You're Dead!

For other uses, see You're Dead.
You're Dead!
Studio album by Flying Lotus
Released October 6, 2014
Recorded 2013–14
Length 38:15
Label Warp
Producer Flying Lotus
Flying Lotus chronology
Until the Quiet Comes
(2012)
You're Dead!
(2014)
Singles from You're Dead
  1. "Never Catch Me"
    Released: September 2014[1]

You're Dead! is the fifth studio album by American music producer Flying Lotus, released on October 6, 2014 in the UK and October 7, 2014 in the US, by Warp Records.

Release

The album's title and release date were announced on July 22, 2014.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic88/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The A.V. ClubA–[5]
Consequence of SoundB[6]
The Guardian[7]
Mojo[8]
NME8/10[9]
Pitchfork Media8.3/10[10]
PopMatters9/10[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Slant Magazine[13]

You're Dead! received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 88, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[3] Andy Kellman of AllMusic stated, "Like his great aunt, and his great uncle John Coltrane, Ellison has created exceptionally progressive, stirring, and eternal art."[4] Clayton Purdom of The A.V. Club stated, "You're Dead! is his most confidently structured work yet."[5] Matthew Bennett of Clash stated, "This, his fifth album, is also an overt ode to limbo, the halfway house of consciousness and true death. And this is where all 19 tracks dwell, in between the failing light of traditional jazz and the bursts of neon emitted from his polyrhythmic, nocturnal electronica."[14] Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound stated, "The album works best as a single, unified listen."[6] In a glowing review for The Guardian Paul MacInnes said, "There’s always been a sense that Ellison was stretching for a new musical vernacular, one that would continue the lineage of free jazz (he is the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane). This album suggests he might have found it."[7] Chris Cottingham of NME stated, "You're Dead! is a madly inventive record, one that takes hip-hop and jazz as starting points, beats them both to death and then brings them back to life in an almost unrecognisable form."[9] Logan Smithson of PopMatters stated, "You're Dead! is arguably his most imposing album thus far."[11] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media stated, "Flying Lotus has the notion that death should be the only limiting factor, and when he's put out a work that wrings beauty out of that very thing, what's the point of fearing anything?"[10]

Will Hermes of Rolling Stone stated, "Ellison makes the boldest, most fully engaged fusion of the hip-hop-laptop era."[12] Franklin Jones of Slant Magazine stated, "While it may not be clear where we're headed throughout the album, Ellison maneuvers through the bedlam with such confidence that it's not just easy to get swept up in his grand vision of the Great Beyond, but to return for repeat visits."[13] Michael Blair of XXL applauded the album overall saying, "The genius of Flying Lotus, which has been invariably present throughout his preceding releases, but most especially on You’re Dead!, is that he has an incredible ability to both illustrate and extract exceptional amounts of emotion, without saying much at all."[15] Staff writer at Exclaim! Stephen Carlickm who gave the release 9/10 described the album as, "Excitingly new yet classically evocative, You're Dead! is contemplative but never boring, an example of genre cross-pollination that transcends novelty and, occasionally, time and space as well."[16] Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in his column for Cuepoint, citing "Turkey Dog Coma" and "Ready err Not" as highlights and writing, "The problem isn't that it's less than the sum of its parts--the problem is that there is no sum, only parts".[17]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 17,000 copies in the United States.[18] In its second week, the album dropped to number 67 on the chart, selling 5,000 copies, bringing its total album sales to 22,000 copies.[19]

Track listing

Writing credits derived from AllMusic.[4]

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Theme"  Steven Ellison 1:24
2. "Tesla"   1:54
3. "Cold Dead"  
1:34
4. "Fkn Dead"  
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
0:40
5. "Never Catch Me" (featuring Kendrick Lamar) 3:54
6. "Dead Man's Tetris" (featuring Captain Murphy and Snoop Dogg) 2:25
7. "Turkey Dog Coma"  
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
3:09
8. "Stirring"  
  • Ellison
  • Jeff Lynne
0:30
9. "Coronus, the Terminator"  
  • Ellison
  • Nicole Randa
2:40
10. "Siren Song" (featuring Angel Deradoorian) 2:37
11. "Turtles"  
2:06
12. "Ready err Not"  Ellison 1:45
13. "Eyes Above"  Ellison 1:12
14. "Moment of Hesitation"  
  • Ellison
  • Washington
  • Hancock
2:18
15. "Descent Into Madness" (featuring Thundercat)
  • Ellison
  • Bruner
1:27
16. "The Boys Who Died in Their Sleep" (featuring Captain Murphy)Ellison 1:50
17. "Obligatory Cadence"  
  • Ellison
  • Cham Staker
2:56
18. "Your Potential // The Beyond" (featuring Niki Randa)
  • Ellison
  • Randa
1:45
19. "The Protest"  Ellison 1:57
20. "Protector" (Japanese and Vinyl versions bonus track)Ellison 2:12
Total length:
38:15

