The Time Flying Lotus Pretended To Be A UCLA Physics Major

​See also: Flying Lotus Plans To Direct A Feature Film

The Weekly once dubbed Flying Lotus the "Godfather of Spiritual Electronica." He's convinced Thom Yorke to perform at Low End Theory. A recent headline performance at the Eagle Rock Music Festival drew over ten thousand people.

Oh, and he also DJed my friend's apartment party earlier this year. And I missed it.

The story goes like this: In January, FlyLo played an intimate on-campus concert for UCLA students that I helped organize. After the show -- which was quite good -- I figured that was that. Most artists usually bounce promptly when these things are over. So, stupidly, I decided to head out early on a ski trip I had planned.

But little did I know that as I barreled up highway 395 toward Mammoth, Flying Lotus was playing my friend's living room. And he wasn't just cruising through his iTunes playlist -- he was composing tracks on the spot. This was never-before-heard Flying Lotus.

Flying Lotus DJing my friend's apartment

​The apartment belonged to one of my pals from the concert staff; earlier she had mentioned to FlyLo that they were throwing an impromptu soiree. But no one could believe it when he actually showed up.

"He was just standing in the kitchen and four or five guys were all competing to be the one who passed the blunt to Flylo," recalls another of my friends, who asked to remain confidential. (Apparently he doesn't want his name mentioned in the same sentence as marijuana.)

The party went to the next level when somebody -- I'm not sure who, but he was surely fortified by liquid courage -- asked if the DJ would be willing to do a set. "When he left to go get his laptop out of his car, people were like 'holy shit' and started frantically making space in the living room," continues my friend. FlyLo didn't disappoint. When he returned, he began improvising raw beats straight off Abelton.