noise, a few decks below http://blog.noise-below.org is a hub for experimental music & its by-products. it aims to promote the activities of the greek experimental/underground (or whatever one might call it) music scene, as well as its various links internationally. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:40:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 summer reviewed: free piece of tape – s/t; on granny records http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/09/02/summer-reviewed-free-piece-of-tape-st-on-granny-records/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/09/02/summer-reviewed-free-piece-of-tape-st-on-granny-records/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:45:53 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=1021 most of the summer months were spent in a weird kind of overheat hibernation, which meant that we let a lot of stuff slip by in the process. in a series of posts we will try to cover some of it. most of them will be spent mentioning the not-so-few records that we’ve let go unnoticed.

first is the “proper” debut by the athens-based duo of Giorgos Axiotis and Efthimis Theodosis, Free Piece of Tape.


free piece of tape – s/t
granny05
cd edition

this has been out since june actually, on the homegrown thessaloniki label called granny records [more about the label soon].

Free Piece of Tape have been performing for a few years now, and have had their share of handmade tour-merch cdr editions, as well as a purposefully-out-of-character acoustic recording on kukuruku. Here we get a distillation of sorts, with the band offering 8 pieces that range from measured drones and electronics, to a thick stew of manipulated electro-acoustic treatments.

Their music thrives on the face-off between Axiotis’ synth, effect + mixing-board treatments and Theodosis’ impressive arsenal of handmade or repurposed percussion and spring-based instruments. On this album their sounds are at their most restrained and honed-down, though their vision on what they’re capable of is wider than it’s ever been. A most welcome addition to their catalogue, and a good place to measure one’s strengths.


a short excerpt from the album presentation, at facta non verba in thessaloniki

-

http://www.grannyrecords.org/
http://www.freepieceoftape.blogspot.com/

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/09/02/summer-reviewed-free-piece-of-tape-st-on-granny-records/feed/ 0 infinity * http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/29/infinity/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/29/infinity/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:35:01 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=1017

saturday november the 6th @ knot gallery (mihalakopoulou 206 st & pyrrou st,
athens)

as usual it was born out of a joke, better say a question while arranging ideas for 2011 w/ dimitra, michalis, giannis & danai during a hot august night when michalis wondered of what shall we do till 2011? the idea for an ash nav live was dropped by giannis a couple of months ago and as we both share the enthusiasm for the project’s work we were for it waiting for the right place & right time to materialize it.

the idea of prequel of absurd’s ‘bye bye butterfly’  in athens but in slight different sounds was also in mind as some friends wanted an athens thing too, so w/out second thoughts within seconds the line up was almost ready as all drove crazy w/ a line up we came up.

so add  the enthusiasm for the all girl garage sounds of the mongrelettes and the psych out ones of ashtray navigations plus a blend of earzumba’s psychotic sampladelia
and you get a freak out compendium to infinity!!!!

the mongrelettes
www.myspace.com/themongrelettes

ashtray navigations
www.myspace.com/ashtraynavigations

earzumba
www.earzumba.com

more infos soon, also through knot at http://knotarts.blogspot.com

* title taken from the john coltrane ‘infinity’ LP (being the record we’ve been listening at the moment the idea was dropped & the decision was taken http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane:_Infinity and hell couldn’t fit a better title to this ‘party’!!!!)

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/29/infinity/feed/ 0 nn+ soundcheck @ knot gallery http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/19/nn-soundcheck-knot-gallery/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/19/nn-soundcheck-knot-gallery/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:53:38 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=1011 maybe you remember how a couple of months ago the noise-below crew participated as “nn+” in the tot festival that took place at knot gallery in athens (related posts here, here and here). well, nicolas already wrote about the whole thing, and today i wrote about it on my own blog (because you can never have enough of those…) here:

http://syndromesrandomcontent.blogspot.com/2010/08/nn-soundcheck.html

i also put up a recording of myself fumbling with the available equipment during the soundcheck. i ended up with a charming piece of noise + room ambience

enjoy,
kostis

NN+ soundcheck by syndromesuploadcloud

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/19/nn-soundcheck-knot-gallery/feed/ 0 copper tones http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/17/copper-tones/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/17/copper-tones/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:47:14 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=1000 Costis Drygianakis sent us his thoughts on the brand new Cranc album, copper fields. And in turn we thought we’d make a big deal out of it, seeing that Costis was the man who chose, back in the year 2000, to release the trio’s first album (All Angels) on his own ΕΔΩ (EDO) label.

