The Rotterdam-based sextet Antares Flare is an instrumental group that takes inspiration from South American magic realism, West-African traditional rhythms, and psychedelic atmospheric electronic sounds. All of this thrown in with their steady backbone of groove-oriented jazz promises a sonic adventure worth taking.
Antares Flare is a band of six talented musicians from The Netherlands, Malta, Slovenia, and Italy who came together in Rotterdam. Guitarist Piero Conte has been leading the group since its start in 2018 and writes most of the compositions. In the first phase, they did several shows around the country, experimenting with the sound and the size of the band. They finally settled on six steady members and the band felt complete for the writing sessions to start. This led to them joining various competitions and in 2021 they made it to the finals of the Erasmus Jazz awards, where they've turned some heads with their fresh sound. It was time to make their way into the studio to record their first release.
The recording sessions of their forthcoming debut album took place in the Labstract Studio in Rome, Italy. A familiar face joined the sessions to mix and produce the project: Dutch keyboardist Anton de Bruin (Dragonfruit/Peter Somuah). Anton added some of his sonic magic to the sessions and really brought the music to life with choices of sounds, and the overall aesthetic.
The first single 'What's Gonna Kill Me First?' is a really powerful statement. From the beautiful atmospheric lush opening intro, to the neck snappin' drums that are countered by a majestic horn section, all of them bouncing on a big fat bass line. All of that within the first minute! I'll leave the rest for you to discover below.
Some of their musical influences are people like Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (now known as Chief Adjuah), but also Jimi Hendrix and Clever Austin (the solo project of Hiatus Kaiyote's drummer Perrin Moss). With these ingredients you can be certain it's going to be an interesting ride and their first release surely sparked the curiosity for the follow-up single. Luckily the second single is around the corner. The track is named 'Sandstones' and will be dropping soon, on June 24th, while the group is simultaneously gearing up for the arrival of their self-titled debut album that's coming after the summer. A band to keep a close ear on and if you're able to catch them performing, don't hesitate to explore their sonic universe. It might provide you with an answer to the title's question: What's Gonna Kill Me First?
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