Flying Lotus, a.k.a. Steven Ellison, is a Los Angeles based, somewhat experimental electronic music artist whose current work combines '70s funky pop- azz with a curious collection of musical influences that alternate between avant-garde, hip-hop, and video game inspired ditties. His discography plays like a stroll through a diverse array of styles, filtered through a consistent vision, including 70's style jazz fusion with all the angularity of Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra, that also taps into electonica with jazzy tendencies, trip-hop grooves, and drum'n bass beats, running the gamut on the high end music that is simultaneously both artsy and dancey. His music often comes in short instrumental pieces brought to life by some of the best instrumentalists of the current musical scene, including musicians like Thundercat, Deantoni Parks, and Kamasi Washington, among many others.
He did his early rap work under the name Captain Murphy. Flying Lotus is also known as FlyLo. He is a grandson of Marilyn McLeod, a songwriter and producer active in the late '70s Motown scene. He is a great nephew of Alice and John Coltrane.