Digital knows no mercy. The latest album by Flying Lotus, the soundtrack to the Netflix animation series »Yasuke«, has been out as a download for a while, but the label took some time with the record. Since then, there have been different assessments of the success of these 26 miniatures, preferably in one-minute to two-minute format. How satisfied one is with the result may also have to do with which Steven Ellison one likes best: the one from the Sun-Ra-ambitious »Cosmogramma« or the one from the sultry Locust rhythms on »Los Angeles«. »Yasuke« is more like the latter, although it would be an injustice to Flying Lotus if this music accompanying moving images were simply to be dismissed as a matter for the background. With him, even two minutes of beats and electronic sounds contain a whole lot of ideas. For once, they don’t explode, but smoulder or ferment, and are over again before a complete thought has emerged. But free association with Flying Lotus is another thing that doesn’t make you feel cheated out of your own lifetime afterwards. A bit like haiku without words.
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