Flying Lotus Gets Crazy With Thom Yorke

Posted on May 19th 2010 12:00PM by Mike Ayers
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Many fans were surprised, to put it mildly, when Thom Yorke asked Flying Lotus to join last month's Atoms for Peace tour as the opening act. But the Radiohead frontman's choice of the L.A.-based electronic musician wasn't so out of left field: Yorke had already been on the FlyLo tip for awhile, lending his voice to the song 'And the World Laughs With You,' off of Flying Lotus's new album, 'Cosmogramma.'

So, how'd the meetings of these two minds actually happen? "He was a person I always wanted to work with and I'd always shout him out in interviews and such," Flying Lotus tells Spinner. "A friend of his passed something [of mine] to him. He said he was super busy but that he'd give it a listen. Then, I had files in my email -- no managers, no money, nothing. He's really easy to work with on a business level -- straight to the point, very polite. That's the way I like it."

Yorke's presence is felt right at the 12-minute mark of the album, as there's an abrupt shift in tone from the track before, 'Computer Face/Pure Being.' 'And the World Laughs With You' starts with a Radiohead-style organ riff that's combined with some skittish beats and Yorke saying, "I need to know that you're out there/I need to know you're listening."

As Flying Lotus confirms, he manipulated Yorke's voice, making it sound prominent in some parts and warped in many others. "I f---ed with it," he says. "But he sent me some pretty f---ed up s--- too. He was f---ing with it and it was out there."

Yorke's contribution to 'Cosmogramma' is just another small moment in the massive mish mash of out-there samples (such as an actual ping-pong game), downtempo, free jazz and lush instrumentation, including heavy use of the harp. For any musician looking to get Yorke to contribute on their work, we'd suggest you hold off until you have some interesting and complex arrangements.

'Cosmogramma' is out now via Warp Records.