Cosmogramma is the third studio album by American music producer Steven Ellison as Flying Lotus, released by Warp Records on May 3, 2010.

Recording sessions began in October 2008 in Ellison's apartment in Los Angeles, immediately following his previous album and the death of his mother.

The album draws conceptually on lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences, with contributions from Laura Darlington, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Niki Randa, Thom Yorke, Ravi Coltrane, Rebekah Raff and Thundercat.

Cosmogramma is an eclectic electronica, experimental, IDM and nu jazz record, with influences spanning numerous genres, including psychedelic hip hop and glitch.

Ellison said:[1]My aunt had an ashram in Agoura full of devotees... And I was listening to one of her recorded discourses talking about how once this earthly experience is over, we won't be wearing our costumes anymore, playing parts in this "cosmic drama", she called it.

It refers to the study of the universe, and heaven and hell as well.The recording sessions began in October 2008, immediately following his sophomore album Los Angeles, and while grieving his mother's death.

[6] While his mother was in the hospital, Ellison brought in a mobile recording rig and set microphones around her room to gather audio samples, such as a respirator and vital-sign monitors.

[7] The album features Ravi Coltrane, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Thundercat and Rebekah Raff,[12] who later formed the live band Infinity.

[14] For the track "...And the World Laughs with You", Ellison was put in contact with Yorke by Mary Anne Hobbs, and they started conversing the same day.

"[4][16] Compared to earlier releases, which were primarily based on electronic and digital mediums, Cosmogramma marks a change for Flying Lotus.

[21][22] The album includes elements of ambient,[23] chiptune,[24] digital glitch,[22] dubstep,[22][25] drum and bass,[18] free jazz,[22][26] house,[18][26] P-Funk,[24][26] soul[27] and techno.

It is multi-layered and subtly orchestral,[31] with variations in depth and timbre,[25] and production techniques such as ducking,[32] pumping,[33] real inputting and tempo misalignment.

[21] The distorted vocal samples and arrangement of "Satelllliiiiiiite" were compared to Burial;[19] the song leads to "German Haircut", which features a "jazzy octave" bass and "sax 'n' drums noodling".

[24] The artwork is an excerpt of Codex Tor, a series of books of compiled illustrations by Leigh McCloskey,[29][42] Ellison's art mentor.

The show had opening performances from Infinity, Low End resident DJ The Gaslamp Killer, Gonjasufi, and sound artist Matthewdavid.

Club praised the album as "one of the most musical and inventive to fly the electronica banner in years," and a "hybridized work that challenges others to follow its dazzling blueprint".

[57] William Rauscher of Resident Advisor noted that the album's "sheer amount of diversity" makes it a "much more challenging affair" than its predecessor, Los Angeles.

[22] Simon Reynolds cited Cosmogramma as an example of what he describes as a "hyper-eclectic approach" to production that can be "rich and potent on some levels, but ultimately fatiguing and bewildering for most listeners", further characterizing the album as "hip-hop jazz for the ADHD generation".

[61] In a mixed to positive review, Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone wrote: "There's some info overload, but Ellison is an ace with pacing, and a distracted soulfulness guides the frantic laptop science.

's Dimitri Nasrallah writing of Ellison: "In the five years since he first appeared on the scene, the Los Angeles native's talents have grown in such leaps and bounds that he now finds himself pioneering a full-blown West-Coast beats renaissance.