Flying Lotus

A multi-hyphenate talent with one foot in the mainstream and the other in the experimental world, musician and producer Flying Lotus has forged an unpredictable but dazzling path since his 2006 debut. Born Steven D. Bingley-Ellison on 7 October 1983, in Los Angeles, he grew up in a musical family, and went to college to study film and the arts. After working his way into the business through an internship and answering an open call for musical submissions for television, Ellison released 1983 in 2006, which set the course for the eclectic music to come, and earned him a deal with Warp Records. 2008 saw the arrival of Los Angeles, and also the launch of his own label, Brainfeeder, which featured fellow forward-thinking musicians like Thundercat and funk icon George Clinton. Ellison took a turn towards the avant-garde with 2010’s Cosmogramma, a jazzy album that expanded his pool of regular collaborators to include the likes of Thom Yorke and Ravi Coltrane. You’re Dead!, released in 2014, topped the dance/electronic music chart, raising his public profile significantly with the inclusion of the Kendrick Lamar-featuring track “Never Catch Me”. Lamar and Flying Lotus teamed up to co-produce Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly that same year, and their collaborations earned Grammy nominations for Best Dance Recording and Album of the Year. 2019’s Flamagra took him to Number 1 on the dance/electronic album chart. In 2021 he released the single “Black Gold”, a collaboration with Thundercat, that appeared on the album Yasuke, which served as the soundtrack to the anime series of the same name. A new EP for Warp arrived in 2024, Spirit Box, which leaned more heavily on electronics to mix deep house with nu-jazz. The record featured a guest appearance from US singer Dawn Richard.