Obscure unite in show of might
The local rock circuit’s underground comes to the fore tomorrow night when seven of its more active exponents join forces for one show at the Gagarin 205 club. Titled the Civil Cinder Regalia (CCR) Festival, the event comes in the wake of a recently released compilation CD, bearing the same name, with contributions by all seven acts. On the bill are Absent Minded, Bad Mathematics, Misuse, Modrec, Postblue, The Stereo Shortcuts, and Trypanosoma, who, as a whole, highlight the diversity in trends currently being explored by the local music scene’s more obscure, and, as it usually goes, risque exponents. The bands, all Athens-based, were brought together for tomorrow’s festival and the «CCR» compilation CD that the festival is promoting by Stylianos Tziritas, the head of Tobruk Records, an emerging Athens-based indie label with one other release on its catalog to date, «Ktiriologia,» an experimental solo project from Tziritas himself. Tobruk Records is one of several stylistically distinct sub-labels operating under the umbrella label Ektopia (www.ektopia.gr), a phonographic side venture of the Small Music Theater, which, in more recent times, has developed into an Athenian hub for various types of alternative music. Returning to tomorrow’s festival, one of the seven acts, Absent Minded, are manned by a young and explosive trio on the archetypal rock’n’roll format of guitar, bass and drums. Their material, frenetically paced yet melodic with a punk perspective, is colorfully described as «post-teenage testosterone» by the festival’s coordinator, Tziritas, quite a wild stage performer himself, in the event’s press release. Tziritas, too, will be performing at the festival as a member of Trypanosoma, a hard-hitting duo formed from the ashes of Kopsokefali, a defunct fringe act. Taking their cue from an incongruous spread of acts, among them Alan Vega, Rick James and Curtis Blow for their relentless sound – and stage performance – Trypanosoma use a range of instruments and devices, including distorted bass, clarinet and groove box. Postblue, a fruitful indie band, has managed to put out several independent releases on its own label, pHase! Records. The act’s music to date, which strikes dynamic extremes as its swing from «no-wave» chaos to minimalism, draws from free jazz-rock fusion. There’s a mean streak in the work of The Stereo Shortcuts, who have been compared with Eddie Cochran, The Clash, and the more obscure, by comparison, Beasts of Bourbon, an Australian garage-punk band of the ’80s. Bad Mathematics, fronted by English singer Cassie Moghan, draw from the post-punk era, as well as on Berlin postwar cabaret, for their repertoire. Opting for alternating vocals, at times harmonized, to front its guitar-based sound, Modrec has so far produced songs inspired by acts from both sides of the Atlantic during various phases over the past three decades. Also on the bill are Misuse, a post-rock outfit of fine musicians whose work manifests attention to detail. Tomorrow, 9 p.m., Gagarin 205 Club, Athens (205 Liosion, tel 210.854.7600-2). Admission 10 euros.
