Last Friday, 04.17.09 marked the return of the One Step Beyond series at the American Museum of Natural History. For their April kickoff, Flying Lotus and Kode9 held the first Friday night party. More photos and recap inside…
Friday (04.17.09) was the first time that many music fans found themselves traversing the solar system on their way into a concert. Flying Lotus, an experimental sound wizard, whose Reset album was reviewed on this site, was set to perform a dope and unexpectedly energetic set at the American Museum of Natural History in their planetarium.

Flying Lotus has been on my radar since his debut 1983; an exercise in lo-fi samples and sound manipulation that introduced the world to his unique style. His follow-up, Los Angeles, demonstrated a maturation in sound that required repeated listens to digest. Los Angeles showed how intricate FlyLo gets with his; otherworldly samples, hard percussion and cross-genre experimentation precisely sequenced to form a cohesive sonic journey. The one conclusion I reached was that FlyLo is on some next shit. So would his live show be that next shit too?

Well performing in a planetarium with galaxial exhibits, a giant overhead orb that has constantly shifting psychedelic imagery, and crazy acoustics does not hurt. Then add two doses of dope music and throw in a sprinkle of actual live beat manipulation and I’d say that some next shit. FlyLo’s albums aren’t really on the move your ass tip, but he really knows how to move a crowd. Album cuts like ‘Brainfeeder,’ ‘Breathe,’ ‘Camel,’ ‘Melt,’ ‘GNG BNG,’ and ‘Parisian Goldfish’ were given new life live through buildups and breakdowns performed by FlyLo through a number of machines on stage. Not only that, but he was going nuts too; basically banging his head for the entire hour and a half set. I was disappointed last spring when I missed Mr. Lotus’ set at a small gig in alphabet city because it started later then my allotted bedtime. FlyLo’s show Friday night at the planetarium taught me that maybe I should stop sleepin’.

-photos from deadlymelody.com, recap and review from writer and beatmaker dRes