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On a musical journey

Flying Lotus takes listeners to the next level with his blend of experimental electronic hip hop
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Who: Flying Lotus

When: Tuesday, July 7, 9:30 p.m.

Where: Maxx Fish

Cost: $15 in advance

Steve Ellison (also known as Juno Leed, Flying Lotus or just FlyLo to fans) is a pretty busy guy these days. On Tuesday afternoon, he was caught up in his own little creative universe (read: his studio) in Los Angeles before running to traffic court to fight a ticket.

"It's cool though, because they wrote my f___ing birthday wrong on the ticket," he said with a laugh.

Ellison is a pretty big name in the biz of experimental electronic/hip hop, crafting and producing his own original beats and remixing for the likes of Radiohead and Portishead.

"I always felt that the best music, to me, was music that made me feel like I was flying. I love that feeling, where it engulfs you, it takes you over," Ellison said. "...I try and remember that when I'm creating, that's where I want people to go."

Beyond the hype, this artist is genuinely passionate about his music. While many musicians are focusing on putting out hit singles, rather than developing any kind of cohesive sound with their studio projects, Ellison focuses on creating a sense of cohesion and flow with his records.

"I think people who are doing that with their shit are just kind of selling themselves short," he said. "Because I really do put a lot energy into my sequencing and telling the whole story. I can't tell you how to do your thing, but I know there are still people out there who still listen all the way through."

Though his own sound is pretty experimental, Ellison has very traditional musical roots. In fact, his family has some serious cred in the industry; his great aunt is Alice Coltrane, an accomplished musician in her own right who also happened to be married to the pioneer of free jazz, John Coltrane.

"I started making beats when I was about 14," he recalled. "I have a cousin who is an amazing musician and he introduced me to a lot of electronic stuff."

Ellison would always be hanging out at his cousin's house while he was making music. Occasionally, his cousin would drag him over to play around on a keyboard or another instrument.

"I loved it, I love music and I think he knew that."

He also played sax when he was younger but didn't have a passion for the instrument. Instead he was interested in playing video games and fooling around with a beat machine.

"And my little beat machine was cool - no one else was doing it around me, I was just doing it by myself!" he recalled with a laugh.

But a few years back, this solitary hobby turned serious, after Ellison submitted a few tracks to the Cartoon Network's popular show "Boondocks." They contacted him a week later, asking for more material. Today, his music is featured on the adult-oriented cable television network, Adult Swim.

"The fact that I get my music played on TV everyday, on Adult Swim, is pretty powerful, just because I feel like they're really doing the most forward shit on TV at the moment," he said.

Ellison's music draws inspiration from a range of psychedelic and instrumental music, and the occasional use of other psychedelic aides, like DMT, for an enlightening experience.

"I like to trip once a year," he said. "It's something that I respect and I don't think you should do it often. I think you should take that experience and go from there - whatever happens, you try and figure things out along the way."

But before Ellison got into the business of making music, he was actually into filmmaking, attending film school and working on a project about his aunt Alice.

Though he's focused on his musical endeavours now, making his own music, remixing others' and running his collaborative label, Brainfeeder, Ellison has found there to be a lot of creative crossover between the two mediums.

"I like to think about putting an album together in a cinematic kind of way, making it feel like a movie with a beginning, middle and end, and have it tell a story," he said.

And he still gets to flex his filmmaking muscles when he's making his music videos. In fact, he finds it to be a greater creative challenge, marrying his music to the images and action, or vice versa.

"What's really fun is doing the sound design for the film stuff, just because you can really get a vibe across. If the music is strong and vision is strong, you don't even have to have any dialogue, you can just use the imagery to set the tone."

Back in 2006, Ellison was a participant in the Red Bull Music Academy, which has seen over 500 lecturers and 600 emerging music makers grace their studios and stages since the program was launched in 1998. This time around, he's doing a Canadian tour with Red Bull, with shows in Victoria, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, and Whistler.

He'll be playing at Maxx Fish on Tuesday, July 7 alongside Mat the Alien and mymanhenri.