Gaslamp Killer, The - Heart Math [2 10"/ Gatefold]

Heart Math, the new LP from alternative hip-hop mainstay The Gaslamp Killer, is exactly the sort of astral opus which its rich artwork intimates that it will be. With each new track the listener is taken deeper into the trip here, the steady drum breaks underpinning some stargazing and psychedelic production.

The influence of the Los Angeles beat scene in which The Gaslamp Killer made his name - lest we forget that he helped set up the city’s legendary Low End Theory club night - can still be heard here. For instance, ‘Midnight Music’ is the sort of bleeping prog-hop odyssey that could have graced one of the first Flying Lotus albums. However, the rich textures, fusion aesthetics and spiritualised flavour which runs through so much of Heart Math also aligns it with FlyLo’s more recent work as well as artists such as The Heliocentrics and Madlib.

Indeed, Malcolm Catto's band The Heliocentrics actually appear on the thrilling ‘Hooked On Classic’s’, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Amir Yaghmai and Roberto Schilling are among the other features on a typically guest-heavy collection from The Gaslamp Killer, his powers of collaboration once more proving testament to his knack for involving other artists in his vision.

Heart Math is a set of astral hip-hop explorations the likes of which only The Gaslamp Killer would have the ambition to attempt - let alone pull off.