Personnel

Credits for You're Dead! adapted from AllMusic.[20][21]

  • Stephen Ellison a.k.a. Flying Lotus – primary artist, composer, producer, keyboards, percussion, sampling, synthesizer, vocals (tracks 6, 9, 16), background vocals
  • Derek "MixedByAli" Ali – vocal mixing
  • Thundercat (Stephen Bruner) – composer, bass, featured artist, guitar, vocals, background vocals
  • Martin Cooke – assistant engineer
  • Nicolas Fournier – assistant engineer
  • Mario Borgatta – mixing assistant
  • Rich Costey – mixing
  • Daddy Kev – mastering
  • Angel Deradoorian – composer, featured artist, vocals (track 10), background vocals
  • Arlene Deradoorian – vocals
  • Kimbra Johnson – vocals (track 19)
  • Kendrick Lamar – featured artist, vocals (track 5)
  • Ennio Morricone – composer
  • C. Staker – composer
  • Niki Randa – composer, featured artist, percussion, vocals (track 18), background vocals
  • Snoop Dogg – composer, featured artist, vocals (track 6)

  • Herbie Hancock – composer, keyboards (tracks 2, 14)
  • Kamasi Washington – composer, keyboards, saxophone
  • Jeff Lynn – composer, guitar
  • Deantoni Parks – drums (tracks 1, 5, 9, 10, 13, 19) [22]
  • Gene Coye – drums
  • Ronald Bruner – drums
  • Justin Brown – drums
  • Andres Renteria – keyboards, percussion
  • Taylor Graves – keyboards
  • Brandon Coleman – keyboards
  • Taylor Cannizzaro – strings
  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – strings
  • Brendon Small – guitar (tracks 7, 10)
  • Laura Darlington – flute, vocals (track 19)
  • The French Ensemble – sample source
  • Stephen Serrato – design
  • Shintaro Kago – illustrations

Charts

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[23] 48
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 68
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 29
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 76
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[27] 55
French Albums (SNEP)[28] 157
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 77
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[30] 35
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 50
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 24
US Billboard 200[33] 19
US Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[34] 1

References

  1. "Flying Lotus – “Never Catch Me” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)". Stereogum. September 3, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  2. Minsker, Evan (July 22, 2014). "Flying Lotus Announces New Album, You're Dead!, and Tour". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Reviews for You're Dead! by Flying Lotus". Metacritic. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Kellman, Andy. "You're Dead! – Flying Lotus". AllMusic. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Purdom, Clayton (October 7, 2014). "Flying Lotus aims for the heavens on You're Dead!". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Kivel, Adam (October 8, 2014). "Flying Lotus - You're Dead!". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  7. 1 2 MacInnes, Paul (October 3, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You’re Dead review – a brilliant, wide-eyed dream of an album". The Guardian. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  8. Cowan, Andy (October 8, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead!". Mojo. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Cottingham, Chris (October 6, 2014). "Flying Lotus – 'You're Dead!'". NME. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Patrin, Nate (October 6, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead!". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  11. 1 2 Smithson, Logan (October 6, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead!". PopMatters. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Hermes, Will (October 21, 2014). "You're Dead!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Jones, Franklin (October 4, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead!". Slant Magazine. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  14. Bennett, Matthew (October 2, 2014). "Flying Lotus – You're Dead!". Clash. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  15. Blair, Michael (October 13, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead! review – a singular piece of work in an overcrowded market". XXL. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  16. Carlick, Stephen (October 14, 2014). "Flying Lotus: You're Dead! review – a singular piece of work in an overcrowded market". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  17. Christgau, Robert (January 2015). "Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  18. Tardio, Andres (2014-10-15). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Keyshia Cole, Childish Gambino, Tinashe, Flying Lotus". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
  19. Tardio, Andres (2014-10-11). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Game, Hoodie Allen, Chris Brown". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  20. "You're Dead! - Flying Lotus". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Credits. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
  21. "Official Flylo Tumblr". Tumblr. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  22. "Deantoni Parks". Facebook. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  23. "Australiancharts.com – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  24. "Austriancharts.at – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  25. "Ultratop.be – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  26. "Ultratop.be – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  27. "Dutchcharts.nl – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  28. "Lescharts.com – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  29. "Offiziellecharts.de – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  30. "Charts.org.nz – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  31. "Swisscharts.com – Flying Lotus – You're Dead!". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  32. "Flying Lotus | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  33. "Flying Lotus – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Flying Lotus. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  34. "Flying Lotus – Chart history" Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums for Flying Lotus. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
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