Welcome to the blogspace of Flight Sessions, a four part mini series exploring the Greek contemporary underground music scene.
The show is broadcast every wednesday at 7.30pm (UK) on Resonance FM 104.4, London. You can listen to it online by visiting www.resonancefm.com. Subscribe to this blog and get more information about the featured artists like bios, photos and a special mini interview.
The first edition of the show is entitled Stories from the sea.
TRACKLIST
Magnitophono - Robot can't swim (Unreleased)
Naono - Still Moments (ep: Tumbleweed Tracks,CCT records, 2008)
Absent without leave - Following a trembling star(LP: Postcards from nowhere, Distant Noise, 2008)
AZA - Echo (Unreleased)
Vello Leaf - Stellar wind (ep: Morning Star, Insight Room, 2006)
Dalot - Rewind (ep:Flight Sessions, 2008)
ARTIST PROFILES
Magnitophono
Bio
“Magnitophono” is the music project of Eleni Adamopoulou, created on May 2007. The sound comes from recording moments through a videocamera. Samples of the city’s noise create melodic stories and depict electronic dreams. Stories are imagined also through photos and are written in collaboration with Dr. Orange. A robot inside a box, waiting for the receiver, dreams he is by the sea and he wants to swim.
The project was created with aim to have the contribution of other artists that share the same vision and soundscapes. This can either be their music, lyrics, a picture or whatever would give a different color to the sound.
Remixes for the project have been done by: Atom Numb(Italy), Naono(Greece), Echonomist (Greece), Achromatik Color( Greece), Rumorse(Australia), Moabi (France).
This music project was first presented at “ArtVert festival” in Athens, on January 2008. And also participated in the European Music day festival in Athens, on june 2008.
Some tracks will be released soon by Minuta Records (Switzerland).
Collaborations with other musicians: Joe Montana, Atom Numb, Stelios Romaliadis, Thomas Kostoulas, Harold Nono, Sector 028, Pleq, Yurai.
There is also another project by Eleni Adamopoulou called “Manekinekod” and some music of this project will be released by Monika Enterprise (Berlin) in October 2008 in the compilation “4 Women No Cry, vol.3”.
Remixes for the project have been done by: Atom Numb(Italy), Naono(Greece), Echonomist (Greece), Achromatik Color( Greece), Rumorse(Australia), Moabi (France).
This music project was first presented at “ArtVert festival” in Athens, on January 2008. And also participated in the European Music day festival in Athens, on june 2008.
Some tracks will be released soon by Minuta Records (Switzerland).
Collaborations with other musicians: Joe Montana, Atom Numb, Stelios Romaliadis, Thomas Kostoulas, Harold Nono, Sector 028, Pleq, Yurai.
There is also another project by Eleni Adamopoulou called “Manekinekod” and some music of this project will be released by Monika Enterprise (Berlin) in October 2008 in the compilation “4 Women No Cry, vol.3”.
www.myspace.com/elmagnitofwnio
www.myspace.com/manekinekod
Mail: magnitophono@gmail.com
manekinekod@yahoo.gr
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7 Questions to know her better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
M:the inspiration for the sound of magnitophono & manekinekod, was the sounds of nature, city, noise & silence around me. It was just an idea to record whatever small is happening around me.
2)FS:Name an influential gig
M:Laurie Anderson live in Athens
3)FS: Magnitophono live
M:Magnitophono project has appeared in the Artvert Festival January 2008)at Kinky Kong (Athens) with Aris, Naono & Melorman.
And in the European day music festival (june 2008).
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
M:We can change things when we gather together and share what we love the most. Music industry in Greece is supporting mostly commercial music, and people need to listen to different sounds, like they need to see from a different view. I think if there were more collaborations we would learn more about sounds. We need to listen inside of us, but what is around us also is important, to make us discover another world.
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
M:Some collaborations with other artists:
Vocals & lyrics for "25" by Joe Montana (Italy)
Vocals & lyrics for "Corridor"
Thomas Kostoulas (GR)
vocals & lyrics for "Stariasp"
Sector 028 (Mexico)
A remix for "My heart is so loud" (as loud as silence)
Yurai (Slovakia)
Vocals, lyrics, and music for "Our Waves" for
Stelios Romaliadis (GR)
"Meet the shark" with Pleq (Poland)
Remixes by : Atom Numb (Slovenia) "We are not the robots", "Tiny Clouds", "Soon my pt.123", "B with An"
Naono (GR) "without sound"
...
