Benutzer:Ulrichderkautz/Fos - Music temp

The fos project[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

Fos is the music project of London based Greek artist Katerina Koutouzi. The music is mostly acoustic and is characterised by a melodic, organic and subtractive aesthetic. Often a sense of sound collage is created using personally recorded and sampled sound memories in order to reach the desired emotional soundscape or feeling.

Using instinctive structure, rhythm and melody are equally important. Flowing rhythmical patterns of natural electric sounds like pebbles or heaven reaching bells and bare archetypal melody lines support each other to create Fos' organic sound. Language is used as another tool and the use of different languages is emphasizing this. Symbolic words and lyrics are life affirming. The voice is also used as an instrument and some times it is sampled. The mythical dimensions of natural sounds like the wind or the sea, the drumming of a "daouli" (a traditional greek drum) and the blowing of a conch (one of the oldest instruments on earth) give the music a very "old" quality. Other instruments used are an accordion, an old glockenspiel, a harmonium, a piano, a melodica and a snare drum. Along with these acoustic instruments there is also some use of electronic music.

Fos has already released three albums on the artist's own record label near the exit music. The music of Fos has been played on various radio stations including BBC Radio 6 by Tom Ravenscroft, Tom Robinson and Nemone. "Fos" has played live on Resonance Fm, NTS Radio, performed live for the online dance music TV channel Boiler Room and at various festivals and venues across the UK including the National Portrait Gallery in London.

About the Artist[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

Katerina Koutouzi hails from Kalymnos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, where she grew up to the beat of the local traditional music. She comes from a musical family. To this day her great grandfather, violinist Theofilos Magriplis, is celebrated as the music master of the Dodecanese archipelago, inspiring generations of musicians. Her grandparents sang the island songs and especially enjoyed chanting Byzantine psalms each day. Her father loved to invite local musicians to his house and sing traditional island songs with them. He played the harmonica and was fond of listening to the music of Theodorakis and Xilouris in his car. Katerina’s mother played the accordion and wrote poetry. Katerina taught herself the accordion and learned the old Greek songs her mother played. She spent her teenage years in Athens, where she sang with school choirs and provided accompaniment on the accordion and piano. Katerina soon fell in love with dance, and was introduced to the beautiful music of Hatzidakis and Karaindrou through her first dance teacher, Eleanna Vidali. In Athens she also discovered the beauty of minimalist music and started listening to Wim Mertens, among others. At 19 Katerina moved to London, where she studied dance and choreography at the Laban Centre of Movement and Dance. She loved her choreography studies and firmly believes that in the creation of both dance and music, the same creative process is at work. Her dance studies exposed Katerina to a slew of contemporary music. She went on to explore dance and electronic music, and studied music technology. Katerina Koutouzi started writing her own music under the name "Fos" around the age of 28. She lives and works in London as a musician, writing, producing and performing her own work.

Discography[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

2017 “Captain Free” by Fos, 12” Vinyl and download, Near The Exit Music, Cat. No: NTEMV002

2012 “With the Seagulls II” track release of live recording in the Boiler Room / Red Stripe Make Sessions 5 / NTS Compilation, 12” Vinyl.

2010 “Rock” by Fos, CD and download, Near The Exit Music, Cat. No.: NTEMCD001

2008 “Psila” by Fos, download, Near The Exit Music, Cat. No.: NTEMD000

First Album: Psila (2008 - DL)[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

Cat No: NTEMD000

Psila was the first album released in 2008

This album is dedicated to the artist's beloved grandmother, Katerina Magriplis.

A piercing exploration of ideas on death and eternity.

Track list[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

1.taxidepsa I 5.11 min

2.psila 3.26 min

3.aspro aerostato 5.16 min

4.special place 4.30 min

5.the sailboat 7.17 min

6.taxidepsa II 5.54 min

Second Album: Rock (2010 - CD & DL)[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

Cat No: NTEMCD001

Seaside recordings and emotional states expressed through the cries of seagulls.

There’s the sense of a healing process going on here, and in the final song sound turns to water and engulfs the listener, who becomes a sort of embryo in the deepest blue.

Track list

1. sunset 4.12 min

2. thalassa platia 4.18 min

3. katharsi 3.49 min

4. with the seagulls I 3.31 min

5. mnimi 3.07 min

6. un courant 5.01 min

7. wire 5.15 min

8. with the seagulls II 3.32 min

9. in harmony 4.30 min

Third Album: Captain Free (2017 - Vinyl 12" & DL)[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

Cat No: NTEMV002

Captain Free takes you on a journey from Dalston neon market stalls reflected in kerbside puddles to the silvery darting fish swimming in the clear Greek island waters. Squidgy beats and airy synth complemented by a gentle voice full of promise, blow over the listener like a familiar summer breeze. The album takes the listener on a sailing trip through varied musical waters. The whole album evolves around the theme of sailing on one's sailboat in the vast blue as a symbolic metaphor on the meaning of life and being alive.

