Flamagra is the sixth studio album by American record producer Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison), released on May 24, 2019 by Warp Records.[6] It is his first album since 2014's You're Dead!.[7] The lead single, the spoken-word "Fire Is Coming" featuring David Lynch, was released along with its video on April 17, 2019.[8] The album also features contributions from Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Little Dragon, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, Toro y Moi and Solange.[9] A deluxe version of the album with the instrumentals was released on May 29, 2020.[10]

Flamagra
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 24, 2019 (2019-05-24)
Recorded2015–2019
Genre
Length66:57
LabelWarp
ProducerFlying Lotus
Flying Lotus chronology
You're Dead!
(2014)
Flamagra
(2019)
Yasuke
(2021)
Singles from Flamagra
  1. "Fire Is Coming"
    Released: April 17, 2019 (2019-04-17)[2]
  2. "Spontaneous / Takashi"
    Released: April 23, 2019 (2019-04-23)[3]
  3. "More"
    Released: May 8, 2019 (2019-05-08)[4]
  4. "Black Balloons Reprise"
    Released: May 21, 2019 (2019-05-21)[5]
Alternative cover
Deluxe Edition cover art.
Deluxe Edition cover art.

Background

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Ellison said that he had gathered different material from the past five years in the process of making the record, and had a "thematic idea" about making an album with a fire concept during that time. He imagined an "eternal flame sitting on a hill", and upon hearing David Lynch talking at a party he was attending, asked him to record the same words for his album, at which point he said the idea for the album became fixed.[9]

The track "Post Requisite" was featured on the soundtrack of Ellison's 2017 feature film Kuso and was accompanied by a music video. Prior to the album's release, the tracks "Fire Is Coming", "Spontaneous", "Takashi", "More" and "Black Balloons Reprise" were released as singles. The latter is a reprise of the song of the same name from Denzel Curry's 2018 album Ta13oo. The opening track "Heroes" is a new version of the previously released song "Heroes Pt. 5".

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[11]
Metacritic80/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [13]
The A.V. ClubB [14]
The Guardian     [15]
The Independent     [16]
The Irish Times     [17]
Mojo     [18]
NME     [19]
Pitchfork7.8/10[1]
Q     [20]
Rolling Stone     [21]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, Flamagra received an average score of 80, based on 27 reviews.[12]

Year-end rankings

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Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
Afisha Daily (Russia) The Best Foreign Albums of 2019
20

Commercial performance

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As of July 2019, the album has moved 10,000 units in United States.[23]

Track listing

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Credits adapted from liner notes.[24]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Heroes"2:44
2."Post Requisite"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
2:08
3."Heroes in a Half Shell"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
  • Brandon Coleman
1:17
4."More" (featuring Anderson .Paak)
4:17
5."Capillaries"Ellison1:54
6."Burning Down the House" (featuring George Clinton)
3:03
7."Spontaneous" (featuring Little Dragon)2:08
8."Takashi"
  • Ellison
  • Syunsuke Ono
  • Bruner
  • Coleman
5:51
9."Pilgrim Side Eye"1:30
10."All Spies"Ellison1:45
11."Yellow Belly" (featuring Tierra Whack)3:11
12."Black Balloons Reprise" (featuring Denzel Curry)
2:41
13."Fire Is Coming" (featuring David Lynch)
3:16
14."Inside Your Home"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
1:26
15."Actually Virtual" (featuring Shabazz Palaces)
1:58
16."Andromeda"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
1:28
17."Remind U"
  • Ellison
  • Coleman
2:41
18."Say Something"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
  • Atwood-Ferguson
  • Hamm
1:15
19."Debbie is Depressed"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
2:19
20."Find Your Own Way Home"
  • Ellison
  • Taylor Graves
1:40
21."The Climb" (featuring Thundercat)
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
  • Atwood-Ferguson
  • Coleman
3:15
22."Pygmy"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
1:24
23."9 Carrots" (featuring Toro y Moi)
3:01
24."FF4"
  • Ellison
  • Atwood-Ferguson
1:11
25."Land of Honey" (featuring Solange)
3:27
26."Thank U Malcolm"
  • Ellison
  • Coleman
  • Bruner
1:32
27."Hot Oct."
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
4:35
Total length:66:57
Japanese edition bonus track[25]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
28."Quarantine"
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
3:48
Total length:70:45

Sample credits

Personnel

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Credits adapted from liner notes.[24]

