London-Based/Bahrain Natives, Flamingods Make Their Stateside Debut

By: Feb. 07, 2017
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Often described as ethnic pop with elements of noise, psychedelia, tribal and freak folk, and labelled "psychedelic music for the soul" by "i-D" magazine, Flamingods are a London-based five-piece, multi-instrumental band formed in Bahrain in 2010.

Consisting of founder Kamal Rasool (lead vocals, sarangi, taishogoto, keyboards, rhythm ukele, phin guitar); Sam Rowe (vocals, guitar, bass, gamelan, congas, taishogoto, drums, assorted percussion); Charles Prest (vocals, guitar, bass and synth bass, keyboards); and Karthik Poduval (bass, drums, percussions, darbuka): and Craig Doporto (percussions, vocals, drums, marimba), the band is influenced by different cultures around the world, and focuses on exploration and experimentation in their music with the use of an extensive collection of instruments from as far as Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Japan and Tanzania.

Flamingods released "Majesty", their breakthrough album on Soundway Records, in the UK last year to an enthusiastic response from the media. The band have since become regulars at heralded BBC 6Music, having done sessions with key tastemakers Lauren Laverne, Gilles Peterson and Tom Ravenscroft. After a busy summer of appearances across major festivals, including packed tents at Glastonbury, End of the Road, Latitude, and Green Man and sold-out tours in the UK and Europe, the band are proud to announce that "Majesty" will be released in the US on March 31st.

To celebrate the record's release, the band will be making their stateside live debut at SXSW, performing on March 15th at the British Music Embassy at Latitude 30 (512 San Jacinto Blvd) and March 16th for the Levitation/Future Days showcase at Hotel Vegas (1502 E 6th St).

"An explosion of instruments from all over the world and genres that shouldn't quite go together... Flamingods sound like nothing else right now" (Dazed &Confused), the ten tracks on Majesty blend blissful psychedelia with a rich spectrum of the band's sonic inspirations.

One of the highlights of the album is the track "Jungle Birds". Guitar player and lead vocalist on that track, Charles Prest says, "All of us in the band had started to delve deep into exotica and Bollywood funk music from the 50s through to the 70s, and we had this idea of wanting to breathe new life into that sound, mixing it with modern day electronica."

You can listen to "Jungle Birds" here:

For the colorful video for "Jungle Birds", Flamingods worked with visual artist, Niall Trask, who often provides live visuals at the band's performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31f04cdKtY8
The band formed after an 8-hour impromptu jam session at the Animal Collective curated ATP Festival in 2010, and released their debut record, "Sun", on Art is Hard Records in January 2013, followed by 2014's "Hyperborea" on Shape Records, which received critical acclaim, including an 8/10 by "NME", as well as the prestigious "Band of the Week" in "The Guardian".
The band did an interview and session last year with "RedBull.com" with an exclusive performance of album tracks "Majesty and "Rhama". You can check it out here:
On "Majesty", Flamingods create layers of world rhythms with unstoppable grooves that trek across all kinds of musical terrain. As "i-D" raved, "The five artists experiment with instruments sourced across the world and never fail to impress us with their exotic, and at times trippy, wonder music."


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