Flying Lotus Forms New Group, Enlists George Clinton for Funk Odyssey
Flying Lotus has joined forces with longtime collaborator Thundercat and rap duo Shabazz Palaces on a newly formed project called WOKE, and the quartet’s first sampling, “The Lavishments of Light Looking,” was released Monday via the Adult Swim Singles series. The woozy funk odyssey, produced by Flying Lotus, also boasts vocals of Funkadelic legend George Clinton.
The layered, bass-pumping “Lavishments of Light Looking” bounces and glides over its nearly five-minute runtime, shape-shifting from cosmic-jazz to G-funk. Clinton, who previously teamed with Flying Lotus on Kendrick Lamar‘s FlyLo-produced “Wesley’s Theory,” emerges in the latter half of the track, delivering his mantra, “Free your mind.” Download the WOKE track at the Adult Swim site.
Adult Swim previously promised a Flying Lotus track for the penultimate week of their 2015 Singles Series, but instead delivered the WOKE cut. Previous weeks have seen a Doomstarks reunion, a Danny Brown/Clams Casino collaboration and tracks by Slayer, Skrillex and Shabazz Palaces. This year’s 19-week series will wrap up October 5th with a track from Run the Jewels.
“The Lavishments of Light Looking” marks the second time in as many weeks that Clinton dipped back into the Los Angeles music scene and reteamed with his “Wesley’s Theory” collaborators: Funkadelic’s 2014 cut “Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You” was the recipient of a Kendrick Lamar remix. “He’s a clever kid,” Clinton told Rolling Stone of the Compton rapper.