the buzz has been on for quite some time now around Veroia’s finest beat-maker Larry Gus (Panagiotis Melidis). While he’s no stranger to these underground waters (see older posts here), he’s been steadily making a name for himself as a (non-exclusively) hip-hop artist. Just released on the Greek ‘cast-a-blast’ label is his smashing sampladelic summer trip called ‘Stitches’. Great as the album is (close to fucking fantastic), panagiotis is -in some circles- loved even more for his inimitable, border-like neurotic, train-of-thought talk. On the occasion of his new album, you have a taste of those ramblings in an interview he gave to the greek music zine mic.gr here

if you want more, there’s always his blog

of course, a taste of his music is even better. More info on his label’s site here

Tags: larry gus

by yiorgis sakellariou

Here’s another location from Syria, this time from the south of the country. I left Damascus to visit the ancient city of Palmyra. On the highway, the “Iraq =>” signs made me feel quite weird as I was naively thinking that a small mistake by the driver could lead us to really unknown territories. After a few hours, we had to make a necessary stop. In the middle of nowhere was this little resting place/café called “Café Baghdad”. Although I was actually in a desert, I did not experience the completely silent soundscape, like I did the previous time I was in a similar environment (that was in Wadi Rum, in Jordan). The reason was the constant motor sound of the water pump that was probably used to provide electricity to “Baghdad Café”. I could not resist getting very close and record it. This sample was the only sound that I used for the opening track of my “61:50” release on the Triple Bath label.

click here for the recording

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga

long since the last piece of news… perhaps the reason why is that my life goes under rapid changes the last 2-3 months and reorganise things down here at the central.

on the other hand thanks to these changes found the proper time to rearrange my space and try to organize absurd’s archive (or at least i tried to).

and in the meantime new releases… 3 in a row on ‘a question of re_entry’ plus the vinyl issue of ‘akustiche aktion’ in conjuction with pan records to celebrate sudden infant’s 20th anniversary.

the blogs have remained silent too but is a matter of time to reactivate them and upload a hell of stuff…

apologies also to those whose emails i might have forgotten to answer.. if you are one of them pls drop a line again!

hhhmm… guess that’s all… not much in the pipeline either. plans are to try to reduce releases in 2010 to some 3 or 5 maximum. we’ll see.

next week also sees daylight a stellar electroacoustic 7″ by socrates martinis (aka blanco estira nuestra, helice pied, nixilx nijilx, etc - well changes names faster than the speed of light so i won’t be suprised to see in the future a sign quoted as ‘the artist formely knows as socrates martinis’)

also together with my friends thalia & aggelos of 0600am blog http://0600am.blogspot.com/ we issued a limited to 100 7″ on our fictional rekem records (infos on what rekem stands for can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra) influenced thanks to this book http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-10-2005-74577.asp of a fridge recording done in weimar sometime earlier this year. you can download the track from their blog. 7″s were handed for free and not sure where you can track them down or not (’ve got very few even for me) however drop a line and you can never know.

guess that’s all for now. more news to come in november/december with more surprises as well….

love & noise
nicolas

[release details coming up -admin]

Tags: absurd, rekem

by yiorgis sakellariou

The city of Yaroslavl was the last stop of my tour in Russia, in October 2008. Before the concert, I and the other participants of the festival had some free time and a walk along the Volga River was proved to be an excellent suggestion. I was listening to and recording the machine which was being used in the construction of a dock, hammering in long steel stakes in the ground. A rhythmic metallic loop was created, resonating all over the area, as the sound was also reverberating at the other side of the river. My excitement was obvious and so my fellow artists were kind and patient enough to wait for me until the hammering process ended. Of course, the idea of immediately editing the recording and using it in the evening’s performance did cross my mind but I find myself rather unwieldy in these situations. Needless to say though, the specific sample of the recording was finally used in a concert, at Kinky Kong, in Athens, a few months later.

click here for the recording (unprocessed recording, turn the volume up for full detail)

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga

in what we hope will become a regular “column”, we present two locations, as recorded, photographed and described by yiorgis sakellariou (mecha/orga). The original idea was to examine the relation between the act of field-recording itself and its use in an artist’s finished work. To focus on what the recordist sees/looks for in a location chosen to be recorded and in turn how he/she sees the recorded material, when the time comes to use it in one’s actual creation.

in this case, because he usually manipulates field recordings beyond recognition, yiorgis felt he didn’t have much to add as far as the subsequent use of said recordings was concerned. He chose simply to document these two locations in a form of audio diary. You might want to turn the volume slightly up, or not -depends on whether you like your field recordings raw or medium-rare.

feel free to contact us with any suggestions for future entries.