Echonomist (GR)"Lights on off"
Achromatik Color (GR) "Tiny Clouds"
......
Rumorse (Australia) "Noisy stars" and a remix by Magnitophono for Rumorse "Give me your hand"
Moabi ( France) "Reverse the tape"
“Manekinekod” music will be included in the compilation “4 Women no Cry, vol.3” by Monika Enterprise (Berlin). Release date : 17 october 2008.
6)FS: Name an artist with whom you would like to perform
M: I would like very much to play with Japanese musicians.
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
M: As for the future, we just have to keep playing and all will find their way. Around the end of November, I am invited to play with my side project manekinekod in a series of gigs in Poland and in various places in Germany for the promotion of the compilation "4 women no cry vol.3" by "monika enterprise".
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NAONO
Bio
Naono aka Antonis Simeonidis is a recording artist, producer based in Athens, Greece. The music he creates blends melodic soundscapes and atmospheres with sliced and glued organic rhythms. Image creating music inspired from everyday sounds and surroundings.
Grown up in a music friendly environment, he started to experiment with music instruments and recording techniques at the age of 14. After graduating from a “Music Technology” course in the (U.K.), he released his first musical output in 2002.“Ati pol” a 4-track Ep release on the Vibrant Music Label , followed by a full-length CD album “Slope Drifting” (2003), on the same label.
Around the same period he started to perform live sets at various venues & festivals including: Synch festival (GR), Podewil (Berlin), Bios (GR), Musicday festival (GR), Small music theatre (GR) and others.
Aside from his own material, naono creates musical soundscapes for short films, documentaries and video art projects. Short film “Then it all came down” by C. Stollwerk – (2002),Documentary film “Radio Times” by C. Stollwerk – (2003), Short film “Impro Walk” by Nick Labot - (2005), “Aether Talk” (Athens Video Festival) – (2007). “Music on a long thin wire” – (2007).
In 2006 he releases “Reflux” on the IVDT Netlabel (U.S.A).He has participated in various compilation albums, ”On Second Thought Compilation “ (Sixteensteps 2006)(UK),”Ikude Compilation” (Shima Records 2007)(UK), as well as doing remixes for other artists. (el magnitophono, melorman ).
www.myspace.com/naono
www.naonoandmelorman.com
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7 Questions to know him better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
N:Obviously a lot of albums & artists have inspired & influenced me. But if I was to pick one it would definitely be "Selected Ambient Works Volume II" by Aphex Twin.
2)FS:Name an influential gig
N: Probably Dead Can Dance around the period of the "Spirit Chaser" tour.
3)FS: Naono live
N: My live set is mostly laptop based, blended with live sampled sounds from various sources. I use video projections, still images and sometimes collaborate with physical/dance performers, creating an ambience of picture & sound. The last two years I perform together with Melorman, old time friend and fellow artist.
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
N: Help create a positive (towards new artists) & inspiring "electronic" music-scene in Greece, in order to set-up more live scenes & festivals for local artists to perform and spread their music. Create a fertile ground for musicians to evolve & listeners to discover.
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
N: Yes I have collaborated with a few artists from abroad and from the local Greek scene ( Sixteen Steps, Vim Records, Shima Records, Fluxion, Magnitophono, Melorman, Doss House, HeadPhone Science etc). I'm always open to collaborating with other artists. At the moment I'm writing a new track for a V.A. Album on "F/m Records" a Thailand based net label. Nice thing about this VA album is that there is a theme for the music, which is “toys”.
6)FS: Name an artist with whom you would like to perform
N: I’m open to collaborate/perform with a lot of artists from various genres & styles. Most interesting scenario for me, is to create a live set with “real” musicians from the organic/ethnic/world music scene.
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
N: I'm interested in starting a few new music projects. One of them is a kind of up-tempo, Dixieland, jazzy weird beat thing. I have a few tracks on the go and am very curious to see how they turn out. Rest of the stuff is still buzzing around in my head.
Very important for me, is to be able to spread music outwards. It's beautiful to be able to share your thoughts, feelings, and music with other people. Just knowing that some moments are more magical & beautiful for others, is bliss. Music should be easily accessible & (most of the time) free for listeners. This next year hopefully will be quite creative for me, with a lot of releases on various net labels (mp3) and even some “conventional” record labels (cd-vinyl ).
I'm completely happy with just creating and sharing my music. Now if I could also manage to tour some parts of the world, while performing live sets at various festivals & venues, well I guess that would be two times bliss.