From the time that the first Cranc album was released (All angels, ΕΔΩ 2000) a whole decade has passed. Today it is becoming obvious that that particular record marked the end of a phase. From 2001 and on, the three of them (Rhodri and Angharad Davies from Wales and Nikos Veliotis from Greece) left behind all twelvetone scribblings and instrumental musique concrète and devoted themselves with remarkable self-discipline in the search for extended and long-drawn sounds, those referred to as drones. After a decade of independent personal trajectories and occasional chance encounters, they rejoin their forces here, more mature and relevant than even. And they succeed in something that is missing in the majority of similar attempts. They maintain undiminished interest from the first up to the last minutes of the record, they avoid unnecessary excess, they do not forget themselves in some minimalist stupor. Because, as in the end it turns out, it is of great importance the fact that these slow and endless sounds do not originate from some automatic generators, but from strings vibrating under human fingers. And ultimately, great human fingers.

~ costis drygianakis

copper fields is available from organized music from thessaloniki, as well as absurd

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a quick note to say that there are 2 new posts on ‘outside my window’ a ‘bell’s field recording by yiorgis sakellariou and a documentation of a memorable night with the fairytales of anthi thanou & panagiotis koulelis, recorded by nikos kyriazopoulos.

http://thenoisehitthemastheyopenedthedoor.blogspot.com/

love & noise
nicolas

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/15/outside-my-window/feed/ 0 mecha/orga news http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/12/mechaorga-news-2/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/12/mechaorga-news-2/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:41:20 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=983 Residency at Polymer Culture Factory, Tallinn-Estonia
From August 16 to September 8

Upcoming concerts
August 25: Helikoosolek @ MoKS, Tartu-Estonia
August 27: Kultuuritehase Festival, Tallinn-Estonia
September 2: XI20, Vilnius-Lithuania (presented by Arma)
September 3: Insait, Kaunas-Lithuania (presented by Arma)
September 4: Andrejsala, Riga-Latvia
September 6: Servataguse Muusika, Tallinn-Estonia

Workshop
August 28 at Kultuuritehase Festival

more info:www.mecha-orga.com

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/12/mechaorga-news-2/feed/ 0 absurd #84 ‘bye bye butterfly’ (2nd part) http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/11/absurd-84-bye-bye-butterfly-2nd-part/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/11/absurd-84-bye-bye-butterfly-2nd-part/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:49:41 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=980 an addition to the event is the participation of dimitra lazaridou chatzigoga (zither, preparations) & danai stefanou (inside piano) for a special event. details about it to be posted in a month more or less.
also the aux thing might be modified or cancelled.
]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/11/absurd-84-bye-bye-butterfly-2nd-part/feed/ 0 kukuruku recordings, now available through metamkine http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/kukuruku-recordings-now-available-through-metamkine/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/kukuruku-recordings-now-available-through-metamkine/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:56:39 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=974 tasos stamou’s kukuruku recordings label, home to quite a few improv and outsider cdr editions, is now available through the excellent metamkine distribution in france. time you checked out some of those obscure sides that always seemed hard to get, ok?

-

http://www.kukurukurecordings.com/
http://www.metamkine.com/?partiste=1&monlabel=1495

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/kukuruku-recordings-now-available-through-metamkine/feed/ 0 absurd #81 tasos stamou 10″; CANCELLED http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/absurd-81-tasos-stamou-10-cancelled/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/absurd-81-tasos-stamou-10-cancelled/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:54:09 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=963 as absurd’s life circle comes to its end deja vu flashes strike. as happened with harsh dept and some perverse series releases happens this time too. the tasos stamou 10″ is cancelled. there won’t be any absurd #81 replacement. and am not sure about the format this recordings that will see daylight as long as it has to deal with little nefeli and her birthday’s recording. perhaps a cd or cdr under nefeli’s own record label according to our tradition of blasting a label for every kid whose birthday we celebrate.
just for the record and absurd completists, 5 test pressings of the 10″ were made.

also a note to any motherfucker who might pop up in the future and demands the entire control as the administrator of noise-below and its basic projects (organized music from thessaloniki, allnoisesswelltogetherinlandscapes, excrete music blog, outside my window blog, editions_zero, hrysallida, etc) is that we fankly don’t object to it as it’ll save us money and most important we’ll have more free time BUT at least make sure you know out of which thomas pynchon book the quote ‘noise a few decks below’ was lifted. (to the day only larry gus has found it, with kostis we were astound as he almost found not only the exact chapter but almost the exact line and paperback edition! larrygus.blogspot.com).

