Electric Feat. Electric Feat

A new album from Greece reached me recently. It is becoming something normal, now multiple labels from the Greek speaking world have found their way to my inbox. Again I find myself writing on one of them, as Electric Feat compares quite nicely with albums from several Belgium rock bands I reviewed over the past year.

It is not so normal at all, so let me first give an insight on Greek music and myself. I am quite certain that the first Greek song I was exposed to was the theme song to 'Zorba The Greek'. My aunt had the single I remember loving the way the melody sped up. Little did I know at the time that the song was the biggest hit of 1965. In fact for decades it was the best scoring song in the all time ever chart, to be disposed in 2011/12 by Gotye's hit. 'Somebody That I Used To Know'. Next is 'Rain And Tears', Aphrodite's Child's huge hit in 1968 and other hits by the band. After that Vicky Leandros, Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos solo, but not a single song I particularly liked. In the 80s Jon & Vangelis scored a few hits. After that nothing, barring the Greek pop music I heard busdrivers play in Greece while on holiday, until Inner Ear Records contacted me.

Electric Feat is a classic rock group. The influences of 60s rock and 70s classic rock are all over the place. Hints at psychedelia play a role as well. Singer Georgios Dimakis, who we also know as Prins Obi, certainly is a Jim Morrison fan and is able to change his voice into the deeper range. like Morrison did, but without losing his ability to sing, like Morrison did. The band as a whole is not afraid to throw in some The Doors elements as well. More to stress certain parts of the album than to play at pretending to be The Doors. Just as easily classical rock parts come by with a strong riff flying around. For The Netherlands fans of DeWolff should pay extra attention here.

Photo: Eftychia Vlachou & Kostas Stergiou

Listen to Electric Feat and it is easy to spot many musical references to the era classic rock ruled. The band consists of four people who like to frequent a pub together and undoubtedly discuss and listen to music there frequently. I can imagine them deciding on one evening to start making music we love together. The result is not original, that's impossible for an album that looks backwards, but certainly strong. Just listen to how firm the rhythm section plays. Themos Ragousis' (Madam Manthos), bass guitar holds the deep end, almost too scary to look into. Kostas Stergiou's (The Tree) drumming lays a perfect foundation. This leaves all the freedom to excel for guitarist Dionysis Nanos (Dr. Nanos). His guitar is all over, without being afraid to hold back and let a song implode and lean on the rhythm section to keep it going. 'Leather Jacket' is an excellent example of how the band is able to play with melodies and dynamics.

Rock may be dead. It was The Doors themselves that proclaimed it to be so. They were proven wrong a long time ago. With bands like Electric Feat, even if the album is to be considered to be an outing by (musical) friends, we can be certain that rock will live a while longer. No matter what dance oriented people say. They existed when I was young,  called soul, then disco, house, EDM and whatever. I never cared, o.k., there's always a good exception, there always were and will be good rock bands. Electric Feat is one of them. Influences are all nice and good but without inspiration and skills there's no good album. I can bake a cake but will not sell it a bakery. Electric Feat however deserves a spot in every record store.

Rock dead? Don't make me laugh!

Wo.

You can buy Electric Feat here:

https://electricfeat.bandcamp.com/album/electric-feat


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

King Time. The Man From Managra

Again an album from Greece reached me via cyberoptics. Within seconds I was able to listen to King Time and again I was surprised by the quality of an album released by Inner Ear Records. How is it possible that none of this music can be heard over here on a regular basis? All I can do is throw in my effort. So here I go.

The Man From Managra? That suggests a location, but turns out it's based on fantasy. An island in the Mediterranean or Indian Ocean swallowed by the sea after a volcanic eruption, leaving just the man? Yes, sure. Mangara is the title of a Doctor Who novel though I found. So like The Tallest Man On Earth is not, Coti K. is not from Managra.

