Ajhussi - Ajhussi

JUL 01 2024 · 12:00

Ajhussi - Ajhussi (2024) Era: Post-Internet Experimental Electronic Era (2020–2025) - Ambient/art-video period of Flying Lotus's cinematic multimedia expansion, following a five-year hiatus from solo non-soundtrack releases and concurrent feature film directing work. High curatorial value as a dated (2024) artifact of the ambient/visualizer register within experimental electronic video production. Represents Flying Lotus's return to solo music after a cinema-intensive period, with visual language that mirrors cinematic darkness and stasis rather than conventional music video grammar. The extreme quantitative signature, 0 cuts, near-zero motion, sub-10% brightness, makes it a useful benchmark case for research into non-performative, concept-driven video formats in the Warp Records / Brainfeeder ecosystem. Context: Released October 29, 2024, 'Ajhussi' opens Flying Lotus's surprise EP Spirit Box, his first non-soundtrack solo release since 2019's Flamagra. The EP emerged from a period during which Steven Ellison (FlyLo) was deeply embedded in cinematic work, including directing and scoring the sci-fi horror film Ash and a segment of V/H/S/99. Apple Music's editorial notes describe Ellison returning to the studio after a Twin Peaks binge, feeding a murky, subterranean energy into the project. Critics at FLOOD Magazine situated 'Ajhussi' within the Afrofuturist lineage stretching from Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane, Ellison's great-aunt, through to his own synthesis of IDM, avant-garde jazz, and experimental electronic music. The video's aesthetic (near-total darkness, zero motion, single take) mirrors the track's subterranean, contemplative character. Director notes: No director credit for the 'Ajhussi' music video was identified in any searched source, including Shazam, Last.fm, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, Consequence, Hypebeast, FLOOD Magazine, or the official Flying Lotus website. The video's quantitative profile, 0 scene changes, 262.36s average shot length, near-zero motion (0.0021), extreme darkness (brightness 25.11/255), is consistent with a static visualizer, ambient art film, or lyric video rather than a conventionally directed performance or narrative video. Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison) is himself a prolific filmmaker and director (Kuso, Ash, V/H/S/99 segment), making self-direction or in-house Brainfeeder/Warp production plausible but unconfirmed.