Will Schube asks his barber for the David Lynch.
In some surreal alternate reality, David Lynch and Flying Lotus are trusty collaborators. Since we’re stuck here and both Lynch and Lotus tend to create art in the surreal anyways, a Fly Lo remix of the theme song to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks isn’t a bad consolation prize. And according to many reviews, Lotus’ debut turn as a filmmaker has Lynchian tendencies. Kuso could have been a Lynch film, perhaps, if Blue Velvet consisted of only two scenes: the severed ear proudly displayed during the film’s outset, and Dennis Hopper’s penchant for tank huffs of poppers. The groundwork is framed. The Lynch-Lotus electronic jazz power duo is imminent.
Since Flying Lotus re-emerged as a capital-J Jazz Musician with 2014’s You’re Dead!!!, I’ve missed the straight thumping aspects of his Low End days that made him such a force to reckon with from the beginning. Before he channeled the spirit of his great-aunt Alice Coltrane and reached for the cosmos, Fly Lo was, first and foremost, a technically innovative and creatively fantastic beatmaker. With his take on the “Twin Peaks Theme,” he’s returned to this zone. Think of the “I Feel Like Dying” remix after the ascension to heaven.
I’ve never heard the “Twin Peaks Theme” before—spoiler, I’ve never watched Twin Peaks—so I’m treating this remix as a Fly Lo original, and it boasts the sort of surface level gloss swallowed by a rap underbelly that the LA beatmaker so flawlessly displayed throughout his early work. Taking this concept a step further—and absolutely spoiling the shit out of us in the process—Lotus upped a Queen flip yesterday, seemingly because the world forgot how talented of a beatmaker he truly is. This is a pleasant—yet stern—reminder: the LA scene doesn’t happen without Steve Ellison. “Night Grows Pale” takes Queen’s “White Queen,” wringing the original of its emotive power without coming off as derivative.
Two bangers in two days, nothing more than Soundcloud loosies with no release date for a full-length in sight. Truly the definition of fucking around and winding up with a triple double. “Night Grows Pale” is one of Lotus’ most satisfying tracks in years—at least for the old heads that miss the Radiohead edits during surprise DJ sets. I ripped my shirt off my chest the first time I heard him drop “Idioteque.” Cosmic jazz is nice, but it’s real nice having Flying Lotus back on Earth.
