Greece

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INTERNATIONAL RADIO SHOWER – Greece Edition Part IV (Stoner Rock)

Posted by jayne k on August 28, 2015
Posted in: Audio, International. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

A continuation of my exploration into Greece music. Each month, the Discovering Interstellar Music feature will explore interesting (to us) music from around the world. This feature publishes every Friday. See also my posts on nefeli walking undercover (Part I), the εἰρκτή compilation (Part II), and Grecian Post Rock (Part III).

I found lots of Psychadelic rock in my brief Grecian foray. Here are some of the especially good ones.

Arrakis

Ammu Dia is their most recent release and it’s available on CD if you need the physical medium. The title track particularly caught my attention as it is almost math rock in substance. It has an almost metal sound happening that reminds me of Rodan. I really quite easily could have clumped some of Arrakis’ material in with last week’s post-rock post. But here it is.

More after the fold…

Craang

Now, this band is all in on the psychadelic with a strong metal influence. They are really quite good, but more purely psychadelic than Arrakis.

And that’s all for now. There is of course more where this comes from. Just me roaming about in the interwebs trying to discern what kinds of good music Greece had to offer. Hopefully yinz enjoyed it.

Coming Next Week: September Focus on … where?

INTERNATIONAL RADIO SHOWER – Greece Edition Part III (post rock)

Posted by jayne k on August 21, 2015
Posted in: Audio, International. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Each month, in the International Radio Shower, we will explore interesting (to us) music from around the world. This feature publishes every Friday. This month will focus on music in Greece. Click on the following links to read Part I: Nefeli Walking Undercover and Part II: εἰρκτή compilation.

In my limited sample of music I combed through, I found a large amount of post rock, much of which could be classified as math rock. I tend to like this genre of music, so I found a lot of interest to me. Here are a couple highlights.

Afformance

First of all, I appreciate a good band name. Afformance works for me. It is a made up word with meaning behind it. And let’s face it, virtually all math rock is quite a bit emo and a touch intelligentsia. This actually has some similarities to Pittsburgh’s own My Captain, My Sea.

More after the fold…

Hope Thinks Infinite

Well, this band’s label is so very literal. They deliver a great brand of instrumental post-rock. Thousand Yard Stare is a phenomenal song. And Glacial Erratic is a great song title. Petrichor goes primarily ambient or something.

We Own the Sky

Again, literal in a name. This one a little more aggressive about it. And a lot more heavy metal influenced. I recommend Alterecho.



Coming Next Week: Part IV on Grecian stoner rock.

INTERNATIONAL RADIO SHOWER – Greece Edition Part II (εἰρκτή compilation)

Posted by jayne k on August 14, 2015
Posted in: International. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Each month, in the International Radio Shower, we will explore interesting (to us) music from around the world. This feature publishes every Friday. This is Part II in our series on Greece. To read Part I click here.


The εἰρκτή compilation

Now this is something very different from my last post on nefeli walking undercover. And the timing is right. The small Greece label εἰρκτή is releasing a compilation of largely previously unreleased material that is quite extensive. It features primarily artists from the 80s and features 3 full length LPs and 1 7″ of material covering a wide array of the Greek underground scene. The recordings are sometimes pretty raw, but the content is great. Below I highlight some of my favorites from each lp.

βιῶν ἐν εἰρκτῇ (eirme 04 . 1)

Side A features primarily post punk content. Every song is solid. My favorite might be the fifth song from stranded particles y-r, but I think this track from on purpose might have the most appeal. Check it out.

Side B focuses on punk artists from the Greek underground scene. I really liked this track from ήταν είναι και θα είναι. It has spunk.

More after the fold…

βιῶν ἐν εἰρκτῇ (eirme 04 . 2)

On the second lp, the C side focuses on the minimal synth scene. This side really kicks it off well with this track from χωρίς περιδέραιο.

And on the D side, which focuses more on dark wave electronic and experimental. Hang with this track from common sense.

βιῶν ἐν εἰρκτῇ (eirme 04 . 3)

This entire album continues to focus on dark wave material. This might be my favorite song on the comp. Reminds me of something Chris Knox would do and even gets a bit weirder.

The F side gets a bit more ambient and experimental. I really liked this track from κρυπτογράφημα.

βιῶν ἐν εἰρκτῇ (eirme 04​.​4)

Finally we get to the New Wave 7″. The A-side from film noir is a lovely poppy new wave ditty. It’s so 1980s.

And that’s all for this week. As you can see that’s quite a sampler. It’s available digitally from the bandcamp links, or you can buy the box set on vinyl directly from the label here.

Note: A lot of the info is in Greek so if I got anything grossly wrong let me know.

Coming Next Week: Part III on Grecian post rock.

NEW! INTERNATIONAL RADIO SHOWER – Greece Edition, Part I (Nefeli Walking Undercover)

Posted by jayne k on August 7, 2015
Posted in: International. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Each month, in the International Radio Shower, we will explore interesting (to us) music from around the world. This feature publishes every Friday. This month will focus on music in Greece.

OK, so, lately i’ve fallen in love with clicking on a country tab on bandcamp and finding new music. This started with my self awareness that I have no idea what is coming out of most parts of the world. Sure, I know some music from some of the obvious places (hi UK and New Zealand). But what are they doing with indie, punk, post punk, or riot grrrl in Greece or Greenland or South Korea? Matt told me they have a great psyche rock scene in Chile. So it seemed obvious to spend more time exploring music internationally and to share what we find.

And so it was that a couple of weeks back I ventured into music from Greece. Aided by the fact that my girlfriend enjoys doing this too and she is fond of Greece. I already have an LP from Acid Baby Jesus. So I know there is goodness there. But all I know is that someone in Greece came up with the awesome band name, Acid Baby Jesus, and they make good garage rock.

Of course, not all Greek bands are available affordably on the US domestic front. Slovenly Records happens to have several from Greece. And keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive take on Greece music. It’s just me poking around and making note of interesting (to me) music on bandcamp.

More after the fold…

Nefeli Walking Undercover

Greece seems to have a lot of post rock and a lot of stoner rock (limited sample size aside). But it was an experimental folk rock album from Nefeli Walking Undercover that caught most of my attention. Nefeli Walking Undercover is the pseudonym for a musician and music teacher from Athens named Nefeli Liouta. She is a composer too which is something that explains the fine arrangements on many of these tracks. Some of my favorite songs are from her older ep. Here is a sample:

I really appreciate their cover art for the lp. It’s just great and probably what caught my attention in the first place. And if you are in Greece, or are ok paying the international shipping, the cd comes with a 60″x60″ poster of the cover art. Also, they have a bunch of great videos they have made for their music, such as this one.

Coming Next Week: Part II on Greek’s record label εἰρκτή.