Flying Lotus – You're Dead

You spend most of a certain fellow Warp producer’s exile gaining a rep as one of the most forward-thinking producers around, nipping off for a quick side project after several critically renowned releases; Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar guest on your grand return as proof of how far you’ve come, only for one listless blimp over London to divert attention back to the other guy. Richard D James, you shitter.

However, if the build-up to Flying Lotus’ fifth LP has been put in the shade, musically he’s still burning brightly. You're Dead's first quarter is among the producer’s most linear work to date, frequent volleys of woodwind and the guesting Herbie Hancock’s scuttling keys tumbling together in strained coherence. It’s when Lamar and Snoop arrive on Never Catch Me and Dead Man’s Tetris that things get weird, double speed turning to half, free-form jazz segments appearing and dissipating. It’s fragmented and yet, as ever, seems to make total sense. [Simon J Catling]