Friday
Flamingosis makes the soundtrack to being your best self. Under the spell of Aaron Velasquez, the New Jersey-raised and Brooklyn-based artist and producer, handcrafted electronic beats meet live instrumentation spiked with funk in the center of the dancefloor (right underneath the disco ball). The ensuing overflow of energy might just inspire you to get up and move, fall in love, or even change your life. Extending a creative arc without comparison, he strikes a deep emotional chord on his 2024 full-length album, Better Will Come.
“Everyone wants to get better in some way,” he states. “The album highlights my own personal experience of growing, and you can potentially relate your story to what I went through. I learned a lot of hard lessons, but I made a conscious effort to grow in every way—not just musically, but physically, mentally, and spiritually. I did a lot of inner work, and I channeled these experiences into the music. If you pursue self-improvement, life improves around you too.”
Artistically, he has continued to progress at an impressive pace. Piling up over 100 million streams and counting, he has dropped one fan favorite project after another, including Pleasure Palette [2015], Kahunastyle [2016], Bright Moments [2016], Daymaker [2021] and collaborative album Bliss Station [2023]. Of the latter, ThisSongIsSick raved, “This is the perfect album to rinse outside by the pool, at the park, in your backyard, or wherever you have a space to move around,” and EARMILK christened it “an electronic journey through time and space.” Along the way, he teamed up with everyone from Big Gigantic, GRiZ and Tokimonsta to Matoma for collaborations. Simultaneously, he notably shined at festivals, including Austin City Limits, Electric Forest, Okeechobee, Holy Ship!, Voodoo Music + Arts, and more.
A season of transformation and awakening underlined the genesis of Better Will Come.
“Around the time of the Daymaker tour, behind-the-scenes life hit me in an unexpected way I didn’t think was possible,” he recalls. “In turn, I took a downward spiral as a direct result of my poor choices and failure to balance things in my personal life. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I had to get real. I acknowledged it and consciously made a change. I started eating healthier, going to the gym, and seeing a therapist. Everything helped a lot. I funneled the inner pain and turmoil into the music.”
He did so during sessions in New York and Denver. Beyond shaping lively and lush soundscapes of his own, he orchestrated performances by a bevy of musicians such as Jeff Franca, Hunter Roberts, Bora Lee, Mike Tallman, and Eddie Roberts. Akin to a conductor, he actively produced the players and arranged the tracks.
Now, he introduces this chapter via the uplifting single “Feel Yourself” [with Marc Rebillet]. A seventies-style synth line wraps around the bass, while a head-nodding beat sets the tempo punctuated by glimmering guitar and a loose lead. Rebillet’s buttery smooth vocals engage and empower as he urges, “Nobody feeling you, gotta feel yourself.”
“Marc and I have known each other since 2019,” he says. “I admire him as a musician and as a person. We reconnected in 2022, and it was dope he made time for me. ‘Feel Yourself’ is straight-to-the-point. He came up with the hook on the spot, and it’s almost like a mantra. Your inner consciousness is telling you, ‘People around you can love you for who you are. At the end of the day though, nobody can help you and love you for you; you have to do that. You need to do the inner work.”
Elsewhere, “Soulsearcher” uncorks a blast of sonic sunshine enlivened by ecstatic strings, ebullient keys, engaging horns, and an entrancing vocal. “I finally knew how to finish the song after the life experience I’d gone through,” he states. “It’s about searching deep, inquiring within, and telling yourself the healthiest way to go on your path.”
“Nebula Gazer” hinges on a clean funk riff and foot-stomping bass. Built around a core synth line, successive solos swirl across this galaxy in an intergalactic call-and-response.
“There are way more solos on the album,” he smiles. “It made everything more colorful.”
The unabashed soul of “Life and Death of Hard Times” explores an overarching theme with a strutting groove and slick thump of its own. “We all go through rough periods,” he observes. “That’s just human experience. We suffer, but it doesn’t last forever. ‘Life and Death of Hard Times’ describes the beginning and end cycle of a hard time. You come out stronger on the other side.”
Then, there’s the closer “Better Will Come.” He samples Gil Scott-Heron whose words, “If you take your time, you might change your mind,” prove as prescient and appropriate as ever layered atop a buoyant soundscape.
“Gil’s words are looped through the song, and it ties the whole album together,” he notes. “If you really do take your time, you can change your mind and everything, in general. It’s a full circle moment.”
In order to bring the music to life on stage, Flamingosis will hit the road with a band for the very first time. At the end of 2023, he performed a pair of gigs in Denver at Cervantes joined by Bodega Groove Collective. The drums, horns, guitar, and bass added a full-bodied bombast to the set unlike anything he’d delivered prior.
“The shows in Denver were pretty much the climax of my music career thus far,” he goes on. “I’d never played with a live band, so it was a major change. I’ve learned you need to face new challenges head-on. It’s what we did, and it went great. It’s going to be really cool to do the same thing on the road.”
In the end, Flamingosis delivers a message meant to be shared aloud on the album.
“It’s a reminder that no matter what you’re going through, you can be better for yourself,” he leaves off. “Hard times don’t last. All of those little things add up to change you for the better. Am I where I want to be? Probably not yet, but I’m a lot better than I was when I started the whole process.”
