Greece

Music is abundant in Greece. Since the beginning of their time, the Greeks have loved to dance. Traditional folk & classical Greek music goes face to face with the harshest of Greek black death gothic power metal. However, being the Contrarian that I am (as well as narco-anarchist & high as the sky) I decided to touch on two other ends of the spectra.

Psych-trance breakbeat-acid electronics goes face to face with 50s rockabilly & 60s garage rock.

Sentna is an electronic audio project functioning under the techno producer Apostolos Karalis. Sentna experiments essentially with the sounds of psychedelic techno-trance. Sentna’s vision is to deliver his own unique audio styles to the electronic musick community: combining cutting edge audio technologies & methologies; blending both hardware & sofware applications; experimenting with tech-groove rythms, industrial sound fx, mechanized atmospheres, inflated bass loops & razor distorted synths. He  is always attempting to invent new sonic formulas for the best acoustic results so that his tracks will give you an inward stimulation of your most eclectic neurons.

Sentna believes in FREE MUSICK. He believes that the meaning, the purpose & the true value of music can gradually & easily be lost when being used as just another selling product. After all, at the beginning of human culture & even now in some so-called ‘primitive societies’, when man's mind & conciousness were or are pure & not alienated by today's global system of depression, humanity uses music & arts for celebrations, ceremonies, inducing trance states, without the use of money, trade or any dealing method for its production. They were or are simply exploring the sound by observing the effect to their brains & the influence that it had to their lives, through living experience, not motivated by money, profit or self success.

 

 Sentna ‎– Nuhlimkilaka (Bringer of Confusion), Psychotropic Records ‎– PSTRO1, 2009. 

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Tracklist –

Kahos Ekenza

The Way Back to the Center

4 Dimensions

I Think You do Care

Ant Dance

Etenoha

Nuhlimkilaka

Grandfather Peyote

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StrangeZero are SteliosZero - Στέλιος Φανουράκης (Stelios Fanourakis) & Io-V - Γιάννης Βασιλάς (John Vasilas), from Greece, traveling with machines, dreams & whispering screams. These two young scientists, Doctor John Vasilas & economist Stelios Fanourakis with musick as their “hobby”, a hobby that has translated their passion for music into a most remarkable discography series in the electronica / ambient / experimental scene.

They first met in 1984. They stayed in touch because of their tastes in music. In 1990 they started writing under various names using just a sampler & an Amiga 500. They made field recordings, taping rain sounds & sounds from the places wherever they travelled. They combined these samples with breakbeats, acid tunes & guitars. In many tracks they used vocals. All these tracks still exist in audio tapes & DAT.

For several years their music was put on hold. Stelios was working as a radio producer while Io-V went off to Beograd to study medicine. They got together again in 1998, when they decided to form a more stable unit, an electronic band. They named the band StrangeZero, a name that basically went out as a rallying call to all minorities or outsider groups, usually referred to as Zero’s. It is meant to signify that a Ø can become something when it’s strange, that it can have a unique identity.

StrangeZero were influenced by old Harthouse & Eye Q (techno recording Sven Väth’s Harthouse, a sub-label of Eye Q), strong acid 303 trips (Roland TB 303 - the 303s sound is affectionately referred to as ‘acid’ & it is the leading instrument in ‘acid techno’, a form of music that often focuses on one ‘pattern’ that evolves over the course of the track, from a low grumble all the way up to a distorted screech, achieved by the ‘tweaking’ of the 303 knobs), & experimental ambient sounds. They produced mainly spheric, trancelike music with an excellent choice of spoken words. A great example is the outro "All of Us". They have mixed the speech of a child, Severn Suzuki, at the UN Earth Summit in 1992 into the most appropriate musical framework. Dynamic music, produced professionally, sometimes with a slightly melancholic tendency.

Some people might write this release off as being too simple. & it is quite simple. Despite being filled with sensory overload, every note is given plenty of time to breathe & grow. Nothing is cluttered. The Music relies more on subtlety than forcefulness to work its magic. Every rise & fall, every ebb & flow is allowed to be relished & savored in its own time. The little story contained within the confines of these 13 tracks is a delight to hear unfold. If Newborn Butterflies tells us one thing, it’s this: the story tellers have returned with more fine wares to sample.

 StrangeZero – Newborn Butterflies, StrangeZero self-released 005, 2010. 