Coti K. is the musician behind King Time. Other musicians played on the album as well. Panos Galanis (drums), Rena Rasouli (backing vocals), Lambrini Grigoriadou (fifth bass and tenor guitar) and Thaleia Ioannidou (trumpet). Together with Σtella he sings 'Tonight', one of the finer songs of the album. King Time is the third album by The Man From Managra after the self-title debut in 2014 and 'Half A Century Sun' from 2017.

King Time is an album that intrigued me from the very first seconds. Somehow The Man From Managra manages to manoeuvre through the light while obviously moving through darkness. King Time is not so much an unhappy album, as a serious one. The lyrics are the reflection of a search for truth and knowledge and the music underscores this quest. It is here that King Time becomes so interesting as the music is allowed to go off into different directions, making the album, within limits, varied.

Promo photo: Freddie Faulkenberry

Where some songs underscore the dreamy way of singing by both Coti K. and Rena Rasouli, others are more direct or fit into a singer-songwriter category. 'Set Sail' starts with a sole keyboard yet slowly progresses into a dark pop song. Where the start is ordinary, the way 'Set Sail' is worked out sets it apart from the many. It is this sort of arrangements that won me over for The Man From Managra. Next to that laidback way of singing. Coti K. does not have an exceptional voice but knows just how to use it perfectly and to boost it through the dreamy backing vocals of Rasouli. By singing this way voice and music become more one and provide each other strength.

The album starts as simple as 'Set Sail' does further on. Just an electric guitar over which Coti K. sings. Rasouli enters for some doo-wah-diddies and there's a song that starts meandering away from its simple origins within the minute. Slowly the song keeps changing, e.g. through the directness when the drums enter. The doo-doo part works here too. Such a pleasant opener 'Sing Your Heart Out' is.

Promo photo: Martha Gian

If there is an overall influence in King Time I have a hard time pinpointing it. There is, in Coti K.'s voice and way of singing. It takes me back to the 80s. The music does not. The trumpet intro to the second song, 'In The Light Of Things', is all but glum. It shows how The Man From Mangara is able to let light enter his song, not unlike the trumpet in 'Torch', my favourite Soft Cell song.

Move deeper into King Time, passed the beautiful 'Tonight', and you will find that The Man From Managra does not falter and keeps up the quality he starts out with, surprising with the changes in the arrangements and instruments. A minor change already works like a miracle on King Time.

Wo.

You can buy King Time here:

https://inner-ear.gr/catalogue/artist/uncategorised/king-time/


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

The Light. Tango With Lions

Sometimes one artist tips another artist. In this case Octave Lissner who played with Tango With Lions on a stage in Athens and now lets the world know the band has a new album. So I gave it a chance and look here.

Have I ever reviewed a Greek record or band before? I honestly can't remember. The Walkabouts released a live record, recorded in some club in Thessalonica, but that was released years before I started this thing called WoNo Magazine in 2001 with .No. So the answer might just be no. Now I am not one for traditional or more modern Greek music. I've had me enough to last for a lifetime in my marriage.

Tango With Lions could come from anywhere, I think. There's nothing reminding me of Greece in the music in the singing, which is simply pretty decent English. The effect is that The Light is reviewed as it should be and not as something exotic, looked at favourably for a different reason.

Tango With Lions started in 2007 when singer and bass player Kat (Katerina Papachristou) started making music with different musicians that over the years morphed into a solid band. After releasing two albums in 2010 and 2013, January 2018 brought the third album, now picked up by WoNoBlog.

The Light is not so much an original album. The mood of the music reminds me of a musician like Cat Power, the creative layers as wide ranging as U.S folk to Sophie Hunger or Eb & Sparrow. The Light's common denominator being the music having a distinct mood to it. Tango With Lions has the ability to give most of the songs on this album a little extra. The extra can be anything. From a dose of atmospherics, to a distorted guitar, a banjo or a horn. Nearly each song is set apart this way and can lead a life on its own and morph into the whole of The Light.

