Flying Lotus has released the soundtrack to the new animated Netflix series Yasuke, which he consulted on the story as well. The soundtrack also features Niki Randa, Denzel Curry and Thundercat.
Created by Bronx-bred and Japan-based television animation creator, producer, and director LeSean Thomas, Yasuke tells the story of a samurai warrior of African descent in a fantastical alternate universe version of feudal Japan full of magic, mechs and plenty of swordplay. Actor & executive producer LaKeith Stanfield stars as the voice of the main title character.
"You haven't really heard an anime score do a Blade Runner thing” says Flying Lotus, "I was like, ‘let me try and get into the headspace of that' but also there were several things that were part of the recipe for me. I thought about when Dilla would sample [Isao] Tomita and people like Vangelis, and how he had a [signature] sound when he did that sort of thing."
The soundtrack has that chugging, dark 80’s Blade Runner ethos running through it, but with the occasional modern, hip-hop twist, while also working with traditional Japanese percussion instruments like the taiko and hyōshigi and west African percussion to marry the various cultures together in a unique and fascinating way.
Listen to the soundtrack now and get your copy here.
