Monde UFO follow the celebrated ‘7171’ album with a trip to the mysterious ‘Flamingo Tower’ out 7th March on Fire Records. In the shadows of the Los Angeles bustling music scene, the enigmatic collective led by visionary Ray Monde create a trance-like fusion of psychedelia and avant jazz, mantra-like evocations, brash moody ambience and passages reminiscent of long-lost library music.
Out today new single ‘Solitaire’ is a song that touches on the isolation and confusion found in moving forward in life, sounding like an out-take from a Mingus rehearsal with the Mad Professor locked in the control booth with original hippie boy Eden Ahbez for “vibes”.
Ray Monde: “Solitaire is an inner escape. A withdrawing pilgrimage I would seemingly trudge about when I was high. Movement while withdrawing and aimlessly moving forward following some notion that was very vague.”
Magnifying Monde UFO’s idea of musical chaos, their early sonic escapades into off-kilter exotica is now elevated with sweeping atmospheric waves of sound inspired by an eclectic brew of Arto Lindsey, Khan Jamal’s ‘Drum Dance To The Motherland’, Keith Hudson, Milford Graves, Marion Brown, Don Cherry and Lennie Tristano.
Cast deep into number theory with occasional quasi-religious touchstones, ‘Flamingo Tower’ bustles with background sounds overlaid with intimate melodies conjuring plenty of suitably strange illusions; a synthetic orchestra plays baroque pop, a guitar is set to auto destruct and Ray Monde’s hushed vocals carry a bracing narrative. It’s an evocative album, one for the heavy music nerds, sprinkled with ear candy and proliferated by mysterious numbers which litter the song titles.
“Monde UFO wander through a humid mist of exotic samba shuffles, shamanic whispers, and reverberating laser beam synthesizers.” New Commute
“A slice of low-key bedroom pop-psychedelia in the vein of Syd Barrett” Aquarium Drunkard
‘Flamingo Tower’ is out 7th March 2025. Pre-Order in Limited Edition Flamingo Pink Vinyl LP.
TOUR DATES
10 Mar: Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA, US
28 Mar: Ventura Music Hall, Ventura, CA, US w/ Allah Las
29 Mar: Farm House Collective, Riverside, CA, US w/ Allah Las
30 Mar: The Sound, San Diego, CA, US w/ Allah Las
04 Apr: Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur, CA, US w/ Allah Las
05 Apr: Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur, CA, US w/ Allah Las
09 Apr: Sierra Nevada, Chico, CA, US w/ Allah Las
11 Apr: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA, US w/ Allah Las
12 Apr: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA, US w/ Allah Las
06 May: Shacklewell Arms, London, UK
08 May: Glad Cafè, Glasgow, UK
09 May: The Common Room, Newcastle, UK
14 May: Borgo Santa Brigida, Parma, Italy
15 May: 30 Formiche, Roma, Italy
16 May: Ex Convento San Francesco, Pordenone
17 May: Annibale Festival, Firenze, Italy
19 May: Mochvara, Zagreb, Croatia
20 May: Rockhaus, Salzburg, Austria
22 May: La Parenthèse, Nyon, Switzerland
23 May: Horst, Kreunzlingen, Switzerland
25 May: 8mm, Berlin, Germany
26 May: Kinnett, Kusel, Germany