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2 locations by yiorgis sakellariou

Collodi, Tuscany, Italy

This little village in Tuscany is famous for giving its name to the author of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi, and attracts visitors mostly because of the “Pinocchio theme park” which seemed to me a bit like a “mini-Disneyland”. Nevertheless, the Tuscan beauty and atmosphere is not absent. I walked around the first houses of the village and very soon discovered some very quiet and calm paths, ideal for getting lost in. I immediately heard the discreet and continuous sound that was “dominating” in the area. Hundreds of birds, sitting on the trees, were participating in a “concert” which is always welcome to hear to and, although cliché-d, the birds’ song is definitely enjoyable. It did not take much time before another characteristic sound was added: Church bells, a new minimalistic “orchestra” joined into the soundscape. I had no idea what was the (probably) religious reason for which the bells were ringing for, but nonetheless their sound felt like it was making a loose counterpoint with the birdsong, I was very glad I had the “Record” button already pressed down…

click here for the recording

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Aleppo, Syria

Aleppo is a city in the north of Syria, close to the border with Turkey. I was relaxing in my hotel room when a characteristic sound of an Arabic country was heard: the chant of the muezzin, calling the faithful to pray. As in Collodi, in Italy, again, a sound of religious origin dominated. The Muslims, instead of the bells, use the human voice, which itself adds a special dimension to the ambience. Besides the interest in the chant itself (the scales, the singing technique, the language used, the reverb caused by the amplification), from the fist time I heard the muezzin, I was fascinated by the fact that his sound can be heard only in some specific countries of the world. Its rarity, for an inhabitant of a non-Muslim country, makes the listening experience even more important…

click here for the recording

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga

[@ .Es, Thessaloniki, may 27 2009, as part of the Performance Festival, 2nd Thessaloniki Biennále]

there are few entities that have been as influential in the culturally limp city of northern greece that i call home, as Dimosioypalliliko Retire have been. Influential might be a weird word, as many people are born everyday who are either oblivious to the band’s existence, or just plain refuse to acknowledge them. Let’s just say vital instead of influential.

A brief intro to their work has been posted by nicolas in the “all noises…” blog here, so i won’t double dip in things that i don’t know first hand (i’ve only had the recordings to cherish). Equally important to their audiocentric oeuvre though, is the work of Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani (two thirds of the band) in the art/performance space. They have been “coordinating their behaviour” since 1974 and in the time since then have made it their business to introduce performance, direct art action and public intervention in the grey and confused spaces between lives. They have also curated art spaces (”sxedia”, “alli poli” among others) presenting their own work as well as that of others’. Their acts range from simple interventions with everyday pedestrian reality, to elaborate and absurdist conceptions and, finally, flirtations with established art-forms. Objects shift meaning and function, settings are deprived of their assigned use and are given a new one to try out, question. Their tools too numerous to mention, but the character always unmistakably theirs, they shifted focus from art and towards life itself (maybe an evasive statement, given art’s original function within life, but nevertheless an inevitable one, seeing the hole that established art hads dug for itself in the past 50 or so years).

performance art can be a bitch do document & retrospectives mostly serve as obituaries more than celebrations; these were two issues that were acknowledged by the duo and/or the people who organized the tribute to their work on May 27. The second issue was simply skipped over by admitting that they themselves had put a full stop to their activities a few years ago (ending with “Yperdwthe” in march 2004) and that they didn’t really mind a eulogy. Either way, the people who met at .Es for the tribute had too much fun getting together to actually turn this into a sad affair.

As for the documentation, this was handled by a relatively comprehensive slide-show and a video-reel with fragments from past events that stimulated the imagination more than substituting presence and experience. There were history lessons to be had also, by putting these actions into their context (what we accept as art now must have seemed terribly weird back then), but history lessons are for each individual to process, so i best not water them down in this space.

there were a few extra touches to the event. amongst other speakers, Costis Drygianakis shared his thoughts on the artists and made available a more detailed text he prepared for the occasion. The artists (or ex-artists?) were in fine form too, enjoying in good spirit a borderline tasteless re-enactment of one of heir most known and affectionate performances; they were also carrying a soccer ball with them in honour of the Champion’s League finals that were taking place during the same hour. This is also a good spot to mention the fine work of the people behind the Performance Festival of the Biennále, who managed to organize a pretty interesting 10-days worth of events/actions & brought together the artists involved in a refreshing bit of cultural exchange, amongst themselves primarily and the city second.

