Talking to us over the summer about his then-forthcoming album, Steven Ellison said he felt like he was progressing as a producer. "I'm finally getting to the point where I can make the kind of records... that I wanted to make when I was younger, things that I dreamed about making," he told us. That sounds modest-- he's been persistently pursuing a singular vision for years now-- but his first two albums did share common traits with his forebears. Even the excellent Los Angeles from 2008 took some of its cues from J Dilla, one of Ellison's idols. But with Cosmogramma, it's not enough anymore to talk about Ellison's sound as "post-Dilla" or even "post hip-hop." It's his sound now.

Indeed, Cosmogramma is an intricate, challenging record that fuses his loves-- jazz, hip-hop, videogame sounds, IDM-- into something unique. It's an album in the truest sense. Even on Los Angeles, which hung together well as a full-length, there were moments you could pick out as singles or highlights-- the distorted pop of "Camel" or the maniacal electro-house of "Parisian Goldfish". But Cosmogramma is conceived as a movement-- bits of one song spill into the next, and its individual tracks make the most sense in the context of what surrounds them. In this sense, it feels almost like an avant-garde jazz piece, and so it takes more than a few listens to sink in-- one or two spins and you're still at the tip of the iceberg.

Jazz is a big influence on the record, and it's a good place to start talking about the individual sections that make up the whole. Ellison is, of course, the nephew of jazz great Alice Coltrane and has said in interviews that his albums are in part dedicated to her. That's clear on Cosmogramma, as there are distinct passages that pursue an elaborate kind of digital jazz and the album is constructed to move through different sections, as one of Coltrane's might. There are roughly three of these passages-- the first is an aggressive three-song suite based loosely on videogame sounds. On "Nose Art", FlyLo puts raygun squiggles alongside woozy synths, grinding mechanical noises, and about 10 other sonic elements. Like much of the album, it sounds almost frustratingly unstable until you hear it a few times and the pieces begin to interlock and congeal.

True to its title, Cosmogramma then moves through a heady astral stretch and finally a more downtempo jazz-heavy period. The latter partly serves as a necessary breather from the complicated sounds earlier on. FlyLo shows ridiculous talent in each section-- the things he can do with and to beats just aren't common. In "Zodiac Shit", he makes a heavy, loping bass thump sputter out on cue, creating a physical rumbling quality. The beat of "Computer Face // Pure Being" trips over itself again and again like clothes tumbling in a dryer. These aren't just tricks-- in each case they push the song toward a groove. And it's not just beats: "Satelllliiiiiiite" is as dreamy as anything FlyLo's done to date, its distorted vocal samples and steam-building arrangement not unlike something out of Burial's repertoire and frankly just as good.

The song that will likely get the most attention here is "...And the World Laughs With You", a collaboration with Thom Yorke. Obviously an electronic-music fan, Yorke has done these guest spots before (for Modeselektor and others) and with such a high-profile contributor it's easy to make the song all about him. But FlyLo doesn't pay Yorke any undue deference, just treats his vocals like another element to manipulate and weave into the mix. It's so subtle, in fact, that if you're not paying close attention you might miss his appearance altogether. It's this level of confidence and commitment to his vision that ultimately makes Cosmogramma so fascinating. FlyLo is working at the height of his creative powers right now, and the scary thing is it's reasonable to think he could get better.