OFFICIAL BIO
Regarded upon his 2006 arrival as a promising beatmaker looming in the shadows of J Dilla, Madlib, waterfalls and Dabrye, Steven Ellison -- known as Flying Lotus -- nullified all comparisons only two years later with Los Angeles. On that album, his first of five for the Warp label, Ellison distilled a uniquely crisp, spasmodic, and heady sound with elements of hip-hop, avant-garde jazz, IDM, and dubstep. While the abovementioned producers fueled Ellison, he had also been excited as a youngster by the '90s West Coast rap classics that combined programming and live instrumentation. His sound continued to develop as he put his own twist on the approach, recording with a crop of jazz musicians including the indispensable likes of bassist Thundercat and strings master Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. This process began with the turbulent 2010 set Cosmogramma and peaked in terms of acclaim in 2014 with You're Dead!, which crashed the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 and spawned the Kendrick Lamar collaboration "Never Catch Me," a Grammy nominee for Best Dance Recording. Ellison devoted a few years to various forms of film work and the operation of his revered Brainfeeder label, and returned in 2019 with Flamagra, his second consecutive album to top Billboard's Dance/Electronic chart.

"These little songs—sepia-toned yet searching, eccentric yet melodically inclined—add up to something that feels like its own pocket universe, sometimes wistful, sometimes the kind of menacing only achieved via a late-career Tom Waits death rattle.

Formed out of the primordial creative ooze of the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland's Once & Future Band is Joel Robinow (keyboards, guitar, lead vocals), Raj Ojha (drums, recording / mixing engineer) and Eli Eckert (bass, guitar, vocals).  For over a decade, Joel, Raj and Eli had worked together (in various combinations) with several bands and projects, including Drunk Horse and Howlin' Rain. Throughout those years, they often spoke of forming an outlet into which they could combine their love of 60s and 70s psychedelic pop, jazz-rock, fusion and progressive rock, in addition to their myriad other musical fascinations.

In 2012 word finally became deed and Once & Future Band was born, taking inspiration for their name from T.H. White's Arthurian classic.  In 2014 they released the "Brain" EP on Mouth Records, drawing comparisons to ELO, Queen, Steely Dan, Yes and The Beach Boys.

In 2017, the band released their self-titled LP on John Dwyer's Castle Face records, garnering rave reviews from MOJO, Uncut, Modern Drummer and Shindig among other publications and landing a spot on The Wire and The Guardian's Best of 2017 list. Their songs have been featured on Henry Rollin's KCRW radio program as well as the BBC Radio shows of Gideon Coe, Jon Hillcock and Marc Riley (whose show they have performed live on multiple times). They've made their way across the US and Canada as main support for Tool and Chris Robinson's "As The Crow Flies", toured the UK and have shared the stage with such diverse acts as Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, White Denim, Mild High Club, King Tuff, Dungen, !!!, Battles, Foxygen, Red Fang and Metronomy. They were also personally selected by Flying Lotus and Wire to play their curated festivals.  In 2019 The Black Crowes announced live on Howard Stern’s show that Joel Robinow and Raj Kumar Ojha will be part of their new band, backing them for a 2020 US / UK reunion arena tour.

With 2020 comes the release of their 2nd full length LP, “Deleted Scenes” which has been years in the making.  The self-produced record comes out on April 10th, 2020 via Castle Face Records, featuring another iconic cover by longtime collaborator Christopher Appelgren.

...sic from the edge of ti...
...livion encompasses oa...

This is the music of Raj Kumar Ojha, drummer, percussionist, engineer, producer for Once & Future Band and B. Hamilton.  Oakland, CA.

Thistles is following