Flying Lotus - Presents INFINITY Infinitum Maida Vale Session (EP)

Flying Lotus Presents INFINITY Infinitum Maida Vale Session feels like opening a time capsule from the moment the needle finds the groove. Recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in London for Radio 1, and issued by Warp as a limited 12 inch, it catches Steven Ellison right as his world was exploding, between the smoky swing of Los Angeles and the celestial sweep of Cosmogramma. You can hear the room, which is part of the thrill. Maida Vale has a history baked into its walls, and this session folds that history into FlyLo’s low end, creating a live, breathing version of his universe that you just do not get from the studio cuts.

This is not a straightforward greatest hits set. It plays like a collage, a short film in sound. Beats buckle and reform, synths smear and sparkle, and the drums feel both head-nod tight and human. The BBC engineers captured that push and pull with a clarity that rewards a proper stereo, so the record earns its place alongside other Flying Lotus albums on vinyl. Ellison has always loved space, both cosmic and literal, and here the air around the instruments becomes part of the composition. You get a sense of how these tracks move when they are not locked to a grid, how they shift shape in a room, in front of microphones that have heard decades of sessions.

There is a giddy energy to the transitions, the way a motif teases in, then vanishes and returns with extra bite. The bass is thick but not muddy, the high percussion locks in like a whispering metronome, and melodies flicker like film strips. That balance, the earthy and the futuristic, was what made this era so exciting. Brainfeeder was becoming a home for like minds back in Los Angeles, while across the Atlantic, UK radio and club crowds were starting to tune their ears to this new blend of jazz imagination and beat-scene grit. The session catches that exchange in real time, and you can feel the joy of it.

As a piece of Flying Lotus vinyl, this one has collector magnetism. It was a small run, and that scarcity gave it a kind of whispered reputation. Copies change hands fast, which is why people still search for Presents INFINITY Infinitum Maida Vale Session vinyl during late-night crate digs online. If you buy Flying Lotus records online, you learn quickly that these session releases tell a different story than the full-lengths. They are shorter, sure, but they show the hand at work, the decisions happening on the fly, the way a groove lives and breathes when it is not being perfected in a DAW. The best sessions do that, and this is one of them.

What stands out most is how comfortable Ellison sounds in a space known for rock bands and orchestras. He pulls the studio’s warmth into his palette. Even the heaviest subs feel like they are wrapped in velvet. There is a vintage BBC sheen here that fits his love of old film scores and dusty textures. His production has always had that crate-digger heart, and hearing it refracted through Maida Vale makes the influences easier to feel. You can imagine him wandering through the corridors, thinking about all the ghosts in those rooms, then dropping into a chair and turning everything into a flicker of rhythm and light.

If you are building a stack of Flying Lotus albums on vinyl, this one fills a beautiful niche. It is a bridge, a document, and a vibe you can return to when you want the thrill of live electricity without losing that meticulous Warp quality control. It also works like a recommendation letter for the uninitiated. Put this on for a friend who knows the name but has never heard the magic happen in the wild. Let the room tone and the low end do their work. I have seen this record convert people.

For those in a browsing mood, keep an eye out at your local shop, the kind of place that throws staff picks on the wall and talks your ear off about catalog numbers. If you are hunting from afar, independent stores do ship, and you will often find good sellers when you search for vinyl records Australia or even a Melbourne record store that cares about cleaning and grading. However you track it down, treat it right. It is the sort of record that rewards patience, a clean stylus, and the simple joy of flipping a side and settling back in.