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Absent without leave
Bio
absent without leave is the solo project of the 26 year-old George Mastrokostas, based in Athens, Greece. Recording everything himself in his home-studio, he creates a melancholic sound that covers a multitude of styles such as shoegaze, post-rock, ambient and electronica.
To date, he has released his music on labels such as unlabel (uk), duotone (japan), chat blanc (canada), distant noise (uk), fuzzy panda (usa), bsbta (denmark), october man (uk) and also on his own label sound in silence (greece) and has collaborated for split releases with artists like yellow6, kimonophonic, lope, doogie and cono norte 3.
He has played several gigs in Greece at various venues, including synch festival 2007 (among other artists like mum, !!!, front 242, fischerspooner, alexander hacke and many others), support gig for section 25 (from legendary factory records) and has been personally invited by artists like piano magic, god is an astronaut, manyfingers and sigmatropic to open their concerts.
His music has been played on some of the best radio stations worldwide like BBC 6 Music, Resonance FM and others too.
forthcoming: releases on labels such as enraptured (uk), symbolic interaction (japan), 9.12 (canada), friend of mine (japan), happy end music (finland), a split with port-royal on sound in silence (greece) and remixes for port-royal, televise, carta, epic45 and jatun.
Discography:
inland (album, self-released, 2003)
semper e.p. (e.p., self-released, 2003)
lost shadow (single, self-released, 2005)
affiliate program vol.3 (compilation, bsbta, 2005)
bon voyage (album, unlabel, 2006)
lope / yellow6 / absent without leave / kimonophonic (4-way split, bsbta, 2006)
reborn e.p. (3” e.p., duotone records, 2006)
these waves... (compilation, sound in silence, 2006)
a small frame of reference (compilation, october man recordings, 2006)
absent without leave / cono norte 3 (3” split, sound in silence, 2007)
bon voyage (2nd edition) (album, sound in silence, 2007)
the silent ballet vol.3 : unfolding a broken heart (compilation, the silent ballet / lost children, 2007)
absent without leave / doogie - among friends (split, fuzzy panda recording co., 2007)
yuria 2006 (compilation, vm recordings, 2007)
drifting skywards 3 (compilation, cold room, 2007)
fugues (compilation, fugues, 2007)
resound e.p. (3” e.p., chat blanc records, 2008)
postcards from nowhere (album, distant noise records, 2008)
somehow ecstatic compilation (compilation, somehow ecstatic records, 2008)
coming out in september:
absent without leave / port-royal (split, sound in silence, 2008)
links:
www.myspace.com/geezertek
www.myspace.com/soundinsilencerecords
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7 Questions to know him better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
AWL: For me one of the most influential albums is loveless by my bloody valentine. Absent without leave doesn’t sound like my bloody valentine but this album was the one that changed my mind generally about music. It’s full of great melodies, rhythms and has a very nice feeling too.
2)FS:Name an influential gig
AWL: In the last years I have seen many good concerts here I Athens (the cure, depeche mode, kraftwerk, godspeed you black emperor!, mogwai, tortoise, piano magic, mum, mono, explosions in the sky…) but the one that I liked most was a concert by sigur ros back in 2003. It was the best concert I have ever seen.
3)FS: Absent without leave live
AWL:
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
AWL: I can’t tell that I can change something in the Greek music scene because my music style isn’t so popular here, so I’m just trying to play the music I like. Things are difficult here for an independent artist who plays only instrumental music but I hope that this will be changed sometime soon.
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
AWL:
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
AWL:
AZA
Bio
Based in Athens, Greece, AZA attempts to tweak ordinary sounds & sights to match his ordinary everyday experience.
Discography
2007 AZA cosmo.sys Audiotong
2007 V.A Symbiosis Zymogen
2006 V.A Believe in Sound Sonik Mag
Videography
2006 AZA palp city palps
(Screened at Pixeldance/Thessaloniki-Greece/2006)
2005 AZA mind the gap
(Screened at: MEDIAWAVE/Hungary/2007, Museum of New art/Detroit/2007, Nuit Blanche 06/Toronto-Canada/2006, Pixeldance/Thessaloniki-Greece/2006)
2004 AZA BLOG
2003 AZA aili thea
(Screened at: VAIA 06/ International Video Art Show of Alcoi/Valencia-Spain/2006)
www.artvirus.org
www.myspace.com/4z4
www.myspace.com/artvirus
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7 Questions to know him better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
A: I like to think of my sound as a collage of influences filtered through my own prismatic eardrum. The range of influences includes, but does not limit itself, to the kinds of music I have walked through from childhood until today, but extends over a varied aural field composed around my life, my experiences and memories, perceptions and points of view. Everything and anything that is capable of producing a sound works as a source of inspiration for me. Even silence. Especially that!
