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LP
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ZEP 021LP
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For this album debut by Black Flower, the Ethio-jazz project of and around saxophonist Nathan Daems, fans were already waiting since heard the five tracks on their self-titled EP from 2013. For Abyssinia Afterlife, Daems drew inspiration from the legend of Prester John (see also Tommy T's The Prester John Sessions (2009) and be sure to read the crazy story behind the album on Black Flower's website) and that resulted in an album that sounds like a feverish LSD-trip through the streets of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. But Abyssinia Afterlife exceeds the boundaries of Ethio-jazz: in songs like "Upwards" (featuring Smokey Hormel's splendid guitar playing) or "Again I Lost It", Dengue Fever's psychedelic Cambodian rock is not far away and Wouter Haest keyboard sounds are at times reminiscent of the work of The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek ("I Threw A Lemon At That Girl", together with "Winter" the only song from the EP also featured on Abyssinia Afterlife). Black Flower only serves up eight songs on Abyssinia Afterlife, but with several compositions lasting more than five minutes, this album will certainly not leave you feeling unfulfilled. Gatefold sleeve.
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CD
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SDBANU 009CD
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With a hybrid jazz based on African grooves, Ethio-oriental melodies and psychedelic dub this Belgian five-piece creates an atmosphere where ancient and modern sounds fuse into a powerful, hypnotic, and groovy sensation. Receiving critical acclaim for their second album Artifacts (SDBANU 002CD/LP, 2017), the Belgian quintet are pleased to announce the release of their much-anticipated third album entitled Future Flora. Piloted by saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Echoes of Zoo), the input of notorious musicians, drummer Simon Segers (MDC III, De Beren Gieren, Stadt), cornet player Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico), keyboardist Wouter Haest (Voodoo Boogie), and bassist Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas) leads to the specific universe that only Black Flower is able to create. Where debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014) and Artifacts bathed in an atmosphere of psychedelics, mythical figures, ancient sounds, and modern cultures, Future Flora refers to the power of plants and their importance for the future. Future Flora is a metaphor for the importance of feeding and watering powerful and revolutionary ideas and initiatives that can save our world. Black Flower's musical cross-pollination of sounds and rhythms remain on Future Flora, but there is still room for a more Western touch with Romanian and Maloya (Réunion) influences. Daems developed his own arrangements where Western, Oriental, and Ethiopian scales and chords are fused together to create a real mix of traditional instrumentation and modern electrical vibrations. The strong underlying groove is omnipresent, but the room for psychedelics, folklore, and experimentation grows. Songs like "Hora de Aksum" combine modern western rhythms with doses of Balkan eccentricities while "Future Flora" takes you on a psych-delicious, 21th century, Ethio-dub-jazz trip with echoes of Mulatu Astatke and Fela Kuti.
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LP
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SDBANU 009LP
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LP version. With a hybrid jazz based on African grooves, Ethio-oriental melodies and psychedelic dub this Belgian five-piece creates an atmosphere where ancient and modern sounds fuse into a powerful, hypnotic, and groovy sensation. Receiving critical acclaim for their second album Artifacts (SDBANU 002CD/LP, 2017), the Belgian quintet are pleased to announce the release of their much-anticipated third album entitled Future Flora. Piloted by saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Echoes of Zoo), the input of notorious musicians, drummer Simon Segers (MDC III, De Beren Gieren, Stadt), cornet player Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico), keyboardist Wouter Haest (Voodoo Boogie), and bassist Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas) leads to the specific universe that only Black Flower is able to create. Where debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014) and Artifacts bathed in an atmosphere of psychedelics, mythical figures, ancient sounds, and modern cultures, Future Flora refers to the power of plants and their importance for the future. Future Flora is a metaphor for the importance of feeding and watering powerful and revolutionary ideas and initiatives that can save our world. Black Flower's musical cross-pollination of sounds and rhythms remain on Future Flora, but there is still room for a more Western touch with Romanian and Maloya (Réunion) influences. Daems developed his own arrangements where Western, Oriental, and Ethiopian scales and chords are fused together to create a real mix of traditional instrumentation and modern electrical vibrations. The strong underlying groove is omnipresent, but the room for psychedelics, folklore, and experimentation grows. Songs like "Hora de Aksum" combine modern western rhythms with doses of Balkan eccentricities while "Future Flora" takes you on a psych-delicious, 21th century, Ethio-dub-jazz trip with echoes of Mulatu Astatke and Fela Kuti.
