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 #112: B.I.G. - Autumn Waves

Klik Records has been an influential Greek label that pushed the boundaries of Greek electronic dance music. The first five years of the label (2003 - 2008) were extremely productive with the solid releases composed by the best Greek producers of that era, such as Nikos Diamantopoulos, Ioannis Douskos (aka Dousk) and George Pallikaris (aka G-Pal). However, my favorite Klik release is undoubtedly Mindscapes, the seminal studio album by B.I.G.

B.I.G. (Believe In God) is the music project of brothers Dimos & Michalis Siavelis. The Siavelis bros were raised in Aigio, a town in Achaea, West Greece and they had been involved in music studies (including classical music) for more than 10 years. The turning point in their music journey was Dimos' attendance in Yamaha Music School and Michalis' DJing in summer clubs, both under the apprentice of prolific house producer & DJ Nikos Diamantopoulos.

Dimos and Michalis have been influenced from various music artists, spanning different genres, such as rock (Dire Straits, Pink Floyd), ambient (Brian Eno, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis) and progressive house & trance (Yoogie Van Bellen, Faithless, Bill Hamel). The progressive sound era of the 90's inspired them to a great extent, which can be easily recognized in Mindscapes.

The studio album has been one of Klik Records' earliest releases (seventh), aligned with the company's ethos to publish timeless and classy productions. It was released in 2004 in a double CD format and it features 16 tracks, which are an eclectic blend of progressive house & ambient.

One of the album's highlights is certainly the well-known track A Promise, which has been included in several mix CDs and supported by famous DJs (Armin Van Buuren, Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren). However, the current post will present another personal favorite; the soothing Autumn Waves (which also features the mesmerizing words of Giota Nikolaou as per the former track):

B.I.G. - AUTUMN WAVES

B.I.G. should return to music production to provide us with gems like Mindscapes!

A pinch of Greek electronic music

As already stated in a previous blog post, progressive house & trance were blooming all around the world at the end of the previous century until the mid 00's. Sasha & John Digweed hammered the dance floor of Twilo in New York circa 1998-2001. The success of Global Underground mix CDs, which were circulating in music stores and P2P programs, championed the prog music to the masses (including myself). 

Meanwhile in Greece, there was only a handful of radio stations, which broadcast exclusively electronic music tracks. A personal favorite from my youth years was Liquid FM, although I should mention that I was never a fanatic radio listener. My first encounters with EDM were through Paul Oakenfold Essential mixes that existed in Napster.

Following the trend of prog music, mid 00's was also a fruitful period for Greek artists in the area of EDM. One of the first examples is George Pallikaris, a.k.a. G-Pal. Although he started with more tech and deep house sounds, he released his fifth EP in Bedrock Records (2001), showcasing his first takes on progressive house. Very soon, he developed from an rising artist into a popular DJ and producer, with successful releases, such as Ocean Of Blue (2002) and Ophra (2003).

At the same time, many young talents emerged in the scene, including Stelios Vassiloudis, Kosmas Efstratiou, Christian Cambas, Giannis Douskos and Nikos Galatsopoulos. All of them appeared in an essential Greek compilation CD, Local Underground, paving the way for progressive house music. The prog craze was everywhere. The most popular Greek radio station for electronic music, Best Radio 92.6, was musically oriented on this genre, while having the support of the affiliated label Klik Records. The dancefloors of the Greek night clubs were full of clubbers dancing to the tunes of this era.

EDM has surely changed a lot since then. Progressive house is not considered "hot" now, surrendering its place to other music genres, like deep/tech house and techno. Obviously, the same pattern applies in Greece. There is nothing wrong with that, cause it's all about good music, not music styles. However, I am very curious to listen to the upcoming album of Way Out West and how Nick Warren and Jody Wisternoff (masters of progressive house) evolved through these years!

Tune #32: Nikos Diamantopoulos - Tribal Dreams

BREAKING NEWS!!! Η ελληνική δισκογραφική εταιρεία Klik Records κλείνει 10 χρόνια ζωής. Η γιορτή ξεκινά στο Μusic Miner με μία από τις πρώτες κυκλοφορίες του label, το Tribal Dreams από τον Νίκο Διαμαντόπουλο (Nikos Diamantopoulos).

NIKOS DIAMANTOPOULOS - TRIBAL DREAMS

Η γνωριμία του Νίκου με τη μουσική έγινε στα 9 του, όταν άρχισε τις σπουδές στο μουσικό σχολείο της Yamaha. Μετά την ολοκλήρωση των σπουδών, ανέλαβε την διδασκαλία ενός μαθήματος για 2 χρόνια. Το 1989 ξεκινά την καριέρα του ως DJ, παίζοντας δίσκους jazz, funk και acid jazz επιρροές, ενώ σιγά σιγά επηρεάζεται από την (νέα τότε) house. To 1998 σκέφτεται για πρώτη φορά την παραγωγή δικών του κομματιών, οπότε τον επόμενο χρόνο κυκλοφορεί η πρώτη του δουλειά ως House Perfume υπό την δισκογραφική Coda Records. Το 2002 κυκλοφορεί το πρώτο του album, Deeper Perfume, με διαφορετικό alias (Nikkie D) στην σκωτσέζικη δισκογραφική Under The Counter. Φτάνουμε στο 2003, όταν δημιουργήθηκε η Klik Records, της οποίας το πρώτο artist album που κυκλοφόρησε ήταν το A New Life (στο οποίο περιέχεται και το Tribal Dreams). Τέλος, ο Νίκος κυκλοφορεί το 2005 και 2007 τα albums Moments In Dreams και Blue, αντίστοιχα. Η ενασχόληση του με τη μουσική τα τελευταία χρόνια  συνεχίζεται σε remixes κομματιών άλλων καλλιτεχνών.

Το καλοκαίρι έχει μπει επίσημα εδώ και 3 μέρες. Το Tribal Dreams θα μπορούσε να αποτελεί ένα summer soundtrack, με τους balearic, blissful ήχους του. Παρά τα 10 χρόνια κυκλοφορίας του, ακούγεται πιο φρέσκο από ποτέ... ΚΑΛΟ ΚΑΛΟΚΑΙΡΙ!