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Nikos Veliotis

Radial

Label: Confront Recordings

Format: CD

Genre: Experimental

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Radial was recorded on the first of June 2003 on acoustic cello without overdubs or editing.  Radial is a piece in three parts, a structure of continuous sound and/or silence.  Random order of the parts is encouraged. "Nikos Veliotis uses his cello without overdubs to break long minutes of silence with longer, muffled "manual" drones. "Radial" is one of those records I like calling "Sunday afternoon winter music": it's perfect in those grey cold days when you just want to stare out of the window, a painkiller for your confused or aching head. Nikos resorts to this silence/sound alternance like he wanted to allow us some concentration before listening, almost like in an oriental ritual ceremony. His looping cello makes for a compact mass of altered static harmonies, never scattered around yet always with a touch of difference shifting your attention when you're in full immersion. This is the most valuable aspect of a record that, imbued with deep knowledge, throws a bright light of beauty upon a lot of unanswered questions, especially in the first and third movements. But for me, the real magic is part 2: a dissonant, low register mantric slow current just imposing its presence in yourself." Massimo Ricci – touching extremes

Details
Cat. number: confront 13
Year: 2004
the resultant piece has layered depth and strange sonorities that suggest careful arrangement and calculated effectRead more

Veliotis runs 2:13, an improvised and experimental music club in Athens. As a cellist he has interpreted works by composers including Cardew and Xenakis, and his improvising associates have included trombonist Radu Malfatti, saxophonist John Butcher and harpist Rhodri Davies. Made in June 2003, Radial is a three part solo work, where sustained cello sounds are interspersed with brief interludes of silence. Veliotis used an acoustic instrument and no overdubs, but the resultant piece has layered depth and strange sonorities that suggest careful arrangement and calculated effect. Wood and bowed metal are shrouded in booming feedback-like resonance, timbres suggesting electronics and the audible beating of clustered overtones. The three non-silent parts of Radial are overtly static atmospheres with a busy interior life. -- Julian Cowley

- Julian Cowley, The Wire
In all its bleakness, this work is so strong and forceful that one will have to surrender to it completely or probably throw it out right awayRead more

Veliotis is a cello player from Athens, Greece, and actively involved in the new music scene there. His CD Radial is a recording of Veliotis playing his cello without overdubs or editing. There are three parts of sound and four parts of silence, all making up this work. The piece is extremely minimal: the first sound part is a dense tone being played swiftly and without pause. The duration is over twelve minutes and this gives the part its strength, toghether with the frantic playing. The second sound part is again very minimal, but the atmosphere is totally different from the first, very gentle and soft. The third sound part is somewhere in the middle of the former two, but has a lightness that the other two lack. It says on the cover that random play is encouraged and I can actually imagine this having a good effect. It would certainly shuffle moods as well. In all its bleakness, this work is so strong and forceful that one will have to surrender to it completely or probably throw it out right away. There seems to be no middle ground here. As the reader may have noticed I surrendered and thoroughly enjoyed this work. Very well done

- Vital