Tasos Stamou - D.A.D '2019

Tracks list

Greek-in-London, Tasos Stamou forges a beguiling and charmingly playful
crossroads of traditional tunes and electronic abstraction in his 2nd side (in 2
years) for the wonderful Discrepant label. A massive tip to fans of Dariush
Dolat-Shahi and Sote!

Riffing on ideas of provenance, ontology, and the nature of ancient and modern
languages, Stamou’s ‘D-A-D’ is a fascinating exploration of
roots and futurism written between 2015-2018 in homage to his father. As such,
it’s wittily titled ‘D-A-D’ as a nod to both the
commonly-used tuning of Greek Bouzoukis and his pops, and incorporates the
instrument in a range of ways, from mesmerising acoustic recordings to
electronically aided abstractions that recall Dariush Dolat-Shahi’s
masterful mix of Sehtar and modular synth for Folkways in 1985 (as reissued by
Dead-Cert Home Ents in 2015). 

Unfolding in two seamless, side-long parts, Stamou is literally and figuratively
stripped to the bare essense of what he considers important. Aye, that’s
him starkers, clutching a Bouzouki on the back cover and also standing proudly
in the buff on the inner sleeve. And they’re canny visual metaphors for
the music, which Stamou playfully gathers from a mix of field recordings made at
his Uncles’ house parties, in a Thessaloniki thrift shop, and at a
“Gipsy clearance service” (whatever that is), and a Greek Orthodox
mass, before adding disorienting layers of synthesis and electronic process in
order to access and inhabit the recordings with his mischievous/savant spirit.

In his hands, the everyday and prosaic become illuminated as supernatural, and
ancient tunings and tunes are subtly reanimated with extra, irisdescent,
inter-dimensional layers. The mix of realism and hyperrealism is just deeply
intoxicating to our ears, and perhaps most subtly and vitally revealing his
musical sense of self as a product of environment and generative nurture. 

Tracklist:
01. Tasos Stamou - Drama (7:24)
02. Tasos Stamou - Svedas (4:36)
03. Tasos Stamou - I Dont Want You Anymore (5:04)
04. Tasos Stamou - Taximi #01 (2:34)
05. Tasos Stamou - Markos dream (4:02)
06. Tasos Stamou - Laterna (1:48)
07. Tasos Stamou - Inside Your Kingdom (5:22)
08. Tasos Stamou - Taximi #02 (5:34)
09. Tasos Stamou - Throwing Dice (3:07)

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