Flying Lotus beamed down into London's Koko on Tuesday October 26th and, after waving goodnight with a sparkling grin, left the capacity crowd begging for more of his grimy space beats. The old theatre in Camden Town was crammed to the rafters - fans clung precariously to banisters, crouched down on stairwells and squeezed on to the many balconies, weaving their eyes through the heads in front of them so as to catch a glimpse of the man they call Flylo.

The room crackled with excitement. Sobriety was the watchword, though - here were some serious music-heads wanting to fully savour their rare evening with one of the most precocious, progressive and lauded electro talents on the planet. Seldom does the 27-year-old from Winnetka, California, visit these shores, so the Soundcrash-organised event had been eagerly anticipated and was booked up well in advance, according to promoter Rob Waller.

With a new album - his third - to plug, for Flylo, or Steven Ellison as his parents christened him, this was an important visit. Released in May, Cosmogramma is considered his most confident and developed release to date. Following on from his 2006 debut, 1983 (the year of his birth), and 2008's Los Angeles (where he lives now), it has been his latest offering that has truly catapulted his star globally.

BBC Radio One maestro Gilles Peterson is a huge supporter, but was left disappointed when Flylo failed to grace his July Worldwide Festival in Sète, in the Mediterranean sun. Peterson is one of many followers - indeed, Flylo has over 30000 people dialled in to his Twitter account, hanging on every character he punches.

He comes from stellar stock, too, being the great nephew of the late Alice and John Coltrane. Bulldozing boundaries through musical genius, it seems, is weaved in to his DNA. Where John took Giant Steps to change the shape of jazz - his Naima, My Favourite Things and Blue Train have, to many, still not been eclipsed - his wife's Astral Meditations successfully trod a more ethereal, spiritual path.

Flying Lotus has the potential to be just as trail-blazing if he manages to ward off the temptations of laying down more commercially popular tunes. His music is laced with intelligence; it's angular and abstract, haunting and beautiful, playful and dark. It's also undeniably, achingly cool. It dots breathlessly from head-nod beat to discordant whirr or high-pitched squeal through dubstep, drum & bass and jazz. And there's more than a wink to his venerated relatives - Cosmogramma has exotic, outer space overtones and there is even a track called Do The Astral Plane.

On Tuesday, with the excellent Dorian Concept helping out, Flylo's accompanying visuals were suitably spacy and trippy, too. He played a handful of tracks from the album, blasting off with the searing violin strings of Zombie Shit and fittingly, having slipped through the gears, finishing with the superb ...And The World Laughs With You.

There is a sense of humour in his work, too, particularly when he performs. Live - away from the regimented rigours of the studio and album making - Flylo has the tendency to be the one laughing loudest. While his 90-minute set left most of his fervent fans drooling, the uninitiated were left a little frustrated, like one not privy to a group's insider jokes.

"He's rather self-indulgent, isn't he," suggested Kirsty, a stunning brunette groover who had not before heard Flylo's beats. This reviewer agreed, though that's almost the point: it's Flying Lotus's own self-love and confidence to experiment that make him so pioneering. He is certainly one to watch, and his star will ascend further if he stays true to himself.

Words: Oliver Pickup

 

Related Links:

• New Flying Lotus Album Announced
• Free Flying Lotus Mix
• John B On Why He Uses Spectrasonics
• Alphabet's Heaven Drops Trippy Beats Debut
• Lorn - Nothing Else Album Preview

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