Daymaker, the Studio Debut from Flamingosis is Here to Chill Out Your Summer

The New Jersey-based producer experiments with live instruments on the album recorded in Denver

Yet another gorgeous album cover from Andrew Walker

For almost a decade, producer Flamingosis has been sampling his way across the country, curating the funkiest retro-future sets. Inspired by J Dilla, Daft Punk, and Flying Lotus, the Brooklyn-based artist has a natural gift for melding electronic music and funk by looking to the genre’s past and morphing it into something beyond current.

His latest album Daymaker finds Flamingosis not only in the studio for the first time but writing and recording with a live band, and the results are out of this world. Meant to reflect the transition from afternoon into evening, Daymaker is a melodic journey that seamlessly blends genres for any occasion that could use an effortless pick me up.

Performing under the moniker Flamingosis, Aaron Velasquez took the name after a frisbee move created by his father and uncle. It’s a tribute to his family’s experience in the sport - his father is a five-time world champion in freestyle frisbee.

The frisbee theme runs throughout the record with transition tributes to Velasquez’s father and uncle's hall of fame careers in the form of retro television clips. The lead single “Wild Summer” was written with them in mind. As Valasquez notes, the song “was made to capture their flamboyant, groovy, and fluid spirit when playing frisbee.” On “Return To Oasis,” seagulls and water set the stage, but it’s the audio clip from an old competition that sets the tone for a coasting excursion that features a tranquil guitar lead that surfs around the supporting instruments.

Recorded at Mighty Fine Records and Color Red Music in Denver, Flamingosis has selected supremely innovative talent to help bring his vision to life. Drums and keys are covered with touring band veterans Jeff Franca of Thievery Corporation and Borahm Lee, who plays live with Pretty Lights. Drew Birch and Ian Gilley of RECESS feature on guitar and synths, while locals bassist Hunter Roberts and guitarist Mike Tallman of Eufórquestra round out the crew.

For fans of Flamingosis’s previous work and live show, the band’s impact is immediately noticeable, giving a fresh feel to the sound. After the synth and bird calls opener “First Light,” the record opens up into a lush jungle full of soul samples and the funkiest synth lines of the year so far in “Daybreak.”

“Is It Love (Remix)” is an early demonstration of the seamless blending of the live band and Flamingosis samples by remixing the soul ballad of the same name by Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone) and Graham Central Station. Aided by the driving drums from Franca, the song is reimagined as a futuristic funker.

In the latter half of the album, “Sunnyvale” evokes St. Germain’s 2015 self-titled album, while the title track does an excellent job at exploring the tropicalia sound throughout the album while still rooted in Flamingosis’s soul house.

Flamingosis saves the best for last with closer “Cosmic Feeling.” It’s a nostalgic earworm based around Niteflyte’s soul classic “If You Want It” from 1979 and brings all of the album’s themes together to take a nighttime soar over the boulevard.

I started listening to Flamingosis with 2016’s Bright Moments and can say Daymaker is a massive jump in his career, opening paths for new approaches to sampling wizardry. It’s also one of the most relaxing albums of the year while never losing its celebratory vibes.

If you need any further proof of peak chillness, look at the deluxe vinyl version, which includes a floating flamingo koozie, sunglasses, and a beach towel.

Daymaker is self-released and available now.

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