(photos courtesy of Costis Drygianakis & Olya Gluschenko)

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a couple of links:
http://www.magnet.gr/views/allipoli/
http://www.dim-retire.com/

Tags: chondros & katsiani

a few days ago, Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani (of Dhmosioypalliliko Retire fame) forwarded us a warning for a new virus threatening computer users around the globe. Their email (in greek) follows:

Tags: art

hhhmm… like the good ol’ days… every week a new release…
at least that’s how it worked the last 2-3 weeks over here. below’s the info on the new ones. including an antoine chessex 1sided LP, an al margolis / dan burke cdr on absurd and on little orion’s ‘okko’ records a cdr of larry gus.

upcoming there’s still plenty of stuff… next week in berlin for the 20th sudden infant anniversary (www.suddeninfant.com for infos) will come out a vinyl reissue of the rudolv eb.er / joke lanz ‘akustiche aktion’. a limited lp issued by pan records (www.pan-act.com) and absurd’s ‘all noises swell together in landscapes’ blog.

may / june sees an incredible nokalypse LP co-released with entracte (www.entracte.co.uk).

more’s in the pipeline too (of course)… a cdr by none is also in mind / works but gotta meet mr. 1000+1 (www.tiltrecordings.org)  tilt first to get the master that ashley handed him a couple of months ago… keeping in mind that i should hand jason also a design for a noise-below.org t-shirt guess that we’ll meet for those 2 specific releases and we’ll end discussing for more…

also keep an eye on nikos veliotis’s ‘cello powder’ limited edition cd. document of his instal performance. for more infos pls visit here www.cellopowder.com. should you wish a promo copy feel free to email me, ‘ve got a handful of promo sleeves rotting on my room’s floor…

last but not least as i chanced yesterday at a live set @ kinky kong (http://kinkykong.blogspot.com) and saw a great sax / electronics pal performing keep an eye on his work  http://www.ilanmanouach.com/. he’s having a cdr on triple bath (www.triplebath.gr) in a week or two.

ahhhh if you find the time too check also http://excretemusic.blogspot.com mostly uploading stuff i like. guess i shoulda upload all my fave violent onsen geisha stuff too as is thanks to the master’s same titled cd the blog named after.

no more no less

love & noise

nicolas

(ed - releases info below, to be added in the absurd page in the coming days)

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Tags: absurd
            

            

quite a short note mostly with news around latest releases, etc…

the actual editions_zero version of the ‘ashtray navigations / family battle snake / stellar om source’ LP is out and sells out fast.

out as well is the nmperign / skeletons out split 7″

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: absurd

photos from the recent live set of larry gus (www.myspace.com/larrygus) during litlte orion’s 2nd birhtday!

Tags: larry gus, shows/tour diaries

the song remains the same… at least this led zep title strucks in mind each time i say to myself that is high time for some ‘relax’ and at the same time a hell of releases are spewn out of nowhere though new ones are added to the list… anyway.. c’est la vie… & what can’t be cured must be endured (hhmm no matter the english proverb the way written reminds of more eastern greek fatalism tradition).. absurd’s mk3 ended (at last) w/ the release of the extremely delayed (sorry werner) ‘remnants from paradise’ of werner durand.. those who fancied his ‘buzzin” cd a few years ago wil love that, is in a more ‘calm’ mood but still unique in its sounds… frankly together w/ the if,bwana ‘gruntle’ and the mprime/max eastley ‘hudrophony..’ cds form a part of ‘trilogy’ in absurd’s saga!!! www.myspace.com/wernerdurand for more infos on his work! various other releases saw daylight such as the co-production between editions_zero (amphissa) & echomusic (www.echomusic.gr - athens) of the ‘anastenaria‘ a field recording of the ritual and fire walking of may 20-21st 1979. you can get more infos on them here www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=143 no matter is not THE ‘in_depth” review of the custom but at least is cool to get an idea around it.

of course the a la new blockaders sound of the alfredo costa monteiro & pascal battus ‘ductile’ on a question of re_entry and organized music from thessaloniki that am dying for and the just released ‘vivo’ by earzumba that is the mix of his last december’s tour using extracts from the sets from flue (wien), m.am.b.a. (buenos aires) & the folk museum (xanthi). the 1st edition of hrysallida (or the name under which members of pa.ke.thra & editions_zero work together for live sets, etc in the city of xanthi) and reminds us of the memorable live set of earzumba @ the museum last december and then the surprise birthday party we did for a friend in the bar ‘kokori’ intoxicated by the sounds of our beloved dj amigo, chirstos carras!

