The profile of cosmic Los Angeles producer Flying Lotus, Steven Ellis, may have taken a giant leap this year after he collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on his To Pimp A Butterfly album (he also interviewed Lamar during a recent Radio 1 Residency), but the 31-year-old has been big news in leftfield hip-hop for a decade now - releasing six superb, jazz-influenced albums to acclaim on legendary British electronic label Warp. He has serious musical pedigree, too – he’s the grand-nephew of pianist Alice Coltrane, wife of John.
Perhaps his best album is his most-recent one: 2014’s You’re Dead. He told Gilles Peterson about it for 6 Music last year, played a track from it - Moment of Hesitation, which features jazz great Herbie Hancock - and he cut an exceptional BBC Essential Mix back in 2009. His spaced-out, otherworldly vibes fit Glastonbury like a pair of £200 silk-lined wellies.
The profile of cosmic Los Angeles producer Flying Lotus, Steven Ellis, may have taken a giant leap this year after he collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on his To Pimp A Butterfly album (he also interviewed Lamar during a recent Radio 1 Residency), but the 31-year-old has been big news in leftfield hip-hop for a decade now - releasing six superb, jazz-influenced albums to acclaim on legendary British electronic label Warp. He has serious musical pedigree, too – he’s the grand-nephew of pianist Alice Coltrane, wife of John.
Perhaps his best album is his most-recent one: 2014’s You’re Dead. He told Gilles Peterson about it for 6 Music last year, played a track from it - Moment of Hesitation, which features jazz great Herbie Hancock - and he cut an exceptional BBC Essential Mix back in 2009. His spaced-out, otherworldly vibes fit Glastonbury like a pair of £200 silk-lined wellies.
