The MANDOKI SOULMATES were founded over 30 years ago by Leslie Mandoki with legends of British prog rock such as Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and icons of American fusion jazz rock such as Al Di Meola. With their unique fusion of these musical styles, the band of bandleaders, who have grown close together over the decades, have succeeded in redefining socio-politically relevant prog rock. Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), also a soulmate, once described them as “one of the best bands you will ever hear.”
After their 30th Anniversary Tour, the Soulmates retreated to Mandoki’s studio on Lake Starnberg to work on the brand-new album A MEMORY OF OUR FUTURE, which has been released worldwide on May 10, 2024. 12 tracks, around 80 minutes. A concept album as if cast from a single mold, flooded with incredible musical diversity. Prog rock songs with profound lyrics unfold great arcs of tension with playful ease. The musical quality with its compositional maturity and harmonic structures meets sound paintings, pure joy of playing and the artistic solos of jazz rock virtuosos.
The album also impresses with its consistent and true production philosophy with analog signal processing throughout, from the microphone to the mixing console, tape machine and mastering to the vinyl pressing. Pure analog, like a love letter to the audience handwritten in fountain pen.
The Soulmates on this album are all rock and fusion greats: Ian Anderson, Mike Stern, Al di Meola, Randy Brecker, Till Brönner, Bill Evans, John Helliwell (Supertramp), Cory Henry, Richard Bona, Steve Bailey, Simon Phillips (Toto) and the expressive character voices of their mastermind Leslie Mandoki and the lead singers Tony Carey (Rainbow), Nick van Eede (Cutting Crew), Jesse Siebenberg and Mark Hart (both Supertramp).
Leslie Mandoki is described by Ian Anderson as “the masterchief in the kitchen”, by Al di Meola as “the Hungarian Quincy Jones”, and founding member Jack Bruce once compared him to Duke Ellington.
Mandoki’s unmistakable signature and his generation-bridging musical collective make A MEMORY OF OUR FUTURE an incomparable album about the Day Before Tomorrow. The Black Swan on the cover symbolizes a labyrinth of multiple crises in our contemporary world without compass or conscience, which is also the subject of the pre-release singles, such as ‘Blood In The Water’. The song ‘Devil’s Encyclopedia’ is an outcry against the war of aggression in Europe and the propaganda machinery via social media with the agenda of fomenting division and hatred through manufactured conflicts. With ‘Enigma Of Reason’, the Soulmates reflect our times, in which normality is going crazy, certainties are breaking away and reality is overrunning fears and writing dramatic scripts. An album like a visionary retrospective from the future of today’s society at the crossroads of a dystopian tomorrow, or a utopia for realists!
Here you will find the videos The Big Quit, Blood In The Water and Devil’s Encyclopedia to listen to, as well as our Making Of video on the making of the album and the Brochure about the album as a digital promo folder with lots of pictures, texts and the complete album booklet (this is also attached as a PDF).
In addition, there is also an album press release, short info and artist bio (each in German and English) as well as numerous press photos in various categories and finally the video documentations Concert Highlights of our 2023 tour and 30 Years Anniversary and finally the extensive tour book as a digital celebration book for the anniversary.
The big tour book, a documentary compilation of 30 years of Soulmates, can be found here:
And here is the making of the new album, also with lots of sound bites from the Soulmates:
With this album, the MANDOKI SOULMATES nourish our reservoir of hope and strengthen our resilience against all-consuming pessimism. As a musical community of values, they unflinchingly illuminate the end of the tunnel and send a clear message:
We need more courage for utopia again!
Courage is calling for people like us! Stay Loud for a future in freedom and peace!
Stand up against division, fake news and hate speech – for truthfulness, intergenerational justice and humanity!
Music Is The Greatest Unifier!