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/08/09/absurd-81-tasos-stamou-10-cancelled/feed/ 0 ptomata katw apo to krevati records http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/24/ptomata-katw-apo-to-krevati-records/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/24/ptomata-katw-apo-to-krevati-records/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:07:06 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=960 http://butterfly.noise-below.org/

πτώματα κάτω από το κρεβάτι records [corpses underneath the bed records]. New imprint, soon to rise from the ashes of the ‘absurd’ universe. First signs of life expected this fall.

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/24/ptomata-katw-apo-to-krevati-records/feed/ 0 family battle snake, blasts through the US of A http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/20/family-battle-snake-blasts-through-the-us-of-a/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/20/family-battle-snake-blasts-through-the-us-of-a/#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:20:25 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=956 a family battle snake us tour is already underway

* eatcoast w/ BURNING STAR CORE
* midwest w/ SPYKES (John Olson / Wolf Eyes)

16 July: Philadelphia at Vox Populi w/ BURNING STAR CORE, U.S. GIRLS

17 July: Annandale-on- Hudson at Bard College w/ BURNING STAR CORE, ++

18 July: Easthampton at Flywheel w/ BURNING STAR CORE, HORSEBLADDER, ++

19 July: Vermont at The Monkey House w/ BURNING STAR CORE, NONHORSE, TOOTH ACHE, HARMONIZER

22 July: Brooklyn at 117 Livingston – C SPENCER YEH & BILL KOULIGAS DUO play to films of Franz Zwartjes, NEW HUMANS + special guest, PURPLE HAZE (ZAIMPH + TAYLOR RICHARDSON DUO) + video by GARY WAR & TAYLOR RICHARDSON

24 July: Brooklyn at Glasslands w/ THURSTON MOORE, BILL ORCUTT (HARRY PUSSY)

25 July: Baltimore at Whartscape Festival w/ LIGHTNING BOLT, BURNING STAR CORE, ERIC COPELAND, ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER, XIU XIU, ARAB ON RADAR, HEALTH, NO AGE, TALK NORMAL, ZACH HILL (HELLA), DUCKTAILS, JAVELIN, PRINCE RAMA, DAN DEACON, LITTLE HOWLIN’ WOLF, NAUTICAL ALMANAC, PONYTAIL, TEETH MOUNTAIN, ZOMES +++ MORE!

27 July: Albany at Upstate Artist Guild w/ SPYKES, RAMBUTAN

28 July: Rochester at Bug Jar w/ SPYKES, PENGO

29 July: Lakewood at Bela Dubby w/ SPYKES, SKIN GRAFT & KIRSCHNER, FRAGMENTS

30 July: Ann Arbor at Arbor Vitae (Above Wazoo Records) w/ AARON DILLOWAY, GRAVEYARDS, TOXOPLASMOSIS (NATE YOUNG & ALIVIA ZIVICH), DJ LONELYHEART (MILES tapeworm)

]]> http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/20/family-battle-snake-blasts-through-the-us-of-a/feed/ 0 absurd #84 ‘bye bye butterfly’ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/15/absurd-84-bye-bye-butterfly/ http://blog.noise-below.org/2010/07/15/absurd-84-bye-bye-butterfly/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:08:30 +0000 admin http://blog.noise-below.org/?p=952 yep, title’s taken from pauline oliveros’s same titled track and couldn’t find better for the final absurd release.
so below’s some info on the upcoming final absurd thing full schedule / details are to follow later but announce the first details of the absurd #84 scrapbook in case anyone’s interested in crashin’ in xanthi on december the 4th.

the idea is as follows, a final release or at least an effort for a final release but as i’ve never had a straight online release (perhaps the thu 20 piece might be an exception or an ‘odyssey’ depending on the angle you see it) thought as a nice idea to set up a mini fest to say goodbye to fellow coneptualists and end absurd there and at the same time this mini fest to be an a release in process. that simple.

so as i don’t wanna beat about the bush as mentioned earlier on saturday the 4th at the ’spiti politismou’ of f.e.x. in xanthi this ‘release’ / adieau absurd mini fest will take place.
further schedule details are to follow as 90% a date in thessaloniki on friday the 3rd is also possible to take place if the pals up there find a place to set it up.

the line-up so far includes:

- leif elggren (as leif elggren) & bill kouligas (a.k.a. family battle snake) (live electronics)

- jerome noetinger

- blood stereo (including ellka reign nyoukis?)

- sudden infant

- adieAUX   a special aux performance as a goodbye thing that during the process of absurd #84 we’ll publish the final release absurd #85 but details on this performance will folow later)

- ilan manouach (sax & electronics) / george axiotis (live electronics) / chris carras (dj) no comments simply my heroes!

this is it so far.
further details to follow also details regarding how to reach xanthi from various places from greece or around the balkans.

love & noise
nicolas

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