Cosmogramma

Background

On October 31, 2008, Ellison's mother died suddenly of complications from diabetes. This was only a year and some months after his great-aunt Alice Coltrane passed. "I decided that if I was going to speak after that experience," said Ellison, "it better be something honest, and deeper than a record that was just made for the times. I wanted to do something that made her proud. Something that could last forever, hopefully."

The title "Cosmogramma" is an obstruction of Cosmic Drama. As Flying Lotus put it, "My aunt had an ashram in Agoura full of devotees... And I was listening to one of her recorded discourses talking about how once this earthly experience is over, we won't be wearing our costumes anymore, playing parts in this 'cosmic drama,' she called it. "But I thought she said 'cosmogramma.' That word haunted me for a long time until I found out it actually exists. It refers to the study of the universe, and heaven and hell as well."

The album came at a time where Ellison's personal life had gone through significant changes, both his mother and aunt had passed, and up to this period he had gained critical acclaim for his past work on "Los Angeles". Los Angeles had made a huge impact on the Los Angeles Beat Scene, and Ellison's music was appearing on features for Adult Swim. From this point of anticipation, and the timing of his mother's passing, the timing was ideal for his creative growth. Cosmogramma marked a shift in Ellison's writing from laptop-based work using programs such as Ableton Live to a live band, which he named INFINITY -or- ∞.

Composition

As opposed to previous releases, which were primarily based on electronic and digital mediums, Cosmogramma marked a change for Flying Lotus. The album consisted of live performances, including elements such as harp, bass, strings, live drums, and saxophone. The album incorporated the talent of Bassist Thundercat (who has worked with Suicidal Tendencies and Snoop Dogg), Rebekah Raff (Ghostface Killah, Partch Ensemble, and daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra), Ravi Coltrane, Low Leaf, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (OutKast, and John Cale), Niki Randa, and guest vocals from Thom Yorke of Radiohead. He calls this a move towards a more "Organix" sound as opposed to quantizing his beats, allowing himself to work outside of the "grid".

The sessions began in October 2008, immediately following his Sophomore album Los Angeles. Following a session for the track Computer Face, He had found the energy and theme for Cosmogramma. "...I did that "Computer Face" song. There was a different energy in the studio and there was a whole burst of tracks around it. I felt different creating it. This energy shaped everything else."

While his mother was in the hospital, Steven brought in a mobile recording rig and set microphones around her room to gather audio samples: the hypnotic wheeze of a respirator, the ambient pings of vital-sign monitors. The samples would be used in the closing track Galaxy in Janaki. The track acted as a tribute to his mother who passed shortly before the album's release. On the process of recording his mother's respirator, "I know it was a weird thing to do," Ellison said. "I'm not the type to go out recording things like that. But I didn't want to forget that space." When asked where the title came from "...That's the term my aunt gave my mother. It means mother as well."

For the track And the World Laughs with You, Steven was put in contact with Thom Yorke by Mary Anne Hobbs, they started conversing the same day. After a series of trading emails, Steven received the vocals in his email and began mixing. The track was titled before Thom had written lyrics. He had decided to keep the original title, which Ellison appreciated, stating "He also kept the same name I had for it, which really meant a lot to me. All of the song titles mean something, and that one does for sure... I was making the tune with the frustration of no one being able to understand what the hell was going on. As long as things were cool, you had the whole world behind you. Fucking weird shit happens, you find yourself counting friends on your fingers."

Do the Astral Plane features Scatting & vocals from Ellison.

The mastering process was extensive, Daddy Kev, of Low End Theory & Alpha Pup Records, Handled mastering which was overlooked by Ellison. As Daddy Kev put it "..a mastering job that normally takes a few hours wound up lasting four months. Even after we sent the masters off, I'd wake up to my phone ringing and think, 'Please don't let it be Steve wanting to change something.' "

Live

Leading up to and following the release of Cosmogramma, Flying Lotus toured through Europe and the United States, with a live band called INFINITY. INFINITY is a traveling team of players from Cosmogramma including Ravi Coltrane, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Thundercat, Rebekah Raff and many more. The album release party was held over two nights at The Echoplex In Los Angeles California. The show also had opening performances from Ravi Coltrane, Low End resident DJ The Gaslamp Killer, Gonjasufi, and sound artist Matthewdavid.

Infinity band members

Critical reception

Cosmogramma received widespread critical acclaim, receiving a score of 86 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic and appearing on a multitude of year-end best-of lists. Chris Martins of The A.V. Club praised the album as "one of the most musical and inventive to fly the electronica banner in years" and a "hybridized work that challenges others to follow its dazzling blueprint." William Rauscher of Resident Advisor noted that the album's "sheer amount of diversity", including elements of dubstep, free jazz, hip hop, IDM and digital glitch, makes it a "much more challenging affair" than its predecessor, Los Angeles. Simon Reynolds cited the album as an example of a "hyper-eclectic approach" which he describes as "rich and potent on some levels, but ultimately fatiguing and bewildering for most listeners". Reynolds also described the album as "hip-hop jazz for the ADD generation". Robert Christgau, writing for MSN Music, wrote that "part of its delight is how naturally the disparate parts fit together, but another part is how they add up to phantasmagoria if you let your attention wander (and don't be a tight-ass—you should)."

Cosmogramma was awarded the top spot in Exclaim! magazine's annual ranking of electronic albums, with Exclaim!'s Dimitri Nasrallah writing of Flying Lotus: "In the five years since he first appeared on the scene, the Los Angeles native's talents have grown in such leaps and bounds that he now finds himself pioneering a full-blown West-Coast beats renaissance." It was later ranked the fourteenth best album of 2010 by Pitchfork Media and named the best album of the year at British radio DJ Gilles Peterson's 2011 Worldwide Winners awards ceremony.

Track listing

All tracks written by Flying Lotus, except where noted.

Personnel

Technical personnel