Electric Litany is a band formed in England in 2007 by singer/guitar player and pianist Alexandros Miaris, bass palyer Duane Petrovich, from Texas and drummer Richard Simic from Devonshire, England.
Miaris was a former member of the band Dead Eyes of Youth who released one album and split right before recording a second one.
Electric Litany released their debut album early this year through Inner Ear Records.
The album is titled “How to be a Child & Win the War“.
I am sure you will love them.
Some people have a long lasting presence on the scene.
As years go by, they might change their musical tastes but they keep holding inside them the pure music of their youth.
The blogspot Tape Recorder had a post, a long time ago, about a tape coming from 1985.
The tape was titled ”Viva Voce” and the band that released it was named Alive She Died.
The line up of this Athenian quartet was: Daphne Gerogianni – Vocals (I think she was a flight stewart back then…), George Ginis – keyboards, Xenophon Xenios – keyboards and a girl named Tina on the bass.
Although the band was rarely playing live, with the support of some Greek music journalists they found a place in the history of Greek new wave underground, even if their only release was this cassette.
Tracklist:
What is interesting to know is what happened to these musicians after they split (or simply changed the name of the band as some state…) in 1987.
Gerogianni and Xenios, along with keyboard player George Bousounis and drummer George Koliopoulos formed the new wave band, Tresspass, and became the second Greek band to appear on MTV.
As you realise, it was a great success for a Greek band to appear on MTV as it is very difficult to appear even on the Greek television (musicians need to be armed with bouzouki to have some chances for doing so…)
The band was the opening act for Nick Cave as well as for the Fall.
George Ginis joined the band Ding An Sich in 1992 and since he was friends with Bousounis, they started working together as record producers.
The two of them succeeded to earn golden albums as producers for Greek artists and (I guess) after Tresspass split, Ginis and Bousounis formed the pop band Ammos in 1992.
Ammos are signed today to a major Greek record label and are frequently releasing albums (they released four albums and one EP).
On the other hand, Gerogianni and Iraklis Anastasiadis formed the electro band Atria in 2001 and released two singles and one album (I think all of them were produced by the duo Ginis-Bousounis).
They were the opening act in Greece for the: Stereo Mcs, Pet Shop Boys, Marc Almond, Anne Clark, Hooverphonic and The Scissor Sisters.
So, Alive She Died was just the beginning…
We apologize for our long absence … we’ve been away for a while with some personal problems…
Finally, the long-awaited CD release of New Zero God’s album, “Fun is a Four Letter Word”, which was digitally released during November 2009, is finding its way through Puzzlemusik Records as a CD.
We are posting two new videos created by the Brazilian fans of the band, who also created the New Zero God Brazilian Blog we showcase on our own blog:
“Fun is a Four Letter Word” will be available during February at local record stores in Australia, Italy and Spain .
It will also be available through Amazon UK, Amazon USA, Amazon Germany and Amazon France, as well as CD Baby in USA and probably even more in a while.
The album will hit the Greek stores on February 17 so, although it might sound strange, we now have a Greek underground release coming through a Greek indie label that will be available over the Greek border earlier than Greece.
For those of you that would like to have another taste of this album, here is one more video made by their Brazilian fans.
The band will perform live on February 28 at Rodeo Club – Athens supported by their label mates Socos & the Live Project Band.
A long time ago I wrote here about George Vanakos.
To be honest, I was never a great fan of his music BUT…
This wonderful channel here, that often links back to tribe4mian (thank you very much by the way, mates…) posted this video.
Ok, not exactly a video but at least you’ll get an idea of how The Profiles sounded.
Their song “We are Pirates” was featured in their album, titled “Brains Escaping” which was released in 1982.
I believe what makes the song most interesting to me is the atmosphere and the tribal drums which bring back memories of Dead Or Alive – I am talking about their first two singles and not about their hit “You Spin me Round”- .
Apart from George Vanakos, one can find Nikos Ginis (from the band Syndromo) playing the bass and Antonis Loxas on the drums.
Antonis Loxas fairly recently released a song with the following hilarious chorus: “Lets go for an HIV test / I want sex without a condom…”
For the Greek readers of this blog, I’ve posted the song here. The foreigners can skip it and read the rest of the post further down below
Now, the mistakes on the back of the album are mindblowing.
This is the track-listing:
Side A
1. Heroe of Tomorrow (missing the “s” in “Heroes”)
2. We are Pirates
3. Don’t you Feel the Atmosphere
4. Devil Insane
Side B
1. Electric Dreams
2. Destroy Acropolis
3. Brains Escaping
4. If you want go to.. (Missing the “to” … in “…to go to”)
5. Διαφυγη Eγκεφάλων
Another member of Syndromo appears as a guest,, Vasilis Korovesis on guitars (or cuitars as it is misspelled on the back cover) while Giorgos Karagiannidis (probably the bass player of the band Mousikes Taxiarhies) plays the keyboards…
The opening track brings back the pseudo new wave album “No” of the Greek prog band Apocalypsis and in the same spirit follows the third song, “Don’t you feel the Atmosphere”.
