Who the FUCK is Flying Lotus? A WAY MORE SCATHING THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE expose by Hamtaro S. Thompson

Quoth the captain: "HahAhHAHaaha"

...but what's really going on behind those awesome shades?

You'll remember not a few months ago that when a certain mysterious half-Captain, half-Murphy burst onto the scene, an intrepid young reporter set out to uncover just who really was behind the animated mask behind these animated records. Unfortunately, my so-called "trusted sources" turned out to be what they call, in the parlance of modern journalism, mistrue.

And now, the cat is out of the bag: Captain Murphy is none other than the man himself, Flying Lotus.

...and, like, what's really going on behind that smile?

To say the least: HOLY FUCKING SHIT HOW CAN ONE PERSON BE SO GOOD AT EVERYTHING. It's like if in the 70's Martin Scorcese had come out one day and been like "Yup, I am actually Robert De Niro too"; if Snoop was also Dre; Kurosawa was Mifune; Kobe and The Zen Master, one and the same; or the singer from Blur was actually also every member of Gorillaz, or some insane shit like that. So to you, Flaptain Murphtus, I say, well played, good sir--or should I say "good Captain"--well played indeed.

But while the mainstream media is content to just regurgitate press releases and/or twitpics and call it a day, this reporter continues to be a fucking journalist, and, so-called "facts" be damned, intends to do his fucking job. Because while it's now just common knowledge Captain Murphy is Flying Lotus, the real question still remains:

...SERIOUSLY THOUGH WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE

Just who is this so-called "Flying Lotus," anyway? Sure, we know his name is Stephen Ellison... and what he looks like... and where he's from... and what he's been doing/is doing most of the time, but something tells me that we aren't getting the full story. Because no normal human could possibly be this good at both rapping and production! It's unprecedented! Which, to the trained journalistic eye, can only mean there is something more to the story than any old plebefolk could see--and plebefolks, I am not exaggerating when I say that what I've uncovered, well... this one could go all the way to the top.

So without further ado, here are some potential secret/true identities of Stephen Ellison aka "Flying Lotus" aka "Captain Murphy" aka "Flaptain Murphtus" aka... well, you'll see, after what they call the jump:

sunday jamz 10/4 (cause roman numerals are hard)

new york/new jersey not in the middle of a dry spell...

Allanah Myles - Black Velvet

Sorry for lack of posts lately--there was a hurricane which... got the internet... wet? Anyway, here is one of those songs you might have heard a lot on the radio (and/or in the background of your sultry yet emotional dream sequences) but don't actually know who it's by. Well, the answer, it turns out, is Canadians: written by Canadians David Tyson and Christopher Ward, and performed by Canadian Allanah Myles, who could very be off captaining the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars' karaoke team right now. But actually, her Canadian-ness is not incidental to the song--that kind of cross-border line-straddling permeates both the music and everything around it. Beyond the obvious bit of it being a Canadian eulogy of that American icon Elvis (which, ok, is not really that weird at all--even before the internet trampled all over the idea of the regional music scene, it's not like Canada was fucking Atlantis or something), the whole thing is very firmly a product of that strange, liminal time in which no one was quite sure as to whether it was the 80's or 90's yet.

Like, the production has that vaguely southern, pop country throwback twang that would come to erupt all over our faces like so like so much accidentally ingested floam*--but also those lovably ridiculous FM synth pads that it took ten years to realize don't actually sound like whatever the fuck instrument they were trying to imitate, a bassline that much forum wrangling has determined to be a synth, and that quintessentially 80's distorted guitar chorus--along with all those awesome (or, depending on your perspective, wanky) little guitar fills, which you would never, ever hear in a pop song today. 

And at the same time, the video literally alternates between that classic 80's "leathery hairsprayed, band-on-stage bein' all fun and attractive and weirdly leaning all over each other" video trope, and that soon-to-be-established-as-classic 90's "girl in jeans just sort of hanging around steadicam shots of some house or cottage and like singing or something I dunno"** video trope. And while it might be reading way too into it to point out that the video begins with a shot of a record player in a video made just on the cusp of the CD/digital age, I am going to point it out anyway. 

'cause, just watching them play, there's a kid of husky, alt vibe you get from watching them play the song that just feels kind of 90's. Maybe it's just coming from the attitude of anyone willing to combine all this contemporary, synthy, country-but-also-looks-like-hair-metal? shit with quasi-religious lyrics about mid-century Americana that may or may not be told from the perspective of old people--which was of course the very attitude that made possible the oncoming and surprisingly diverse alt-rock boom, or whatever you want to call it. Or maybe it's just that there's a rock band with a female member in it, the relative upswing in of which being other best part of said boom, because for the love of god is rock too mired in dudeness. I dunno. Whatever they got, their steaming badassedness either perfectly blends with or even transcends their cheesy production trappings in a way this actual, though fairly popular in its own right country cover never could.

*pop country fans, I kid! also, do you guys think Taylor Swift is like a pop country sell out? is there some sort of standard of pop country authenticity with which to hold artists to? if for some reason you are reading this, I am honestly just curious

**and if you think I'm somehow cherry-picking or exaggerating well then brace yourself and click here