Flying Lotus -- Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo

It's a rainy Monday in Los Angeles, and Flying Lotus has released an animated video for "Kill Your Co-Workers" that seems tailor-made for this kind of weather. No, the Beeple-directed video doesn't advocate murder, necessarily, although it does contain some cartoon violence. Specifically, one kind of robot goes on a rampage against another kind of robot -- although the victims seem very happy about the turn of events. The music? Shiny, happy, melodic synthesizer music reminiscent of Aphex Twin.

-- Randall Roberts

There's a hint of irony attached to the title of Flying Lotus' forthcoming "Pattern + Grid World" EP, considering his tacit intent to obliterate any boxes or labels ascribed to him. Mostly recently, he kick-started a humorous Twitter campaign to off the woefully named genre label "Aquacrunk" before it got its sea legs. 

Other attempts to effectively encapsulate his style have been met with little success, with his interstellar career arc capturing elements of hip-hop, ambient, jazz, house, 8-bit synths, IDM and world music alongside a cloud of cosmic vapors. The tag "Beat Music," has stuck for lack of a better alternative, and only because a head-bobbing beat is often the only constant.

Though Warp Records has thus far withheld an advance copy from this Pop & Hiss scribe, a pair of tracks have surfaced that point toward Steven Ellison's continued creative restlessness. Common sense dictates that the beats were originally conjured during his "Cosmogramma" sessions, and are now being collected on an odds and sods EP,  but you never know with Lotus. In addition to his prolific outside production work, he's dropped three albums and eight EPs over the last half decade.

Since he's given relatively few interviews of late, he's keeping fans guessing -- though he recently answered questions via Twitter that revealed he's been working with Bilal and is buzzed about local rap anarchist Tyler the Creator. A Tweet from Sunday was directed at Kanye West and asked whether the Louis Vuitton don was still planning on coming through.

Though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise, Adult Swim and Kia Motors' decision to enlist Flying Lotus for its "8 Singles 8 Weeks" promotion doesn't solely stem from a carpet-bagging desire to brand themselves as cool and cutting edge.

After all, Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network block of late-night programming, was one of the white-hot Lotus' first champions, selecting his tunes to be the bumper music between shows and tabbing him to remix Gucci Mane for its "ATL RMX" project. But the decision to pair him up with former Dungeon Family associate Killer Mike for "Swimming" might be the company's most savvy move yet.

Contributing a woozy, punch-drunk banger that sounds inspired by the second half of "Stankonia," Lotus reveals his versatility. Anyone expecting harps and the jazz jones evidenced on "Cosmogramma" will be surprised by the track's undulating synths and 808 claps that meld with Killer Mike's gruff rasp. While the Grand Hustle-signed rapper is perhaps best known for his bristling anger and unwavering conscience, he switches up his style with the rare loverman ballad, bragging about "swimming in women." It's the ideal soundtrack to accompany the realities expressed in this article (although finding a "Fendi Freak" could get pretty expensive in this still-stagnant economy).

Also recommended: snagging Madvillain's contribution to "Week Two" of the series.

-- Jeff Weiss

Download:

MP3: Killer Mike (prod. by Flying Lotus) -- "Swimming"

Sometimes, there is that moment. When time doesn’t stop but instead splinters into a dozen discrete and unlocked avenues, the realm of infinite options and unlimited potential. When the Earth’s axis clicks, the winds blow serenely rather than from Santa Ana, and “the world laughs with you.”

The latter is the name of the centerpiece track on “Cosmogramma,” the new Flying Lotus record, in which Thom Yorke’s celestial howl burrows out from beneath a bedrock of humble-mumble bass and wood-fire-warm fuzz and is reconfigured into a new, unidentified element.

Last week was Flying Lotus’ moment, and his two-night stand at the Echoplex over the weekend was equal parts celebration and coronation. This sentiment has been simmering for a while, with Lotus being at the vanguard of the influential Low End Theory club. Lotus, a.k.a. Steven Ellison: 26 years old and Winnetka-raised, weaned on Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, kin of the cosmic Coltrane family, and baptized via IDM, drum and bass, video game funk, and dense California chronic.

For a feature in Tuesday's Calendar, I spent an afternoon with the L.A. electro-jazz musician Flying Lotus to talk about his strange and wonderful new album "Cosmogramma," touring with Thom Yorke and how his peers in the Low End Theory scene are destroying genres with their avant-garde music, while simultaneously rising to international prominence.

If you want to hear the record in its natural setting, Lotus is commandeering the Echoplex on May 14 and May 15 for two very different performances. On the 14th, he’ll play a solo set with full visual accompaniment and excellent openers including fellow travelers Ras G and Samiyam. On the 15th, however, it gets even more intriguing, as Lotus debuts his new live band (or, as he’s dubbing it, an "infinity" sign), with his virtuoso saxophonist kin Ravi Coltrane, Gonjasufi, the Gaslamp Killer and matthewdavid warming up.

If you have a job interview or drug test anytime in the days following, tread lightly, but this is an absolute must-see. From what I’ve heard, Lotus’ band is going to obliterate the confines of electronica for something absolutely new and necessary.  

-- August Brown

Photo: Flying Lotus in his element. Credit: Anna Webber / Getty Images