Sound Advice: Flying Lotus

Join Flying Lotus on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss the renowned artist’s new EP, work in film, collaborating with David Lynch, utilizing SoundCloud and more.

‍

Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.

‍

Our guest on this episode of Sound Advice is none other than Flying Lotus: renowned LA producer, filmmaker, DJ and head of the Brainfeeder label. We talk in-depth about the inspirations and production process behind his wild new EP, ‘Big Mama,’ which marks his first-ever release on Brainfeeder. He also unpacks the joy of having creative constraints and conceptual frameworks, shares his outlook on DJ sets, and recalls his memories of working with David Lynch and composing the soundtrack to the movie “ASH” in New Zealand.

Flying Lotus also drops word about his favorite inspirational video clip, talks about making music for “a sexy computer gone mad,” and explains how he’s used SoundCloud over the years to surprise release music, listen to unreleased albums and discover under-the-radar artists. 

‍

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING FLYING LOTUS

‍

LISTEN TO THE ‘BIG MAMA’ EP BY FLYING LOTUS ON SOUNDCLOUD

‍

Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

‍

Flying Lotus’s LA Beat Scene Roots and The Evolution of Brainfeeder

• Calling in from Studio City, Los Angeles, Flying Lotus opens up about his latest work. His new EP, ‘Big Mama,’ is also, surprisingly, his first-ever release on Brainfeeder, the label he launched in 2008. After years of releasing solo material on labels largely through Warp Records, from his 2010 debut album ‘Cosmogramma’ through to his 2024 EP ‘Spirit Box,’ he explains how he wanted to “see what it was like to do the work on my own music and work with my team that I've been close to for so long.”
• When Flying Lotus launched Brainfeeder in 2008, he gave a label-home to the burgeoning LA beat scene; a collection of producers, DJs and artists making experimental hip-hop, including Flying Lotus collaborator Samiyam, Ras G, TOKiMONSTA and Thundercat, among others. Here, Flying Lotus discusses how his vision for the label has grown over time and what his ethos is as a label owner. It’s a “by us, for us” situation, he says; a DIY outlet where, as artists dreamed bigger, the projects got bigger, too. 
• As the beat scene was blooming, through labels like Brainfeeder and parties like Low End Theory, it was a very LA-centric scene. If you didn’t live in the city, it would have been hard to keep up with what was happening — unless you were on SoundCloud. The platform hosted many of the scene’s core producers, showcasing their evolving sound in real-time, with demos, remixes and exclusive drops, long before formal album releases. Flying Lotus talks about how SoundCloud allowed him and his peers to “put things out with less pressure,” and how he got put onto so many different artists through the platform. 
• Now, Flying Lotus uses SoundCloud to share demos and production ideas with peers and collaborators, often through private links and direct messages. There have been “so many times that I’ve heard an album early, on SoundCloud private links,” he says. By uploading his music directly on the platform, he taps into that spirit of freedom and DIY that has fuelled his work, including Brainfeeder, over the years.

‍

‍How Japanese Video Games, Jazz and Club Music Inspired ‘Big Mama’ 

• His latest of those works is ‘Big Mama,’ a brand new EP which dropped on Brainfeeder. The world of ‘Big Mama’ is markedly different to a lot of his recent material: an energetic, multilayered club EP that keeps you guessing. Here, Flying Lotus talks about his studio process and how he went in on the “hyper-detailed sound design” before producing the tracks. 
• “It’s the first time I worked strictly with audio,” he says. “I wanted to make electronic music that really felt alive and unpredictable.” We hear more about how he used limitations to inspire creativity: by using no outside samples and no MIDI, he created original audio that was “cut into pieces and stitched together, like a sketchbook.”
• One of the many sonic elements of ‘Big Mama’ is the inspiration of Japanese video game music. The bit-crushed sounds of the EP are reminiscent of classic Nintendo and Sega games; from an era where Japanese video game composers were absorbing experimental dance music, and infusing that into their programming. That has come full circle for Flying Lotus, who has long been drawn to that media. 
• “I grew up with those sounds,” he says, reminiscing. “It’s part of my life and how I understand the universe.” Duly, for ‘Big Mama,’ he thought of “trying to make the most human music I can with a computer that’s gone mad.” That madness is conveyed in the artwork, too: “It’s all about this crazy, big woman who just happens to be a bomb,” he laughs, “a big booty bomb is blowing up the city.”
• Over the course of his career, Flying Lotus has taken on many roles, including film score composer. He’s made original music for films like “Yusuke” and “ASH” tapping into his love for anime. Here, he talks about the experience of scoring music to picture, what the pros and cons of its processes are, and how those processes have inspired his electronic music in turn. 
• “Scoring a picture is something I’ve fallen in love with because I have a goal and destination in mind before I even start making the music,” he says. “There’s an intention, a goal,” and that “takes a lot of guess work out of the music process.” 
• The often short-form nature of that music-making for film, with shorter sketches filled with high emotions, is a big part of the appeal — and fed into the experience of making ‘Big Mama.’ “Even though it’s electronic,” he says, of his material, “it feels very jazz in his construction.”
• Jazz music runs deep for Flying Lotus — he’s related to the iconic jazz artist Alice Coltrane — and that influence comes through in his understanding of music freedom. “I didn’t overthink it,” he insists, and “I tried to break it as soon as I thought it was going to become something I could predict. Stop right here and build a new thing; keep it electric and alive.”
• Tapping into the jazz spirit of freedom, how does Flying Lotus like to use constraints as a creative tool? “I have every synthesizer and VST known to man, basically,” he says, so by setting limitations on what he can use in a session, he finds himself more able to focus on working those tools more deeply. Here, he goes into more detail about that ethos. 
• “I’ve been doing this for so long that it’s like a marriage,” he says. “You have to switch it up, try new things, keep finding ways to fall in love.” More than anything, Flying Lotus wants to keep his music-making a “challenging, interesting and beautiful” experience through these different approaches. 

