Andrew Veeder on September 4th, 2014

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Following a rousing performance at FYF last month, Los Angeles’ Flying Lotus, née Steven Ellison, is gearing up to release his fifth studio album, “You’re Dead!” on Oct. 7 via Warp Records. It is set to feature appearances by Angel Deradoorian, Snoop Dogg, Herbie Hancock, Kendrick Lamar and Thundercat, as well as FlyLo’s rap alter ego Captain Murphy on two songs. The Lamar-guested track “Never Catch Me” surfaced yesterday, and boy is it a doozy. A jazzy piano riff opens the track, before skittering percussion, drums, and a lively synth line add layer upon layer to the frenzied, avant-garde mix. Lamar’s verse is kinetic as he not only keeps up with the beat but jumps all over it, spitting dense and rapid-fire lines like, “Reminisce on my wonder years and I wonder yeah / Sentiments of my words ain’t been so sincere / The sentiment of my nerves that I just persevere / The big thought of fallin’ off disappeared to my fate / They say that Heaven’s real / Analyze my demise, I say I’m super anxious / Recognize I deprive this fear and then embrace it / Vandalizing these walls only if they could talk / Conversations don’t contemplate to my dark thoughts,” before the instrumental second half of the track buzzes with shimmering synths and a percussive offensive. With these two master chefs in the kitchen, we can only imagine what they may be cooking up next.

||| Stream: “Never Catch Me” feat. Kendrick Lamar

||| Live: Flying Lotus will play the Wiltern on Nov. 14.