Tune #120: IØN - You Are Not On The Earth As You Believe

Last Saturday I attended a live set curated by Mikael Delta, focused on his retrospective career, back from his early solo production days. His career is well-known both domestically and internationally, either via his involvement in the seminal electronic music group Stereo  Nova (as already mentioned in an earlier post) or by his solo works in several labels (R&S, Glasgow Underground, Distance, Klik Records). Multiple reviews about his productions and his music career in general can be found throughout the web with insightful content. The supporting act for the event was covered by Giannis Papaioannou, aka IØN. My attendance in the venue triggered an opportunity to share a little bit of background about his works.

Giannis Papaioannou's career started in early 80's, when he founded along with his classmates Spyros Faros and Vasilis Sorilos the darkwave band Rehearsed Dreams. A set of demos recorded between 1983 and 1984 were transformed to the long play Repulsion, which was released in 1985 by Creep Records, one of the first Greek indie labels. The album is very dark-oriented (death is the key topic influenced by the band's favorite poets at the time) and is the only official release until their disbandment. Many years later, previously unreleased material was circulated by Inner Ear (another major Greek indie label) in 2011, while Repulsion was remastered and re-released in 2013 by (also Greek) Geheimnis Records.

The next step for Giannis was the creation of label Elfish at the start of the next decade (1991), together with Makis Faros (brother of Spyros Faros), targeted to new electronic music forms from local and international acts. The first release of Elfish was Spider's Web – The Wonderful Weaver, an experimental rock LP, which was a product by the Faros brothers along with Giannis and Leonidas Papadakis. Under the label's umbrella, he collaborated with Makis again as Raw to produce 2 studio albums. Their first album called Land was released in late 1991, focused on ambient / experimental paths (utilizing haunting samplers, synths, e-bowed guitars and clarinets). The sophomore album City was released 3 years later (1994), having a totally different orientation with more rhythm and analog synthesizers, creating the atmosphere of an urban/industrial setting, along with the assistance of Coti K (another prominent figure in the Greek indie electronic scene) as a third member. The initial plans of the project was the creation of a trilogy with another album (Mind), which never came to light; Elfish was disbanded in 1996. 

From 1996 until today, he records and produces his solo works as IØN. After 11 studio albums in approx. 20 years across various labels, his sound has changed into different directions. Personally, I group them loosely in 3 categories:

1. The early years (1996 - 2002): The foundations were established with pure techno sounds
2. The Klik Records era (2003 - 2010): The two albums released, No Camera (2005) and You & Me (2009), have as common ground tech-house tracks, blended with minimal sounds that indicate the next direction
3. The Ambient - Dub Techno phase (2011 - today): The latest period can be characterized in the spectrum of ambient experimental compositions, along with dub techno elements

An also honorable mention would be his side-project Mechanimal, a collective of musicians and video artists, recording industrial post-punk tracks (with Freddie Faulkenberry & Angelica Vrettou as the most frequent collaborators). After 5 original studio albums and 1 remix album, the project showcases another aspect of Giannis Papaioannou music interpretations.

Besides his career in music, he has a very solid background in writing. He is a journalist since the early 90's, writing articles about the Internet for the Greek magazine 01. He has served as an editor in Chief for various magazines (01, Οξύ, Μen, Nitro Elite, Speed, Homme, Chronos Oro) and for a Greek TV show (Hackers). Currently, you can find his latest articles in the online mag OLAFAQ, covering various social topics.

Adhering to the convention of this blog, I have selected a track from one of his latest studio albums (This World Is Collapsing But I Still Love You), which was released in 2021. It belongs to the 3rd phase of this career (as stated above), which is the most mature in my humble opinion.

IØN – YOU ARE NOT ON THE EARTH AS YOU BELIEVE

Given his versatile background both in music and writing, I believe that he should be considered one of the most important figures of contemporary Greek electronic music. Thank you for your music IØN!

Tune #119: Stelios Vassiloudis - Entropy

I believe that I should have written a dedicated post about Stelios Vassiloudis a long time ago, but I guess better late than never.

Stelios Vassiloudis is a Greek electronic music producer and DJ, hailing from Athens. He has established a solid musical background at a very early age, given that he had started playing piano at 5 years old and had studied music theory along with other instruments. The first listening experiences from his parents music collection (ranging from The Beatles and Pink Floyd to Bach and Beethoven) and his studies at a music school have influenced him to evolve his style throughout the years.