The side closes with “Devil Insane”…
“Electric Dreams” sounds like a band on vacation rehearsing a summer pop song sometime in the early 80’s, but the song that follows, titled “Destroy Acropolis” finds the band in a destructive mood, clinging wine glasses or something…
“Brains Escaping” has a disco beat, a loop bass line and some keyboards thrown in here and there.
Unfortunately, that’s all..
“If you want go to..” is a reprise of the single “If you Want to go to Amsterdam”.
The closing track, “Διαφυγη Eγκεφάλων” (which mean Brains Escaping) could be a Syndromo track…
Actually the Syndromo influence is very obvious to this album.
I guess we should receive this release as a jamming session of a group of friends that accidentally found a way to be printed on vinyl…
I guess…the only track that can be saved is the”We are Pirates” song…
“Fun Is A Four Letter Word” is the title of the debut studio album of New Zero God.
The Athenian band with a remarkable line up consisted by former members of the bands The Flowers of Romance, Nexus and The Drops, as well as two current members of the band Past Perfect, released their album digitally here.
“Fun Is A Four Letter Word” is expanding from punk rock to post-punk and gothic rock, and immediately catches the listener’s attention with its 12 tracks.
Tracklist:
The band performed live on November 26th at After Dark Club in Athens, supported by the Greek dark wave pioneers Split Image.
New Zero God had most of their album tracks on their set-list as well as some of the Flowers Of Romance hits.
The New Zero God line up: Mike Pougounas – vocals, Dimitris “Sidheog” Steves – drums, B-Abyss – bass, back vox and E-Raptor – guitar.
“Fun Is A Four Letter Word” is scheduled to be released on CD during February 2010.
The band also announced the confirmed forthcoming gigs till February 2010.
Next gig on December 30 2009, headlining “Dark Days II” festival at Sin City Club – Athens.
One more Greek band that is little known even to the Greek underground audience is this one.
The Lesbians released a self-titled 12” EP in 1986, influenced by Liverpudlian bands such as the Teardrop Explodes.
Formed by singer, keyboard player Nikos Mavromatis and keyboard player Phil Golf in 1985, they left no other traces of their fine music.
Formed during the early 80’s, the new wave/synth-pop duet Statues In Motion managed to release one selftitled LP in 1983.
The information is yet very limited and the album is very-very rare nowadays, although it was released through a major Greek label.
So, any additional infos, are welcomed.
Tracklisting:
Side 1.
Virginia Clem
Future Myth
In Silence
Autumn In Paris
Side 2.
Blackout
Let’s Face The Heroes
Era Of The Rats
The Man In Black
Statues
When the Italian label Deacadance Records released the compilation album “Decadance Compilation vol 1.”, in January 2002, Nexus participated with the track “Walking On Thin Ice” from their second album, “Cybernaut”.
“Cybernaut” was released during 2001, about 6 months after the release of “6” and guitar player Lefteris Strouggaris would be recording for the last time with the band.
With the band on the road, the new release found distribution all across Europe and UK and soon it would be sold out proving right the decision of the band to use English lyrics.
Reviews of the foreign press were very flattering such as this one from the Scottish “CD Services” (taken from the band’s MySpace profile): “…Haven’t heard an album like this for a long time since it recreates the cream of ’80′s industrial songwriting and arranging to a tee, with plenty of songs that hearken back to the beat-laden days of 23 Skidoo, Portion Control, early FLA, 400 Blows and the like, with a set of suitably powerful, dynamic and excellently produced/arranged songs, all improved even further by a distinct Sisters Of Mercy (“Floodland“-era) style vocal, with a majority of the songs built around acres of synths, hard rhythms and samples…“
When Nexus and Strouggaris parted ways, the three remaining band members decided to go on using only session guitar players.
Tracklist
1. Walking On Thin Ice 2. Kiss This 3. Land Of Confusion 4.In Your dreams Again 5. Hate Rate 6. Learning To Crawl 7. Welcome To The Angelhood 8. She’s The Elixir 9. Healed by The Tears Of The Shaman 10. Everything Will Fall 11. Tango De La Muerte 12. This Immoral Minority
To be honest, somebody told me that this is a neo-folk album, so I expected to listen to something close to Current 93 or Death in June but he was wrong.
This album was released in Cyprus on May 20 2008 and now is coming out in the Greek market also.
This is not a neo-folk album but an avant-garde one.
“Treesong”, the opening track is a mixture of English folk music and prog rock.
There is a strong flavor of King Crimson, Jethro Tull and some early Genesis put in it.
Acoustic guitars, mandolin, violins and cello player Yiorgos Kaloudis, create an unexpected pagan atmosphere.
A ballad follows by the title “This stream”.
For sure now, the listener is diving in a melancholic ocean that J. Kriste (aka Lefteris Moumtzis) is creating with his songs.
Ruth Hill’s kanun is building up the Middle Eastern atmosphere of the great “Queen of the Moon”
Well known Greek musicians are participating in this album, like Manolis Famellos who is playing the mandolin on the dreamy track “Mariposita”, Alkinoos Ioannidis who is playing soprano, alto, tenor, bass, contrabass, lute on the psychedelic track “Prayer” and “Duke (Great Ungiver)”.
