are condensed into its four sonically rich minutes. The tone dramatically shifts with the following "Dead Man's Tetris," a sinister concoction of melodic bleeps and gunshot effects involving Ellison as Captain Murphy, and also Snoop Dogg, in which J Dilla, Freddie Mercury, and Peralta are all part of the afterlife fantasy. Previous Flying Lotus releases have their bleak and elegiac moments, but they're central here, highlighted by "Coronus, the Terminator" (an Ellison/Niki Randa duet), "Siren Song" (fronted by Dirty Projectors' Angel Deradoorian), and "Obligatory Cadence." The instrumentals range from playful, as reflected in titles like "Turkey Dog Coma" and "Turtles," to the distressed likes of "Tesla" and "Moment of Hesitation," with the latter two both anchored by Gene Coye's feverish percussion and Herbie Hancock's glimmering/flickering piano. It all plays out in a kind of elegantly careening fashion. It concludes with "The Protest," where Laura Darlington and Kimbra softly sing "We will live on forever" like a defiant mantra. Like his great aunt, and his great uncle John Coltrane, Ellison has created exceptionally progressive, stirring, and eternal art. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	10/07/2014
Label:	Warp
UPC:	0801061025625

Tracks

1. Theme
2. Tesla
3. Cold Dead
4. Fkn Dead
5. Never Catch Me
6. Dead Man's Tetris
7. Turkey Dog Coma
8. Stirring
9. Coronus, The Terminator
10. Siren Song
11. Turtles
12. Ready Err Not
13. Eyes Above
14. Moment of Hesitation
15. Descent Into Madness
16. The Boys Who Died in Their Sleep
17. Obligatory Cadence
18. Your Potential/The Beyond
19. The Protest

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Flying Lotus   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals,Sampling,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
Niki Randa   Vocals,Percussion,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Snoop Dogg   Vocals,Featured Artist
Andres Renteria   Keyboards
Jeff Lynne   Guitar
Deantoni Parks   Drums
Ronald Bruner, Jr.   Drums
Laura Darlington   Flute,Vocals
Brendon Small   Guitar
Kamasi Washington   Keyboards,Saxophone
Thundercat   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Gene Coye   Drums
Kendrick Lamar   Vocals,Featured Artist
Kimbra Johnson   Vocals
Taylor Cannizzaro   Strings
Arlene Deradoorian   Vocals
Captain Murphy   Vocals,Featured Artist
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson   Strings
Herbie Hancock   Keyboards
Taylor Graves   Keyboards
Angel Deradoorian   Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Brandon Coleman   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Niki Randa   Composer
Snoop Dogg   Composer
Jeff Lynne   Composer
Flying Lotus   Producer
Kamasi Washington   Composer
Derek "MixedByAli" Ali   Vocal Mixing
Mario Borgatta   Mixing Assistant
The French Ensemble   Sample Source
Shintaro Kago   Illustrations
C. Staker   Composer
Stephen Bruner   Composer
Ennio Morricone   Composer
Rich Costey   Mixing
Daddy Kev   Mastering
Herbie Hancock   Composer
Nicolas Fournier   Assistant Engineer
Stephen Serrato   Design
Angel Deradoorian   Composer
Martin Cooke   Assistant Engineer
Steven Ellison   Composer,Producer