Flying Lotus' Nocturnal Visions

He's smiling, which is one of two things you immediately notice about him. Whether performing or talking, Lotus almost constantly flashes an illusionist's smile, as though he's about to pull some slick act of levitation you weren't expecting. Lately he's been on a Batman kick. It's his favorite superhero because he "lacks superpowers but always finds a way to be more than a man."

The other thing you notice is that he is unusually patient. Not once does Lotus interrupt the conversation. He seems to be always absorbing everything around him: fragments of dialogue, rhythm of the trees, ambient sounds, direction of the smoke. There is nothing superfluous. He only asks questions he's interested to hear the answers to and rarely speaks without a considered pause.

PHOTO BY TIMOTHY SACCENTI

Flying Lotus

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More About

• Flying Lotus (Musician)
• Thom Yorke
• Alice Coltrane
• Underground Hip-Hop
• Hip-Hop and Rap

All these qualities are sublimated in the softer, more meditative, Until the Quiet Comes. The loose concept surrounds the nocturnal visions of a child lost in spacedust dreams. It spirals through wine-black skies spied but unexplored on Cosmogramma. Swirling voices seem like clouds communing. Snare crashes mimic obscene villains. Hard beats propel chase scenes. Basslines gurgle like goofy dancing sidekicks. Erykah Badu plays the all-powerful good witch. Thom Yorke guests as the gnomish sorcerer with the seraphic yawp. Think of it as Little Nemo for the narcotically inclined, directed by Michel Gondry.

"I try to be hyperaware of my feelings. It's a good thing and bad thing. Often we try to push away our feelings and curiosities for another time," Lotus says.

Then there's another long pause, this one slightly longer than the others. Flying Lotus stands up silently, and walks back through the now-empty studio, ascending the stairwell, past the copy of The Wire with Alice Coltrane on the cover and the Indian-themed art adorning the walls. There is no evidence yet of what he did next.