‍
Flying Lotus on Working with Constraints, Film Soundtracks and Learning From David Lynch  

• Working within limitations proved to be fruitful training for “ASH,” a 2025 film which he scored the soundtrack for. Here, he talks about flying out to New Zealand with not much more than his laptop, and working on the music from there. 
• As an artist who’s cultivated a heavyweight studio with myriad analog and digital tools, having that super stripped-back production experience on his laptop was a worry at first, he says — but it also forced him to be creative, and took him back to his early music-making days. “It’s nice to force yourself into different ways of working and out of comfort zones,” he says.
• Crossing between his music production and film work, Flying Lotus collaborated with iconic independent filmmaker David Lynch on his 2019 album, “Flamagra.” So what memories does he have of working with Lynch, and how has Lynch inspired his work going forward?
• Reflecting on his time with Lynch, Flying Lotus says, “He was always exactly what I’d hoped he would be.” Known for being forthright and largely unimpressed by the trappings of celebrity, Lynch was a breath of fresh air to Flying Lotus. Here, he talks about his shared experiences with him, and how Lynch’s prioritizing of his art-making time over pretty much everything else in his life gave Flying Lotus the validation to keep up his “existence as a studio rat.” 
• Another inspiration of Flying Lotus comes from a particular video clip of Jay-Z and Timbaland. We hear about the clip and why it’s such a motivator for the artist.

‍

Flying Lotus on His Outlook on DJing and What Fans Can Expect Next

• As a producer, Flying Lotus has been enjoying working with technical constraints, but as a DJ, his approach is much more freeing. Here, he talks about how he likes to read the room and tailor the sound to the audience. Part of his DJ preparation is spent on SoundCloud, digging for new tracks and artists. His most-used feature on the platform is private links; where he listens to unreleased material and demos that he’s been sent, and shares them in turn with his peers and collaborators. 
• You don’t need to have a huge following on the platform to get Flying Lotus’s attention: “The greatest producer in the world has 10 followers on SoundCloud, right? I hope to find them.” 
• Looking forward to 2026 onwards, is there anything that Flying Lotus wants to achieve or work on that he hasn’t had the chance to yet? Here, he discusses an unreleased project — an album made in collaboration with the late, great Japanese musician and composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto — and how some sliding doors moments in his recent career led him to keep that album close to his chest. 
• “I want to do right by my catalog,” he says, “but I also want to do right by my heart, what excites me; if I'm excited about it, the audience can hear or see that; if I'm not, that’ll be obvious, go with my gut and hope for the best.” For now, Flying Lotus will keep riding this current music-making wave, with ‘Big Mama’ and more to come. 

‍

Links and Extras

Follow Flying Lotus’s journey on SoundCloud.
Press play on Flying Lotus’s 2026 EP, ‘Big Mama.’
Follow Brainfeeder, Flying Lotus’s record label.
Listen to ‘Spirit Box,’ Flying Lotus’s 2025 EP. 
Hit play on Flying Lotus’s 2025 original motion picture soundtrack, “ASH.” 
Go back to where it all began with one of Flying Lotus’s earliest tracks, “Tea Leaf Dancers” featuring Andreya Triana.
Explore some of Flying Lotus’s wide-ranging influences, including J Dilla, Alice Coltrane, Madlib and Sun Ra, to name a few. 
Listen to the LoFi Hip-Hop playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

‍To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

‍

_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}