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10"
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SDBANU 1001LP
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Musicians make albums. But in this case it's different. The four tracks on this ten-inch release were created in between. It's an intermediate piece that sits between two albums, reflecting on a series of special moments and special evolutions of Black Flower. The inspiration came from Salvador Dali's creative dreaming ritual. With a pair of scissors in his hand, he sat back, closed his eyes and slid into sleep. The moment his body and mind enter deep sleep, the scissors dropped and waked him up. Dali then started painting using the inspiration he gathered from his dreams. These paintings can be considered the result of an intermediate state between consciousness and subconsciousness, a zone between being awake and sleeping. Black Flower has derived four dream-tracks from their individual intermediate state, materialized into microscopic grooves on a black vinyl disc. "Almaz" occurred as the first dream. It became Black Flower's very first cover song. An Ethiopian traditional, famous thanks to legendary singer Mahmoud Ahmed. Immediately, this dreamy track pulls you deeply into the intermediate state. "Maqam Tizita Saba" was a vision about an unexpected connection between the Arabian and the Ethiopian world. Black Flower utilized an extended musical scale, beginning with the peaceful, consonant Ethiopian Titzia, and fused it with the upper structure of the dissonant Arabic Saba scale. In the "Good Side Of Bad", Black Flower commemorated its recent collaboration with Dijf Sanders's latest album, Java (WERF 150LP, 2018), which is a groovy patchwork between electronics and his field recordings in Indonesia. Samples from this part of the world pass by just like that. No distance is too big in the intermediate state. "Fly High Oh My" happened just before the scissors fell back on the ground. Strong energy propelling high into the ecstatic sky. Full color tip-on sleeve.
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CD
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SDBANU 002CD
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Stirred up from deep within, from an abstract spiral of sound and movement, from a sensation of time and space absolving and converging at once, the Black Flower musicians have molded a tangible matter: the album Artifacts. Their second full album sounds international and ageless; Eastern influences, Ethio-dub, and jazz effortlessly merge producing psyche-delicious and accessible 21st century Ethio-dub-jazz. As if John Zorn put on Fela Kuti's shoes and imbibed Mulatu Astatke's whirls. Piloted by saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), this instrumental band aims for originality. Fellow musicians and "brothers down the road" are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, Stadt) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra) on the bass, and Wouter Haest (Los Callejeros, Voodoo Boogie) playing keys. For many, the Ethiopian aspect once made known to the world by Mulatu Astatke will stand out. Still, Black Flower further adds oriental scales, Afrobeat à la Fela Kuti, jazz in a John Zorn way and varied western music traditions such as rock and dub. The resulting melting pot is undoubtedly inspired by Nathan's distant travels and the multifariously colorful city of Brussels. After their well-received debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014) which created an atmosphere of mythical figures and psychedelia, Black Flower now reflect on ancient and modern cultures. The album title Artifacts refers to centuries-old fragile objects or tools that empowered the development of human culture. The musicians' personal musical backgrounds and the result is an album with an ageless mystique. Artifacts is the synthesis of different cultures, of the past and present, and personal and collective memories. It is the soundtrack to modern reality, based on the elements that connect everybody. Uncomplicated originality, plenty of space for fantasy and an organic tone: those are the ingredients for Black Flower to lay claim to an age-old human ritual: dancing! Also features: Tcha Limberger plays violin on "Lunar Eclipse"; Gernas Shekhmous plays daf on "Realm And Era". CD version comes in an uncoated digisleeve.
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LP
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SDBANU 002LP
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LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Comes with a download card and a printed inner sleeve. Stirred up from deep within, from an abstract spiral of sound and movement, from a sensation of time and space absolving and converging at once, the Black Flower musicians have molded a tangible matter: the album Artifacts. Their second full album sounds international and ageless; Eastern influences, Ethio-dub, and jazz effortlessly merge producing psyche-delicious and accessible 21st century Ethio-dub-jazz. As if John Zorn put on Fela Kuti's shoes and imbibed Mulatu Astatke's whirls. Piloted by saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), this instrumental band aims for originality. Fellow musicians and "brothers down the road" are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, Stadt) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra) on the bass, and Wouter Haest (Los Callejeros, Voodoo Boogie) playing keys. For many, the Ethiopian aspect once made known to the world by Mulatu Astatke will stand out. Still, Black Flower further adds oriental scales, Afrobeat à la Fela Kuti, jazz in a John Zorn way and varied western music traditions such as rock and dub. The resulting melting pot is undoubtedly inspired by Nathan's distant travels and the multifariously colorful city of Brussels. After their well-received debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014) which created an atmosphere of mythical figures and psychedelia, Black Flower now reflect on ancient and modern cultures. The album title Artifacts refers to centuries-old fragile objects or tools that empowered the development of human culture. The musicians' personal musical backgrounds and the result is an album with an ageless mystique. Artifacts is the synthesis of different cultures, of the past and present, and personal and collective memories. It is the soundtrack to modern reality, based on the elements that connect everybody. Uncomplicated originality, plenty of space for fantasy and an organic tone: those are the ingredients for Black Flower to lay claim to an age-old human ritual: dancing! Also features: Tcha Limberger plays violin on "Lunar Eclipse"; Gernas Shekhmous plays daf on "Realm And Era".
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LP
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ZEP 033LP
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2019 repress. Imagine a radio that plays music from other worlds, past and future. The gentlemen of Black Flower hit the studio for an impressionistic, abstract, and psychedelic session. This album is special. Call it a ghost record, a document . . . a work that gives a unique insight into the minds and creative processes of the musicians of Black Flower.
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