Flying Lotus and Essay 4: Following on the heels of his sci-fi horror film, Ash, FlyLo drops his latest EP, BIG MOMMA, and unexpectedly becomes the center of the question that's on everyone's minds - What is AI's place in human creativity?

Flying Lotus - BIG MOMMA Review, and Thoughts on AI and Creativity

Click hear to read my other Flying Lotus reviews

Go here to read my other essays in my Essays series

This Essay Comes First

Before I can even begin to review Steve Ellison's new music, we have to get a very important topic out of the way. Unfortunately, Ellison decided to become the subject and the question on everyone's minds: Now that AI is traveling at lightning speed, what is its place in our world, human creativity, and integrity? This is a question that needs to be discussed at this point in our collective consciousness. AI is taking over, fooling almost everyone, making all of us give a universal sigh at its ability to fake what many of us might have thought to be genuine, authentic, human moments. This is quite literally the matrix being created before our eyes. 

Gorillaz are back and as fresh as ever, with their brand new album The Mountain, and their short film, The Mountain, The Moon Cave, and The Sad God

Gorillaz - The Mountain Review

Another year, another new album by the well-oiled and shapeshifting music machine, Gorillaz! The love child of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, who draws and animates all four virtual band members, Gorillaz has had an illustrious and successful career in their nearly 30 years of music making, which is full of standout guest features and a colorful carousel of genres. Having recruited a third permanent member, producer and percussionist Remi Kabaka Jr, who has also been the voice of band member Russel, this trio has been knocking it out of the park ever since their 2017 album, my personal favorite, Humanz, and again with their follow up, 2018's The Now Now, which I wrote about at the time. Nearly a decade and several stacked albums later, Gorillaz are back with The Mountain, full of deep themes, a short film, an art book, and more musical styles to share. 

Puscifer release their best album yet, Normal Isn't, projecting anxiety, anger, and protest into one of the most explosive albums of this past year

Puscifer - Normal Isn't Review

Puscifer were never ones to shy away from the news of the world. On the contrary, Puscifer always seemed like a direct response to whatever snapshot our society is in. Given all that has gone down in this historic year of societal collapse, mass deportations mirroring one of the worst times in modern history, social media as a disease, and the conspiracy-theorists' validation of a global elite's satanic trafficking ring, Isn't It Now sounds like a scream into the void for the sins that are beyond unforgiveable, and what all of us have to grapple with in this life and the next. 

A Premium Web Experience, Free From Ads, And Curated By A Human: Thank You For Helping AirdriftSignals Cross 400,000 Web Visits!

 A Sincere Thank You (!!), With Important Website Updates

First of all, I have to give a very heartfelt thank you to all of you who have subscribed and given my website and music writing a chance, and given it, even if only for a minute, your precious time and some space in your minds. By giving AirdriftSignals even a moment of your attention means the world to me. This website I built from the ground up for more than a decade, without any outside assistance. It’s been a long journey and a gradual learning curve for me, but I am feeling myself reaching the peak of my abilities for what I have to offer folks in terms of the richest music journalism and user experience on the web. 

Masterpiece Crate 6 & Fan Project Archive: Why The Beach Boys will never get old, and why SMiLE is the greatest album that never was, but now is, thanks to Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys fan community

The Beach Boys' SMiLE, And The Best Music Fanbase Of All Time

A Fan Mix & Fan Project Archive

This article is a deep dive into this fan community’s endless fascination with The Beach Boys, how the community will always keep the group and their beautiful music alive, and why this fanbase will always remain at the top tier of all other music fandoms. This is both an article and an ongoing fan project archive. 

For more on my Masterpiece Crate series doing album deep dives you can go here. For my analysis of Smiley Smile you can go here. For my tribute to Brian Wilson and my own pet project making a massive album collage of albums that are SMiLE-like, go here.

RIP BRIAN, ANOTHER LIGHT GONE FROM THIS WORLD, YOU ARE DEARLY MISSED