Tune #114: Omicron - Tranquility Base

When I was very young, I wondered why Greek artists do not have a presence in electronic music, whether it was for dancefloors or focused on more ambient paths. The fact is that I was unfamiliar with significant Greek music artists and their music in the 90's. At some point, my ignorance could be justified from the limited exposure of the genre to the mass media (as I little kid I did not have the means or the knowledge how the perform a dedicated search). Therefore, I discovered great music producers in the later years, when I had the time, resources and more important the passion to dig out obscure but inspiring music. 

One of the most interesting digging results is undoubtedly Savvas Ysatis. Influenced by the electronic music innovators Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre, he was absorbed by the beauty of the synthesizers and their endless possibilities. While in his mid-teens he moved from his birthplace (Athens) to New York in order to dedicate his life on electronic music composition. From 1993 until 1997 he developed a fruitful collaboration with Instinct Records, composing a plethora of tracks under various aliases. Through the label he met fellow composer Taylor Dupree and soon they started working their own original material together. Their partnership stood the test of time with many releases spanning different pseudonyms and different genres, from housey techno to ambient & IDM.

At the late 90's Ysatis returned to his birthplace to support and develop the electronic music scene of Greece. He wrote the track Mono + Mono with distinguished Greek DJ & producer Giannis Papaioannou (a.k.a. IØN), adopting the alias Volume One, and started the Allou project with vocalist Elias Aslanoglou, known for his tenure at alternative rock band Magic De Spell.

ΑΛΛΟΥ - ΩΡΑΙΑ ΜΕΡΑ

Since then, he released additional works for prominent labels, such as Plastic City & Tresor, while also collaborating with Taylor Dupree for production of new material for the latter's label 12k. One of his latest partnerships is with fellow Greek producer Fluxion (Konstantinos Soublis) as Soluce for the collaborative album Birth (2018).

I consider a great idea to present in the current post one track from the early works of Savvas Ysatis; it is called Tranquility Base, taken from his first studio album Acrocosm under his Omicron moniker. The entire album is one of the finest examples of ambient/IDM music and the above track just provides a glimpse of a highly sensory experience that takes the listener to a unique ambient journey through cosmical areas!

OMICRON - TRANQUILITY BASE