I have to admit that I fell in love with one song of this album.
It’s the track “Pretty Young Thing” which has a touch of Nine Inch Nails when it starts which evolves into some kind of early 70’s bluesy tune (with an ala Robert Fripp guitar solo…).
Singer and founding member of London based band “Masters of Disguise”, Lefteris Moumtzis, returned to Cyprus during last year, to record this 12 track album that will be highly appreciated by the fans of prog and psychedelic rock.
I have to add here one more thing: great artwork.
The tracklist
By the late ‘90’s/early 00’s a lot of things would change in the Greek rock scene. Most of the major record labels saw that there was a big audience for Greek rock bands. In part, this was due to the huge amount of CD copies that the Greek band Trypes sold, as well as other Greek-lyric rock bands, and labels started signing and releasing anything. Good bands, mediocre bands, or bad bands, it didn’t matter.
The Greek major radio stations included Greek rock bands on their programs and slowly the underground scene started fading away. In the years that followed, the interest of the audience started fading away too. Hip-hop bands also made their way into the mainstream sound, but that’s another story.
In the very late 90’s there were almost no fanzines around, except maybe “In Rock”, as far as I can recall. There were very few independent rock radio shows remaining, except for an Athenian radio station which was almost “rock”. This station founded a record label and promoted it’s releases through it’s own radio shows.
That was the situation during 2000, when Nexus released their first album.
Rumor has it that their singer, Mike Pougounas, managed to break his contract with FM Records after the record label rejected the band’s new material following the release of “Nexus” EP. So, while his former band, The Flowers Of Romance, remained assigned to FM Records (they released one album for this label while Pougounas was with them), their singer went on to found his own record label, Cyberdelia Records.
There was one change in the band’s line up since the release of the “Nexus” EP . Guitar player Lefteris Strouggaris and bass player Costas Spanos, maintained their positions in the band but Dimitris “Sidheog” Stevis (former member of the Drops who also played the drums for Nick Frontman’s album “The Art Of Leaving”) replaced drummer Vangelis Papachristopoulos. The new album was engineered by Irene Symeonidou and produced by Pougounas and Strouggaris. It would remain the first and last Nexus album with Greek lyrics.
The day the album, simply titled “6”, was released, Nexus supported their old friends, The Mission, in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. (A couple of years later, Pougounas’ record label, Cyberdelia Records, would release The Mission’s album, “Aura”, for Greece and Cyprus.) Well … in Athens, the sound engineers spent too much time fixing their own mistakes in the sound system connections. The people in charge asked the Greek band to play without a sound check, and Nexus refused to take the stage. In Thessaloniki, everything went smoothly and Nexus opened for The Mission, performing songs from the album “6”, as well as material from The Flowers Of Romance..
The band went on a string of nationwide gigs to promote the new release of “6”, and probably became the first Greek band to use loops and pre-recorded industrial sounds on stage.
It is difficult to pigeonhole “6”. Distorted beats, cold industrial down-tempo songs which change to fast paced rhythms with aggressive guitars and gloomy electronica soundscapes, combined with Greek lyrics made it sound completely different from any other Greek rock release. All and all, “6” remained a very “dark” album.
Bridging the dark wave sound of “I Teleftea Prospathia” (eng. The Last Try ελλ. Η Τελευταία Προσπάθεια) with the Apollo 440/Joy Division-ish style of “Afinontas Piso To Melon” (engl. Leaving the Future Behind ελλ. Αφήνοντας Πίσω Το Μέλλον), or shocking the listener with the drum’n’bass verse that followed the industrial intro of the opening track “Stin Agkalia Τou Sympantos” (engl. Lap of the Universe ελλ. Στην Αγκαλιά Του Σύμπαντος), this album was really weird for a Greek band.
The tracklist:
1. Στην Αγκαλιά του Σύμπαντος (Lap of the Universe)
2. Ύπνωση (Hypnosis)
3. Η Τελευταία Προσπάθεια (The Last Try)
4. Αφήνοντας Πίσω Το Μέλλον (Leaving the Future Behind)
5. Όσο Θα Υπάρχει ο Κόσμος (As Long As the World Will Exist)
6. Μαγική Νύχτα (Magic Night)
7. Ο Παράδεισος Μπορεί Να Περιμένει (Heaven Can Wait)
8. Ξανά (Again)
9. Μια Μέρα Δίχως Σύννεφα (A Day with No Clouds)
10. Το Πάρτυ Της Μοναξιάς (The Party of Loneliness)
11. 3 Μόνο Λεπτά (Just 3 Minutes)
12. Το Τραγούδι Των Χρωμάτων (Color Song)
“6” found it’s way to the 20 best albums for the year 2000 according to some Greek mags. It received some radio airplay and proved to the band that it would be very difficult to find distribution abroad if they carried on using Greek lyrics. So, after that, half of the songs were used on their next album which had English lyrics.
It was released 6 months later under the title “Cybernaut” and for the first time, would get the band over the Greek borders.
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