Musicians

  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – strings (1, 3, 12, 19, 20, 26)
  • Ashley Norelle – backing vocals (4)
  • Taylor Graves – keyboards (4)
  • Ronald Bruner – drums (8, 26), backing vocals (20)
  • Deantoni Parks – drums (19, 21)
  • Niki Randa – backing vocals (20)
  • Thundercat –  bass (1, 2, 4, 6-9, 12-16, 19, 21, 22, 26, 27), Backing vocals (20, 21)

Technical

Artwork

  • Winston Hacking – artwork
  • Echelon Color – retouching
  • Stephen Serrato – layout
  • Guccimaze – typeface design
  • Joph (Jeong-woo Jo) – portrait

Charts

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Chart (2019) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] 55
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] 47
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 16
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[29] 122
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[30] 74
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] 60
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 20
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[33] 36
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[34] 28
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[35] 96
Scottish Albums (OCC)[36] 20
UK Albums (OCC)[37] 25
US Billboard 200[38] 45
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[39] 5
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[40] 1
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[41] 1

References

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  1. ^ a b Patrin, Nate (May 24, 2019). "Flying Lotus: Flamagra". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Blistein, Jon (17 April 2019). "Flying Lotus Taps David Lynch for Bizarre New Song "Fire Is Coming"". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. ^ Torres, Eric. ""Spontaneous" [ft. Little Dragon] / "Takashi" by Flying Lotus Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  4. ^ Duffey, Connor (8 May 2019). "Flying Lotus Shares New Song "More" (feat. Anderson .Paak)". Stereogum. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. ^ Strauss, Matthew (21 May 2019). "Flying Lotus Enlists Denzel Curry for New Song". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Flamagra by Flying Lotus". iTunes Store. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  7. ^ Renshaw, David (April 17, 2019). "Flying Lotus announces new album Flamagra". The Fader. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  8. ^ Lamarre, Carl (April 17, 2019). "Flying Lotus Announces 'Flamagra' Album, Drops New Single 'Fire is Coming' Featuring David Lynch". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Minsker, Evan (April 17, 2019). "Flying Lotus Announces New Album Flamagra, Shares New Video With David Lynch: Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  10. ^ Yoo, Noah (27 April 2020). "Flying Lotus Announces New Flamagra Instrumentals Album". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Flamagra by Flying Lotus reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Flamagra by Flying Lotus Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  13. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Flamagra – Flying Lotus". AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. ^ Reeves, Mosi (May 24, 2019). "Left-field cameos fuel Flying Lotus' latest odyssey, Flamagra". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  15. ^ Monroe, Jazz (May 24, 2019). "Flying Lotus: Flamagra review – cosmic voyager's cartoonish cinematic vision". The Guardian. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  16. ^ Harrison, Ellie; Bray, Elisa (May 23, 2019). "Album reviews: Flying Lotus – Flamagra and The Amazons – Future Dust". The Independent. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  17. ^ Van Nguyen, Dean (May 20, 2019). "Flying Lotus: Flamagra review – A sprawling masterwork of genius". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  18. ^ Chick, Stevie (July 2019). "Hearts of darkness". Mojo (308): 92.
  19. ^ Hobbs, Thomas (May 23, 2019). "Flying Lotus – 'Flamagra' review". NME. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  20. ^ Yates, Steve (July 2019). "Flying Lotus: Flamagra". Q (399): 110.
  21. ^ "Quick Hits". Rolling Stone. No. 1328. June 2019. p. 83.
  22. ^ "Лучшие зарубежные альбомы 2019 года" [The Best Foreign Albums of 2019]. Afisha Daily. December 26, 2019.
  23. ^ Caulfield, Keith (7 July 2019). "Marshmello Dominates Nielsen Music's Mid-Year 2019 Dance/Electronic Charts". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  24. ^ a b Flamagra (booklet). Flying Lotus. London: Warp Records. 2019. WARPCD291.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  25. ^ Flamagra (JP booklet). Flying Lotus. Tokyo: Warp Records, Beat Records. 2019. BRC-595.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  26. ^ "ARIA Chart Watch #526". auspOp. June 1, 2019. Archived from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  27. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Flying Lotus – Flamagra" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  28. ^ "Ultratop.be – Flying Lotus – Flamagra" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  29. ^ "Ultratop.be – Flying Lotus – Flamagra" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  30. ^ "Flying Lotus Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  31. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Flying Lotus – Flamagra" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  32. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Flying Lotus – Flamagra" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  33. ^ "Flamagra on Billboard Japan Hot Albums". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  34. ^ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2019-06-03" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  35. ^ "Savaitės klausomiausi (TOP 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. May 31, 2019. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  36. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  37. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  38. ^ "Flying Lotus Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  39. ^ "Flying Lotus Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  40. ^ "Flying Lotus Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  41. ^ "Flying Lotus Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2019.