If anything The Light is an intriguing album. It contains a certain level of mystery. 'Back To One' may start like a thousand songs I already know, the piano is even too familiar -some post-grunge song-, the combination of the synth with a clarinet, sets the mood of the album straight away. The other half of the mystery is the (double tracked) voice of Kat. The subtle piano notes that are dispersed through the verses do the rest. The Light has caught me and basically does not let go until the final song, 'L'Ombre' has played itself out.

In 'Proof Of desire' an acoustic guitar is introduced as the driving instrument. All is bare, a lot of music that could have been there is not. Adding atmosphere and depth to the song and thus setting it apart. The mood being the constant keeping the music and album together. When the song explodes, mystery is added with hints of the mid-70s Pink Floyd dropped into the songs in small ways. As where later the already mentioned The Walkabouts can be found within the title song.

I'll refrain from discussing all the nine songs that make The Light individually. You will have gotten the gist of things by now. This is an album that could have been made anywhere. I will not state that this is a desired conclusion for a Greek band. Fact is that The Light makes for delightful listening and keeps growing, simply because there is some much to discover. So many fine, small and delicate details are woven into the whole. It is details like this that make listening to music a satisfying experience and that is a compliment I can make to Tango With Lions without hesitation.

Wo.

You can order The Light here:

http://inner-ear.gr/catalogue/artist/tango-with-lions/the-light/


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

Luit en duidelijk: Stathis Skandalidis Plays Gilbert Isbin

Iedere keer dat ik deze cd draai is het een verrassing wat ik er nú weer in hoor. Ja, luit. Dat is duidelijk! Werkelijk fenomenaal hoe lichtvoetig en transparant deze Griek, Stathis Skandalidis, de luit bestiert. Hoe hij de vele tempowisselingen in deze muziek speels volgt. Hoe hij de snelle loopjes uit de luie luit tovert. Slechts af en toe hoor je dat de luit het net niet bijbeent. Razend knap en wondermooi.

Ik heb begrepen van componisten dat het soms moeilijk is hun werk over te leveren aan uitvoerende musici, die hun werk wellicht niet helemaal begrijpen of bij gebrek aan virtuositeit onvoldoende recht doen. Maar omgekeerd vergt het van een componist heel veel moed om een werk in handen te geven van een virtuoos als Skandalidis. De transparantie van deze gracieuze Griek is namelijk genadeloos. Iedere onvolkomenheid in de compositie zou onmiddellijk ontmaskerd worden. En Isbin speelt zelf ook niet onverdienstelijk gitaar en luit, heb ik begrepen. dus…

Maar hij heeft het aangedurfd, Isbin. Volkomen terecht en met wat een schitterend resultaat!

Gilbert Isbin is een Vlaamse componist, gitarist en luitspeler. In zijn muziek combineert hij allerlei muziekstijlen. Ik hoor barok, middeleeuws, flamenco, hedendaags, neoklassiek, jazz, pop, volksmuziek. En de volgende keer dat ik de cd opzet hoor ik waarschijnlijk weer wat nieuws. Het grappige is dat je bij veel van de nummers kunt kiezen hoe je ze wilt beluisteren. Beluister je het als een rock & roll-nummer en dan hoor je rock & roll met wat verrassende middeleeuwse melodielijnen, jazz-tempowisselingen en barok-fraseringen. Maar beluister je hetzelfde stuk als een volkslied, dan hoor je een volkslied met verrassende wendingen en stijlkenmerken. Enzovoort enzovoort. 

Deze muziek blijft mij iedere keer weer boeien. Ik vind het trouwens wel veel concentratie vergen om er goed naar te luisteren. Het is beslist geen achtergrondmuziek. Maar ja, kan ik de heren een nog groter compliment maken dan dat? Ik vind het in ieder geval een ontdekking! Enneh, oh ja, prachtig opgenomen!

.No

Je kunt hier kijken en luisteren naar een live opname van een liedje van de cd:

https://youtu.be/YV7SZdCVqDY

In dit geval gaat het om een bewerking van een oud Vlaams volksliedje.