more lunacy to follow of course… last week larry gus, manipulated the sounds we produced at the party of little orion to celebrate his 2nd birthday.. haven’t heard yet the recordings of it but it’ll be stellar the resulted cd, trust me! chanced upon the velvet magazine’s bus tour also in xanthi where once more had the chance to fancy the post punk / new wave sounds of victory collapse, who play the music they like in a very lively and fresh way.. check out their mcd too. it was of the very few times that seriously if i had my tape recorders and tapes w/ me i would have joined them for a little cacophony as is music that you feel like adding some tapes in the background when seeing it live or at least my burned mind says so… keep an eye also on me of curse and his dissilussioned world.. haven’t checked much of his work but i won’t be surprised if i suddenly saw an editions_zero release of his work…

more news..hot on the heels of editions_zero… as july sees the 10th anniversary of our accidental 1st meeting of july 98 in various places of phokis at random days and a little part of it was documented in the ‘research center for the definition of happiness’ cdr a few years ago (the one that was meant to be out in 98 and saw daylight in 2003) we’re working on a couple of releases to coincide w/ the birthday.. so in the pipeline are a cdr w/ a field recording of the custom of the ‘ghost‘ that takes place during the carnival, a split 7″ between skeletons out & nmperign which trust me kicks asses! plus a ltd lp of a mesmerizing collaboration between family battle snake & ashtray navigations.. this one is of those that have made us nuts with and can’t see the time to see it out not only regarding the music but also the artwork we’re to use! so keep an eye on all of them!

speaking of skeletons out.. make sure you check their ‘in remembrance of me’ cd on students of decay (www.studentsofdecay.com) for those who fancy the old classic us nihilistic noise/electroacoustic tape network like pbk, hands to, haters, agog, yeast culture, etc this motherfucker will be a punch in the stomach! it fuckin’ rocks!!! got it 4 days ago and i can’t stop playing it on my deck! sets absurd’s hq’s on fire!!!!

also due for release are more yummies! like the ‘cylindre /.oeur(s+c)’ 12″ that is due for release in may between entr’acte & absurd.. 2 works of blanco estira nuestro + hermana helice (aka the same person that used to be nixilx.nijilx) that was initially to be a one sided 12″ on entr’acte and later a 7″ on absurd but as they both create a complete work, socrated thought it better that we can fit 2 into 1 (& save cash to release more shit too!).. so keep an eye on it as is a really beautiful electroacoustic thing!
of course also to mention the forthcoming raionbashi 12″ that is due to release between ignivomus and absurd between may/june (or later?)…

hhhm.. guess that’s all… uh, no.. there’s also a maverlous mouths cdr on the way too!!!!!

mios dios! also is a matter of days that amei drops a line to say that the copies of the placenta poppey / reverse mouth 7″ are ready to be posted… a 3 way split between tanzprocesz, phase & absurd…

that’s all for now..those lines were jotted under the enthusiasm of the skeletons out cd (no kiding at all!!! noise bless howie stelzer & jay sullivan!!!!) so this update is dedicated to them!!!

if you chance in athens this week make sure you came by kinky kong on holy thursday the 24th around 21.30 to say ‘hi’ and attend the mayhem of carlos giffoni / family battle snake / novasak & nokalypse…

……………………………….

also last but not least… regarding children’s parties that we’ll keep on doing in north and north eastern greece… as the live set thing and mixing sounds we produce w/ toy instruments / the ambience of the place w/ the sounds produced by the friend we invite has reached a point that we feel like all that has to be done w/ it is done and we seek even more creative and interacting ways of how to continue them (be it a performance where the children that are inthe party participate, a kind of puppet theatre, an installation, or whatever that includes this kind of motion, interaction, learning, etc.. we seek people whose work does not only has to do solely w/ music/sound but also includes video, installation, motion, etc… any ideas or proposals are always accepted… for sure accomodation, food, tickets are provided.. be flexible w/ a fee and also can seek about possibilities for a live set or whatever in th cities of xanthi, thessaloniki, or even athens… interested parties feel free to drop a line, you are welcome!!!

love & noise
nicolas

Tags: absurd

photos from the mini/mega event that graced the stage of kinky kong in athens on april 24. loads of noise to get us ready for the warmer weather. sets ranged from great to killer, brought to a masterful coda by none other than the no fun master, mr carlos giffoni himself

family battle snake

carlos giffoni

Tags: athens, shows/tour diaries