His first productions can be found in the early 2000s, focused on progressive house (if you remember, it was the dominant electronic music genre of that era). His collaboration with Viton Mavropoulos to create Wooden Swordz (2004), a nod to the famous homonymous Greek rock band (Ξύλινα Σπαθιά) using a sample taken from the band's track "O Vasilias Tis Skonis", remains still a highlight in the history of Greek electronic dance music.

After this seminal release, he secured releases in various popular labels of that time (Audio Therapy, Electronic Elements, Armada, Renaissance, etc.) either as a producer or as a remixer; his remix on Arenok - Free Yourself is a representative example of his editing skills.

During the early years, Stelios Vassiloudis has adopted his alias Stel for his productions (a nickname still used for his late night DJ sets as Best Radio 92.6). In 2011 it was time to release with his original name the first studio album It Is What It Is, a splendid continous mixture of progressive and tech house with downtempo and ambient elements. The 2-CD album was released in Bedrock (the legendary label of John Digweed and Nick Muir) and has marked a long-standing collaboration until today.

Naturally, his works have been supported by prominent DJs (Sasha, John Digweed, Josh Wink, Laurent Garnier, Steve Bug) and therefore he was granted the opportunity to travel in several places around the globe to perform as a DJ.

In 2022, his second album All Else Fails was released (in the equally seminal record label Balance) and personally this specific work showcased his evolution as a music producer. The shift from club-friendy tracks to an ambient and experimental orientation indicate his versatility in the music production. While I am not familiar with all of his works (in 2023 his third studio album was released by Bedrock), I would dare to say that he is one of my favorite contemporary artists in the field of electronic music.

So, which track is to be selected for today's post? I choose Entropy from his first album, because acoustically (for me) it represents the first ambient signs that would be more evident in his later works.

STELIOS VASSILOUDIS - ENTROPY

P.S. Wishing everyone a Happy 2025!

Some scattered thoughts on dipole of Paul Oakenfold & Andrew Weatherall

On Saturday I had the opportunity of listening to a DJ set by Paul Oakenfold, the former DJ superstar of the 90's and 00's. The feeling of nostalgia was intense, hearing again classic tunes (even in bastardized versions for my taste) and remembering a forgotten era. During the event I recalled somehow the DJ set by the late Andrew Weatherall, performed in Athens in 2019, one year before his unfortunate death from pulmonary embolism. His set was very eclectic, consisting of playful tracks with the beat constraint under 122 bpm.

It is strange how two Englishmen that started in the same period but followed extremely different paths (Greg Wilson's article describes this matter way better than I could ever articulate) influenced my taste for electronic music throughout the years.

I familiarized myself with the iconic Essential Mixes of Paul Oakenfold at the start of the new century, the time at which he reached the ultimate stardom. My brother had even bought the seminal Global Underground 007: New York CD; while the mixing can not be considered smooth, the diverse track selection is superb. For several years, Paul Oakenfold was my favorite DJ, blending tracks from ambient and drum & based to progressive house & goa trance.

Ten years later, I was deeply disillussioned with the direction of electronic music. As a former trance-head, I was not interested at all in the new genres that emerged and the marketeering approach of popular DJs. Luckily for me, I came across with the ALFOS sessions performed by Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston. Surely, I was aware of Sir Andrew's early work (incl. Primal Scream, Sabres Of Paradise, etc.), but to be honest, I never performed a deep dive to go into details. Adopting an "it's never too late" mindset, I started listening more to his early & more contemporary works and I appreciated his approach on music production & mixing. Furthermore, I started liking other genres such as leftfield, nu-disco & indie dance, which were seamlessy interchanged in his sets. 

Back to 2019, after the completion of his DJ set in Athens, I approached Mr. Weatherall and shook his hand, congratulating him for the quirky set. He was very kind to thank me for my feedback, giving me the impression of a simple and humble man, despite his enormous contribution to electronic music. I performed the same gesture to his partner in crime, Sean Johnston, when he played an ALFOS set in a mini club at the centre of Athens in 2022. I am sure that Sir Andrew would be very proud that Sean Johnson preserves the atmosphere of the sets when they performed together. 

Fast forward to today, I did not have to chance to interact with Paul Oakenfold after the set (I left earlier prior the completion of the event), but I assume that it could be not possible due to his stardom persona (and frankly I was not interested in it). 

After many years of listening to electronic music, I am certain that these two figures were essential for crafting and evolving my taste in music. Paul Oakenfold (although irrelevant for me today) would introduce me to dance tunes that would be club mega-hits at the time and Andrew Weatherall would broaden my mind to explore different styles and appreciate more tunes that are not necessarily club-oriented. For the above reasons, I thank them both!

I will conclude with the obvious co-production:

HAPPY MONDAYS - HALLELUJAH (CLUB MIX)