Lapalux – When You're Gone EP

Recent Brainfeeder releases, such as the superlative funk and jazz of Thundercat and the forceful Paradise Garage tribute of Martyn's Ghost People, have added weight to the suggestion that it is longer helpful to consider Flying Lotus's imprint a 'beats' or 'hip-hop' label.

Lapalux extends the LA label's repertoire further still with a slew of disfigured R&B samples, VHS hums and synth-pop dirges. When You're Gone is, by necessity, an involved listen: it is imbued with a density that requires sustained attention, but only Gone, a bleach-washed ode to a disaster movie you might actually want to watch, truly rewards this listener's patience. Excepting the limp Soulquarian fare of Yellow 90s, much else here is decent enough, if regrettably unexceptional.