Track list

Side A

Captain Free 04.00

Aeras Fissa 03.48

Better No Map 04.40

Adamos 04.33

Captain Free II 04.01

Side B

Captain Free III 03.49

Sailing out of the Storm 06.03

Wild on Blue 11.01

Bonus Track (DL only)

Captain Free IV 04.01

Reviews (selected quotes)[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

2017 (on Captain Free)

- "Captain Free has a unique charm about it, powering along like a lost motoric gem..." (Electronic North)^[1]

2010 (on Rock)

Following the release of “Rock”, Fos received reviews from music critics from all over the world. Selected excerpts from some reviews on “Rock”:

- “a blissed out avant folk-pop revelation. a masterful piece of work that weaves conch, accordion, harmonium, glock, piano and electronic elements into a flowing meditation of oceanic push and pull...a thing of wonder”(The Rough Trade)

- “If you want something done right, do it yourself..The production value is so crisp that it sounds live, with every sound - daouli, conch, footsteps on sand - leaping from the speakers. There is a lot going on, but nothing is hidden; it is as if the noonday sun has burned through the clouds and eliminated all of the shadows. Because so much of the mix is upfront, the album sounds immediate, almost to the point of being confrontational. ” (The Silent Ballet)

- “an unpolished little gem” (Music, Musings and Miscellany)

- “There’s a lot going on here, and Koutouzi juggles each bristling element with finesse. She seems preoccupied with stimuli of all sorts, and even more interested in shaping and wrangling them than your typical experimental musician”. (Cyclic Defrost)

- “...crafting tracks that bob, duck and dive out of the way of genre expectations, moving in such unexpected directions that defy logic but placate the ear...Fos has developed an enormously overwhelming ability to spin together an assortment and array of oddities in terms of sound and style, weaving them together on a giant loom into a tapestry of melody, art, rhythm and hazy dreams... The music of Fos has a folktastic base that spirals wildy off towards avant garde directions whilst maintaining a sense of calm pop in the way each song is constructed and the avenues they explore ” (New Narcotics)

- “Fos conveys an idiosyncratic view from her rock, one that is fresh as the sea air of which she sings” (Sonomu)

- “That the songs range across such a broad range of styles makes Koutouzi's Fos a challenging persona to pin down, but that's at least preferable to the music being too one-dimensional and lacking in variety...Rock is a commendable set and its non-stop flow of ideas holds one's attention.” (Textura)

- “it’s a lovely little disc, a self-contained world within” (Cows are just food)

- “it's "brilliant"...the largely organic nature of her arsenal of instruments” (Norman Records)

- "Modern meets traditional on this slice of Greek folktronica...The album flickers between the traditional and contemporary.. These pieces are crafted with a huge degree of skill...Maybe this record is better understood as a piece of art – performance art, captured on a recording?” (Sic Magazine)

Performances [Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]

03.07.17 live performance for The deXter Bentley Hello GoodBye Show on Resonance 104.4 FM.

29.11.13 live performance with L' Orchestre Du Mont Plaisant at The Dentist, Clapton, London.

21.11.13 live performance with L' Orchestre Du Mont Plaisant at The Scolt Head, Dalston, London.

05.11.12 live performance for BOILER ROOM/Red Stripe Make Sessions 005/NTS, Hackney Down Studios.

20.09.12 live performance for Fractal Waves with Jess Bryant at the Trangallan, London.

14.09.11 live performance on NTS Radio OPEN - AIR show.

08.07.11 live performance at The National Portrait Gallery (late shift), London.

16.06.11 live performance for the 16th Acoustic Suicide, with Jack Allett and Serafina Steer, The Gladstone Arms, Borough, London.

05.05.11 live performance at the Servant Jazz Quarters with Clorinde, Dalston, London.

09.04.11 “Dino-Digger Dance” live improvisation for audio-sculptural performance for film, collaboration with artist Johana Hartwig, Monk Nash beach, South Wales.

12.03.11 live performance for The deXter Bentley Hello GoodBye Show on Resonance 104.4 FM.

22.01.11 live performance at the Shhh! Festival, the Cecil Sharp House, London.

22.12.10 live performance for the Goo Nite at The Hideaway, London.

30.08.09 live performance at the CWM BACK 09 festival, Wales (Mellowcroft, Mid Wales).

20.06.09 live performance at the Blue Lagoon festival, Wales (St David's, Pembrokeshire).