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The Blue Jeans are definitely the most well known rockabilly band that ever came out of Greece. The Blue Jeans were formed back in 1984 by Alex Berekos initially as a four piece band playing mostly covers. After two years of constant gigging they are offered their first chance to release an E.P. for the Wipe Out recording label. The E.P. features two original songs plus a cover of the instrumental surf tune "Wipe Out". Today this release is considered a collector's item.

In 1990 the band went through a lot of changes both in their line up & with their sound. They added an upright bass player & turned toward a more authentic Rockabilly style while keeping much of their signature sound. The new band was rapidly accepted. Gigs were well received by an ever increasing number of fans. The Blue Jeans soon became one of the hottest live bands in Greece.

In 1991 Angelos Michalopoulos joins the band on saxophone. They are picked to open for both The Cramps & The Ramones shows in Athens. There is not much time for anything but live club & festival dates. Finally the band gets some time to hit the studio, & in 1992 at last they release their first full album HARD TIMES. One of the album's songs, “You Better Watch Out”, is picked up for a UK Nervous Records/ Fury compilation called Streets of Fear released in 1994. Because of fans in England, they get to play at the Hemsby Rock’n’Roll Weekender #15 in 1995. Back in Athens after the festival,  the band decides to stop playing live for a while in order to concentrate on their future plans. They take a short break that lasts up to this day.

The Blue Jeans are: Alex Berekos – guitar & vocals;  Stelios ‘Boogie Boy Steve’ Berekos – double ‘trouble’ bass & Fender bass; Zafiris ‘Jeff’ Karpozolotas – drums & precussion; & Angelos Michalopoulos – saxophone.

 The Blue Jeans – Hard Time, Studio II ST II 03, 1992. 

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The Sound Explosion is a garage rock band formed in May 1991 in Athens, Greece. They got together in order to play garage punk & have great live shows, reviving the lost party days of the mid 60’s.

The line-up was: John - vocals, 6 & 12 string Vox guitar, & harmonica; Jim - Eko bass & backing vocals; Stelios - Farfisa organ, maracas & backing vocals: & Stavros – drums & tambourine. They disbanded in early 1997 but in 2009 they got back together again.
The line-up now is the same except for the organ, which is now handled by Stelios Askoxylakis, who replaced Stelios Drissis, who now resides in Belgium. They still play that old 60's styled garage/punk.

Thanks to their releases through foreign labels they encountered fans in several countries all over the planet. It was in 1993 when The Sound Explosion came up with the release of their debut 7” single “Hangover Baby/Some Other Guy”. Their next single release came through an American label, Dionysus Records in 1994. “I’ll Shake the Universe/Why Can’t You See?”. Their one & only LP was released through the German label Music Maniac Records in 1994, titled The Sound Explosion – Teen Trash vol. 14 from Athens-Greece on the label’s Teen Trash Series. They supported several foreign bands such as The Fuzztones, Dead Moon, Marshmallow Overcoat & The Others. In 1995, a third single was released: “Another Lie/Misirlou the Greek”. Even though they called it quits in 1997, they succeeded in releasing one final 7” in 2000, the four song ep The Last Recordings.

 The Sound Explosion - HanoverBaby/Some Other Guy 7”, Pegasus Records – PEG 010, 1993.

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 The Sound Explosion - I’ll Shake the Universe/Why Can’t I See?7”, 

Dionysus Records – ID074557, 1994.

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 The Sound Explosion - Teen Trash Volume 14: from Athens, Greece, 

Music Maniac Records – MMLP 88014, 1994.

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Side A –

Inspector Clouseau in Outer Space / State of My Mind

Send a Message

She’s One of a Kind

Hopeless Endless Way

Don’t Turn Away

Side B –

Lost in Tyme

No!No!No!No!No!

My Baby Went Away with the Midnight Train

The Last November

In the Past

We’re the Sound Explosion

The Sound Explosion - Another Lie / Misirlou the Greek 7”, Studio II Records – ST II 08, 1995. 

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 The Sound Explosion - The Last Recordings 7” ep, Το Δισκάδικο – S-01-A, 2000.

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A1 The S.EX. in Outer Space

A2 You’d Better Shake Right Now

B1 Watch Yourself

B2 She’s Sorry

Rock on & party hardy,

NØ