November 2011

Soviet Soviet + Comaneci/Live, Friday 9 December @ SIX D.O.G.S.

At the 1976 Olympics, in front of a stadium buzzing with voices and staring eyes a young girl made history. With cat-like grace and a framework more suited for a butterfly than a tumbler, Nadia Comaneci enchanted, danced and floated between the parallels becoming the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10.
Comaneci entered everyones heart in that stadium, and in 2002 started to share her meaningful appellative with this punk acoustic outfit from Ravenna, Italy.
Comaneci issued two self-titled EP in 2004 and 2005, the albums _volcano_ in 2007 and YOU A LIE in 2009. They played many shows throughout Italy, Europe and Usa; a precious collaboration with director S. Mordini for the soundtrack of his film Provincia Meccanica also presented at the Berlin Festival (OST available on EMI).
Francesca Amati – Classical guitar, vocals
Glauco Salvo – Electric guitar, banjo

Soviet Soviet were born in 2008 between Pesaro and Fano, Italy.
After a year they refine a bunch of singles gathered toghether and
published, in 2009, in their first self-produced EP recorded at Waves
Studio of their long time friend Paolo Rossi who still captures and
cures the band’s sounds.
With the first live gigs and the spread of the songs on the internet,
they start to receive positive feedbacks and, in Semptember 2009, they
are reviewed on Pitchfork.

In 2010, Soviet Soviet, toghether with the anglo-french Frank (Just
Frank), publish their second EP for the Mannequin Records, then quoted
by Simon Reynolds in his new work “Retromania”. After a french tour,
the three guys discover a vocation for the european stages and the
number of live exibitions grows: they start to play all over Europe,
even in many important festivals.
In February 2011, the Tannen Records label, from Verona, cures the
digital release of “Nice”, a collection of the two EP. In May 2011,
the song “Restless” is published by Discipline in the compilation “A
Contemporary Picture of the Obscure Italo Music Movement”. Later, the
band lands in eight different countries of the Eastern Europe thanks
to a new crowded tour.
In June 2011, the song “Lokomotiv” is selected as opening track for
the berliner compilation “Death # Disco – Volume I”.
In the same month, the Tannen Records seals the union with the band by
publishing the EP “Summer, Jesus” that collects a lot of good reviews
from national and international media.

JOHN MAUS + The Boy/Live, Monday 21 November @ Six D.O.G.S.

“What did I just saw?” It’s a common question after a John Maus live show. The seemingly shy philosophy professor from Minnesota is so powerful when on stage that you think he is possessed by an 80s synth pop demon. He screams, hits, bounces and ultimately pulls his audience into his dreamy, retro-futuristic universe. Hence the legendary music lovers’ t-shirts with the motto «I saw John Maus live!»

His constant search for the “truth of pop” and the universal values of love and truth through a mutually intelligible language brought him next to the side of Ariel Pink and Panda Bear, and urged him to reconstruct DIY new wave through three extremely personal albums.
This year’s “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” is undoubtedly his greatest achievement so far and claims a high place on the 2011 best albums lists.

The support artist is The Boy /Alexanderos Voulgaris and he could be considered as an intellectual brother of John Maus, The Boy draws a deep line of concrete meaning and sends Black Blood (the first book of the same title, released along with this year’s album “Hliotherapeia”) to the front line of Greek lyricism. He works as a link between parallel worlds that lay bare in front of our eyes on a daily basis. He reinforces his message by talking face to face and exposing a loud domestic violence that does not redeem but speaks of an uncertain future.

Admission: 12 euros
Starts: 21.30

http://www.sixdogs.gr

EMA + Monovine/ Live, Saturday 19 November @ Bios.

Erika M. Anderson was formerly known by few as the frontwoman of Gowns, the Californian drone folk band that disbanded after the release of a remarkable album and a string of legendary live shows.

This year, however, her name caused a sensation in all major international musical media and found a distinctive position next to the names of PJ Harvey, Cat Power and Kim Gordon.

Through the release of her first solo album ‘Past Life Martyred Saints’, Erika leaves aside the unsettled bliss of older times and pays tribute on the raw lyricism of scarring relationships and the experimental noise scene that stretches from the ominous graveyards of South Dakota to the outskirts of Seattle. She composes a thrilling collage of built-up sound and simple everyday standards that juggles between her 6ft tall figure and her deep distinctive voice. Her Viking ancestor, Eric-Blood Axe can only comply with the burning lyrics “I’m 22 and I don’t mind dying. “, cleverly borrowed from the epic song “Who Do You Love”.

EMA is coming to Athens for the first time to present her explosive live show along with three members of her band and the swagger of riot grrrls in her pocket.

The concert will open with Monovine, the tight-knit prolific band from Patras that this year released their first album “CLICHÉ” through Inner Ear Records. They masterfully lead harmony to noisy cognitive paths through their pious grunge riffs and compose an orgiastic rock history that tackles the space between the birth and death of… sound.
The concert will take place on the outer room of Bios that has a capacity of up to 350 people.

Ticket price: 16 EUR

http://www.bios.gr/tickets/713/