Despite his straightforward new filmmaking alias “steve,” experimental music producer Flying Lotus is taking as eclectic an approach to moving images as he does to music. On Sunday the multitalented artist premiered his first short film, Royal, at Sundance Next Fest, where audiences were handed branded barf bags before the screening. FlyLo’s other forays into film have been equally haunting in very different ways — including the beautiful Shia LeBeouf-produced LoveTrue that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, and the abstract gorefest Ready Err Not that he made in collaboration with Salad Fingers animator David Firth. Fans of Royal will be pleased to know that there’s plenty more where that came from. The producer tweeted today that he is almost done working on a feature-length movie backed by a fully sick (in the good way) soundtrack.
“I lied,” FlyLo tweeted. “Royal is just one piece of [my first] feature film called Kuso been steady filming low key this year with some talented folks.” He went on to explain that Kuso is “about 65% finished” and that the music is “getting there” too. “A lot to do but the most fun I’ve had since I made @xCaptainMurphyx,” he wrote, referring to the animated rapper alter-ego under which he secretly dropped a mixtape in 2012. Captain Murphy will feature on the soundtrack of Kuso, along with new music from Aphex Twin, Thundercat, and composer Akira Yamaoka of Japanese horror franchise Silent Hill. As one fan pointed out and FlyLo retweeted, “kuso” is the Japanese word for “crap,” “shit,” or outrageous matters and objects of poor quality.
West Coast film fans looking for a sweet new gig can apply to work on Kuso via FlyLo’s record label. “If you’re in LA and want to help on this film,” he tweeted. “Please reply to @BRAINFEEDER with links to work and reels. We need all types of help esp n post.” Presumably everyone helping “build the landscapes” of Kuso will be getting paid quite nicely.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via YouTube