2)FS:Name an influential gig
A: Concerts are overestimated! I’m only joking! Still, as far as I’m concerned, the best orchestrations come from neighbouring apartments, a city’s soundscape, the dynamic interaction of people with machines and with each other. Every action has a sonorous consequence and I am attracted by the little things that make up the big picture.
3)FS: AZA live
A: This is hard to answer. It is presumptuous to speak on anyone’s behalf so I’d rather not. In the end, to witness a live performance remains something entirely experiential and personal. Nevertheless, judging from my own experiences, the melody -or the lack of it- consists an avatar by which the listener can sail away on his own personal voyage. But just to be on the safe side, I always handout earplugs!
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
A: If there was something I could offer or achieve through my work that would be the way the public has been trained to perceive, understand and appreciate sounds and musical forms. In the mist of our senses we tend to be sonic-illiterate and audio-confined, although it has been repeatedly demonstrated how the binary distinctions between sound/noise or harmony/ataxia are retraceable to the source of social consensus. So this is the first thing I would like to smash with my airwaves!
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
A:
6)FS: Name an artist with whom you would like to perform
A: Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto, Murcoff, Zavoloka and… Coil (if John Balance was still with us). From the Greek scene, I find Coti K. and Lena Platonos of outmost interest.
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
A: Many ideas have been swirling in my head and are on their way to materialization. Some concern live performances and live sets, whilst others engage with installations. In the meantime, I continue to work on new material which I hope to see completed by 2009.
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Vello Leaf
Bio
Vello Leaf is a three-piece band that started its musical journey in 1999 in the south end of Greece, Chania. Core members of the band all these years (Nikos Grivakis, Michalis Koulieris and Apostolis Lionoudakis) have always collaborated with several guest musicians who join them both on stage and in studio.
As of 2005 and under the name "deep.insight", the band had recorded two self-released handmade EPs ("Lifepoint..." in 2001, "distorted.images" in 2003) and had participated in various projects including music for theatrical plays, a various artists compilation, theme music for websites and other audiovisual projects.
Vello Leaf made their brake-through in December 2006, releasing their debut-EP "Morning Star" (featuring female vocals by Alexandra Mckay Diamantopoulou) which got praising reviews from the press and was later voted at the top-13 of 2007 in Greece by the readers of Avopolis & Sonik music magazine. "One Last Tear" appeared in the soundtrack of the movie "Alter Ego" [Village Films & EMI], as well as in "City Campers" compilation [The Sound Of Everything] and "Whispers" was featured in Dimitris Papaspyropoulos' "A Silent Wonder" compilation [Sony-BMG]. Vello Leaf won the first place presenting their new song, "Long Way", along with the short film "tvctm" at the alternative music contest "Yurovision '07" that took place at Gagarin 205, Athens, on May 9th 2007. Another song from their upcoming release, "Now that we are...", was included in the limited edition compilation "Audiobook 3" [Postwave].
Since 2002, the band has been music supervisor for 6 theatrical performances and composed the original score for 3 of them. The plays have taken place in Athens, Patras, Serres, Chania, Minsk (plays by William Shaekspeare, Federico Garcia Lorca, Loula Anagnostaki, Iakovos Kampanelis, Vasilis Ziogas).
http://www.myspace.com/velloleaf
http://www.velloleaf.gr (not active yet)
Vello Leaf on facebook
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7 Questions to know them better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
VL:There are more than one albums but the one that had a bit more impact on our sound is Souvlaki by Slowdive.
2)FS:Name an influential gig
VL:Sigur Ros - Athens 2002
3)FS: Vello Leaf live
VL:We don’t play live a lot and that is the reason for trying to make each of our live appearances unique. We usually combine our sounds with short experimental films and video art or we try play our songs with different intrumentation.
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
VL:We can’t talk about making a change in the Greek music scene without taking into account the need for the creation of a dynamic scene. As long as this is assured we can start talking about great changes.
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
VL:There are some collaborative projects with artists from abroad and the most recent example is the remix of “One last tear” by “Joel & Ben” (UK).
For our forthcoming release, we have been discussing with various artists from abroad but there is nothing official yet.
6)FS: Name an artist with whom you would like to perform
VL:There are lots of bands that we would like to perform with but at this stage we would be happy with a participartion in a European festival.
