Los Angeles producer Flying Lotus certainly hasn’t rested on his laurels one iota this year after the release of his wildly successful You’re Dead! LP in late 2014. He’s got a short film premiering at Sundance, he’s branched out as one of the faces of Apple Music as well as collaborating with people like Thundercat and some guy named Kendrick Lamar in between ongoing work on his next album under the Captain Murphy identity, his rap persona.
Today sees the first release from his brand new funk collective WOKE. Aside from FlyLo, the group features the aforementioned Thundercat and Seattle rap duo Shabazz Palaces. They’ve also outsourced some vocal assistance on their first cut from funk innovator and utter living legend George Clinton. The track in question is called The Lavishments Of Light Looking and was released yesterday via the Adult Swim Singles Series (Flying Lotus already well known for his work with the channel).
It’s already being described as a ‘funk odyssey’ and I certainly won’t disagree. Warped and sprawling, with bass just oozing funk and a handclap backbeat riding the waves of a spacey soundscape, Flying Lotus once again showing the rest of the world why he is one of its most talented young producers.
Clinton’s vocals kick in for the latter half of the track, adding yet another layer to such a dense jungle of a track. It’s not the first time George Clinton has hooked up with Flying Lotus or Thundercat before, he appeared on the Kendrick Lamar track Wesley’s Theory from his earth-shattering To Pimp A Butterfly album, with the track produced by the former and guested on by Clinton and the latter.
No word yet on how sporadic future releases from WOKE are going to be or who they might link up with next but it’s an interesting track from a supergroup that will turn more than a few heads.