In the digital age, who else but Steven Ellison, alias Flying Lotus, has best integrated advanced electro, contemporary jazz, R&B, G-funk and hip hop? You’re Dead, his sixth studio album, was a conceptual pinnacle in this sense. The high instrumental virtuosity of Kamasi Washington and Thundercat, the flow of Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg, not to mention the soul-fed songs served by digital art of the highest standard, all catalyzed by a brilliant beatmaker capable of visionary integration. One regret: the transposition of this exceptional repertoire to the live stage was far too feeble.
