It has been announced that Mandoki Soulmates, the international and inter-generational supergroup consisting of rock and fusion notables working with founder and mastermind Leslie Mandoki, proudly announce the new album, A Memory Of Our Future, which will be released worldwide on 10th May via Sony Music’s label InsideOutMusic.
Pre-Order A Memory Of Our Future here:
https://mandokisoulmates.lnk.to/AMemoryOfOurFuture-Bio
The group celebrates the announcement with the release of a new single and video, Blood In The Water. Listen to the single here & watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe6qKO28QEw
As a 20-year-old, Leslie Mandoki (known as the producer of No Angels, Lionel Richie, Phil Collins, Jennifer Rush, Disney’s Tarzan & Mulan) played with his band “JAM” in Budapest’s Bem Rakpart rock club. This was the real underground of the Hungarian capital’s early 1970s, the cradle of intellectual land student opposition to the Soviet-imposed dictatorship of censorship, spying, and travel prohibitions. Musically, Mandoki was influenced by the great British prog-rock bands of the time such as Jethro Tull, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Yes, and Supertramp—bands with intellectual, poetic, and socio-politically relevant lyrics; with compositionally great works having sophisticated harmonic structures and innovative production techniques; and with individual players whose personalities shone through on their instruments. While these enlightening, enervating, and extravagant prog-rock stars brought Mandoki to new heights of musical awareness, at the same time he became equally enamored of the virtuosity and solo brilliance of New York jazz-rock fusion scene, “especially with Miles Davis’s “Bitches Brew” and the constellations of musicians that developed out of it, such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and a bit later, the Brecker Brothers,” Mandoki explains. “Even back then with JAM, I tried to fuse the two, merging the aesthetics of British prog-rock and American jazz-rock. That was my vision.”
A Memory Of Our Future is Mandoki Soulmates’ latest work of art and nothing short of an instant prog-rock classic, bringing world-class musicianship and composition together with trenchant social and political messaging. The entire album was recorded and produced purely in the analog domain, from microphone to mixing and mastering, making A Memory Of Our Future a manifesto of precision and passion that is hard to find in today’s music landscape. Recorded and mixed in Leslie Mandoki’s Red Rock Studios near Munich, mastered in the infamous Sterling Sound Studios in New York and cut in the Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin, the Soulmates are also making a statement as a kind of “revenge of the analog” in times of digital deception, scam bots, and internet trolls. The analog format is also an expression of their special appreciation and bond with the band’s audience, “like a love letter handwritten with a fountain pen”.
A Memory Of Our Future is now available for pre-order and will be available in the following formats:
• 180g black 2LP wide spined Gatefold & extensive 12-page booklet
• Ltd. CD Edition PocketPac with noble matt/gloss finishing, Vinyl-look disc and extensive 24-page booklet
• Standard CD Jewelcase (US Version)
• Digital album
‘The dreams of my generation lie in ruins today,’ Mandoki believes. ‘After 1989, we had such a wonderful, historic opportunity to create a mindful, humane, peaceful, and absolutely free world for future generations. But we blew it. Driven by egotism and greed, we have inadvertently enabled the creation of a world where money itself makes profit faster than human labor, no matter the value-added proposition. This devaluation and commodification of people’s work has also led to the disregard for sustainability, both economically and environmentally, yielding a climate of social imbalance, inequity, and unrest. This division and radicalization, as we have unfortunately and painfully learned, has even led to war. And so, I sing that there is ‘blood in the water.’ Far too much blood in the water.’
He adds about the meaning of the black swan on the album cover:
“Blood In The Water as a song presents our contemporary situation as a labyrinth of crises in a world without a compass, where unifying and stabilizing movements in society have crumbled. The dreaded ‘black swan’ has landed.
It sits on our album cover as a symbol of our times, in which reality outstrips our worst fears with previously unimaginable tragic scenarios. We must stay vigilant, as we sing: you better keep an eye open, if you fall asleep…”
Mandoki Soulmates currently are:
Leslie Mandoki
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
Mike Stern
Al di Meola
Randy Brecker
Till Brönner
Bill Evans
John Helliwell (Supertramp)
Cory Henry
Richard Bona
Steve Bailey
Simon Phillips (Toto)
Tony Carey (Rainbow)
Nick van Eede (Cutting Crew)
Jesse Siebenberg (Supertramp)
Mark Hart (Supertramp)
Website: https://mandoki-soulmates.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mandoki.soulmates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themandokisoulmates
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MandokiSoulmates
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/7fl0Hsad90Ni5g3zVYzg6m
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B07S2KV19B/mandoki-soulmates
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/de/artist/mandoki-soulmates/1526677421
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCS6fldWIZXVQJA_AhfGNZ_g
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/de/artist/65835822?app_id=140685
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/15805305
Spirit of Progressive Rock 