Cosmogramma

Flying Lotus
WARP

I don’t really buy into the concept of “challenging” music. You like it or you don’t. Of course some things grow on you with time, and others that you instantly loved fade as quickly as a high school crush. Just don’t force yourself to like something if you don’t, to paraphrase Bonnie Raitt. This is the dilemma of Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma. Two albums and several EPs into his career, along with a great streak as producer leading into this year, my hopes were high. Sadly, with few exceptions, this 45-minute, 17-track disc plays more like a beat tape than album. Thom Yorke adds his warble to “And the World Laughs with You,” and Laura Darlington coos to the interesting and literal production of “Table Tennis.” Much of the rest recalls mid-’90s broken-beat producer Roni Size, of whom I’m a fan, but seems hardly fitting of such a “next level” producer of this decade.