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
VL:We are currently working or our new CD that will be released around the second half of 2009. We are also planning to do a series of gigs in Greece.
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dalot
Bio
Maria P. (aka Dalot) has been a sound/instalation artist and experimental music composer for the last four years. After the completion of her studies in French Literature in Greece in 2004, she had decided to move to England to pursue studies in sonic arts. Since then she has had the chance to collaborate with various visual artists, choreographers and performers. Her compositions have been featured in festivals such as The Icelandic Festival of Experimental Film, Sunrise Festival(UK) and Sound waves Festival( UK), Athens Video-Art Festival among others. Her current projects, TRAJECOTRY and ATHENA are focusing on phonographic sound, radiophonic ontology, voice, narrative and how they interrelate in the creation of spatial and emotional understanding of a place. Her latest release under the name dalot is the six track ep entitled “Flight Sessions”.
www.myspace.com/dalot
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7 Questions to know her better
1)FS: Name one album that was very influential for the creation of your sound/project
D:It is difficult to answer the question because my first point of reference always is literature or cinema but I will just mention three:
Hecker: Mirages
Fennesz: Practically anything from him I guess
Colleen: I love Colleen. Golden morning breaks was the soundtrack for many good and bad times in the past and still is.
2)FS:Name an influential gig
D:I would say Sonic Youth, Tim Hecker, Bjork or Authechre but this has changed when I saw My bloody Valentine at the Roundhouse, London three months ago
3)FS: dalot live
D:I prefer to play live as part of a group. In the past few years I have mainly performed as a vocalist, guitarist and toy-instrumentalist. I have only used a laptop set-up ( in combination with vinyl and live audio manipulation) for abstract experimental DJ sets. In the case of Dalot, I wouldn’t want to be a girl behind a laptop( which is OK but I would feel uncomfortable with). But if I was asked to I would figure out something along the lines of video projection, laptop improvisation and possibly a few other people onstage with me on guitars and some kind of percussionist. I have been asked quite a few times in the past to perform live but I just didn’t have the best possible equipment to support this.
4)FS:What do you think you can offer/change in the Greek music scene/reality
D:It is difficult nowadays to define the “Greek Music Scene” mainly because things are more open and artists can easily share/exchange what they do on an international level through the internet, especially in “underground” genres that use an international music dialect. If there is a scope to localize the action, instead of talking about dalot’s input, I would first change the mentality of some people. I have participated in a festival in Greece earlier this year and I have to admit things were chaotic and disorganized. So that is a good starting point.
From the artist’s side it is always useful to create a dynamic scene. Establishing a “quality” annual festival definatelly makes a change in that aspect, progressively at least. Synch festival for example does make a difference as it brings quality artists from abroad and also gives a chance to “local” projects to get cracking. Things are moving in Greece I think but we have our own (Mediterranean style) pace that makes things happen but in a relaxed and almost silent way. I don’t know whether that’s good for the “dynamic” bit but it definitely helps for the “scene” bit to emerge. Change takes more than one to happen and it takes time.
5)FS:Have you collaborated/will you collaborate with artists from abroad?
D:I have collaborated with a few dancers from the UK and Greece, a video artist from China that now resides in London and a few UK based musicians. I would like to collaborate with some fellow Greek artists as well at some point. There is loads of quality music going on out there at the moment. Anyways, there is nothing planned for the near future though as I am very busy completing my studies.
6)FS: Name an artist with whom you would like to perform
D:I don’t know really and I haven’t thought of that I have to admit. Preferably with anyone who likes what I do and likewise with artists who are interested in creating an experience rather than just showing off skills. Luckily enough in “my genre”, artists care mostly for the former and are very sincere and devoted to the sense of creating an ambience that everyone can resonate with. In that sense, Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner) is a possible straightforward answer to the question. I really love what he does and even though the way he does it is pretty much static, the content of his sound is thrilling. Same for AGF I love her style, her vocal improvisations and her atmospheres.
7)FS: Any plans for the future?
D:Not really but to complete my studies, clear my head out from that, take a big-ish break and start working on some new material. I have my recent ep completed so I have to start bringing it forward. I have loads of old songs that I haven’t brought to light yet so maybe that could also be another project. Of course collaborating with other artists is always an interesting plan as well but I have already said that, haven’t I?
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You can listen again to this episode on Monday, 29th September 2008 at 21.00 (UK).
Tune in next week for Episode 2: Night Visions on Wednesday the 24th of September 2008 at 7.30pm on Resonance FM, London.
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