alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band from
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
founded by Kamal Rasool in 2010. The band's other members are Karthik Poduval, Sam Rowe and Charles Prest (a fifth member, Craig Doporto, operated with the band from 2011-2016).
The band weaves through genres of psychedelia, new wave, electronica and punk whilst notably taking influence from their unique cultural heritages. They are known for rotating positions during their live sets, with each member swapping instruments in between tracks, moving around and evolving as the set goes on.
History
The band grew up together in Bahrain, playing music in various guises since the age of sixteen. When Rasool moved to London to study music, he recruited his friends from Bahrain who were also studying in the UK. During ATP festival in 2010, the band played together for the first time. In 2010 and 2011, the group released two EPs entitled Sun and Away.
Flamingods' debut album, ''Sun'', was released in 2013 by indie label Art is Hard. The album was a reimagining of their EP of the same name. The single "Quesso" featured ex-
Ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most, or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that po ...
member
Dustin Wong
Dustin Wong is an American guitarist formerly active in the art-rock band Ponytail and a former member of the experimental guitar duo Ecstatic Sunshine (along with Matthew Papich).
Biography
Wong's style is characterized by influences of surf r ...
on lead guitar. Around this time, the UK government put in place new visa laws which forced Rasool to move back to his home country of Bahrain after university.
''Hyperborea'' (2014)
After being forced to leave the UK, Rasool moved to
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
and worked for an independent magazine and coffee shop. However, the group continued to work on new music, and created an album despite the members not being able to play together. This became the band's second album ''Hyperborea'', released through Shape Records.
''Hyperborea'' received positive reviews from critics, notably from NME Magazine who gave the album an 8/10, noting "African rhythms and soundscapes cribbed from across the world music remit…it’s worth a visit." The band was also chosen as
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
’s "band of the week" describing the album as "otherworldly, globetrotting sound…impossible to pin down."
Soundway Records and ''Majesty'' (2016)
During the release of ''Hyperborea'', Prest moved to Dubai to work with Rasool. The band were influenced by 1950s/60s exotica music, citing influences from artists like
Les Baxter
Leslie Thompson Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, and musician. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and s ...
,
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...
,
Arthur Lyman
Arthur Hunt Lyman (February 2, 1932 – February 24, 2002) was a Hawaiian jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica. His albums ...
and others. Flamingods began to work on their third record ''Majesty'', inspired by these new influences. In 2015, the group was invited to play at the West Holts stage at
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
. Miles Cleret, owner of the record label
Soundway Records
Soundway Records is a British, London-based independent record label, founded and run by English DJ and music producer Miles Cleret. Since its initial release of a collection of Ghanaian music in 2002, it has released compilation albums of Africa ...
offered to release ''Majesty'' after being "blown away" by a set the band played on HMS Sweet Charity. ''Majesty'' was released in June 2016. It is a concept album split into two parts, Side A -Morning (tracks 1-5) and Side B-evening (6-10).
The album received mixed reviews, but was championed by
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...
’s
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a broadcaster, DJ, record label and festival owner. He is renowned for his genre-defying approach to music with jazz at its core. From this base he ...
and
Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton; born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band Kenicki ...
who both invited the band to record live sessions on 6 Music. Other reviewers like PopMatters felt that the band's desire to be avant garde reduced the album's accessibility.
With Rasool and Prest both returning to the UK, the band was able to tour extensively across the UK and Europe in support of the album, landing slots at festivals such as
Green Man
The Green Man, also known as a foliate head, is a motif in architecture and art, of a face made of, or completely surrounded by, foliage, which normally spreads out from the centre of the face. Apart from a purely decorative function, the Green ...
Fusion Festival
The Fusion Festival is a music festival, music and arts festival with a counterculture, countercultural character. It takes place at a former military airport called Müritz Airpark in Lärz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in northeastern Germany. The ...
in Germany.
Moshi Moshi signing
In February 2017 the group signed with indie label
Moshi Moshi Records
Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based record label founded in 1998 by Adrian Pike, Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass. The label has released music by bands including Lykke Li, Fimber Bravo, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Late of the Pier, H ...
to release their EP ''Kewali'', a followup to their album ''Majesty'' the previous year. The band toured with the EP, appearing at
SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
in
Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
for the first time. In the same year the band released a remix album of ''Majesty'', which included remixes by artists such as
Ibibio Sound Machine
Ibibio Sound Machine is an English electronic afro-funk band from London. Formed in 2013, the band currently consists of vocalist Eno Williams, guitarist Alfred Kari Bannerman, percussionist Afla Sackey, drummer Joseph Amoako, bassist Philip PK ...
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentAndy Bell. The band also re-recorded a live version of their track "Hyperborea" from their second album with producer Dan Carey under his Speedy Wunderground label.
In January 2019, Flamingods released the track "Marigold" from upcoming album ''Levitation'', which will be released by Moshi Moshi on 3 May 2019. The band have been announced as headliners of Are You Listening? Festival in Reading in April 2019.
Levitation (2019)
2019's Levitation was influenced by the band's exposure to funk, Turkish psych rock and other eclectic Middle Eastern and South Asian sounds of the 1970s. Levitation has so far received significant music press coverage, being positively reviewed by Line of Best Fit, MysticSons, BackSeatMafia, Loud and Quiet, SoundBlab, Selective Memory Mag, KEXP, and with interviews in Clash AllThingsLoud and Source, as well as in international media.
In print media, the album received 3/5 by Q magazine, 7/10 from Long Live Vinyl and 3/5 by DIY, and the band appeared extensively on radio including
BBC Radio 6
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state ...
shows with DJs Lauren Lavere, Mark Riley and Tom Ravenscroft.
Discography
Studio Albums
* ''Sun'' (2013)
* ''Hyperborea'' (2014)
* ''Majesty'' (2016)
*''
Levitation
Levitation, Levitate, or Levitating may refer to:
Concepts
*Levitation (illusion), an illusion where a magician appears to levitate a person or object
*Levitation (paranormal), the claimed paranormal phenomenon of levitation, occurring without an ...
'' (2019)
*''Head of Pomegranate'' (2023)
Extended Plays
* ''Kewali EP'' (2017)
Remix Albums
* ''Moon'' (2015)
* ''Majesty Remixed'' (2017)
* ''Kewali Remixed'' (2018)