Jan 202015
 

 

(KevinP turns in another edition of his new NCS interview series, Get To the Point, and in this installment he talks with Nikos Panagiotopoulos, bass player for the Greek bands Universe217 and Lunatic Medlar.)

 

K: I was all set with my first question being “hey you had a busy 2014 with the Universe217 Ease EP & Lunatic Medlar’s debut album, Finely Tuned Machine, then I noticed the latter was in 2013. Sooo, I guess, I’ll go with “what are your plans for 2015”?

N: Universe217 will do a 4-way split with some good friends (Agnes vein-Allochiria-Hedvika) and also planning on finishing our next LP (which we have already started recording). And maybe some re-releases from our earlier material.
As for gigs, we are hoping for some European dates. We have almost finished our Greek tour for our EP Ease and our label, Van Records, already booked us for their Acherontic Arts Fest this coming May.

 

K: The songs for the 4-way split and for the upcoming full-length, can you give us some idea what to expect based on your prior material?

N: It’s more minimal/monolithic and has a colder vibe. We didn’t do it on purpose but I think we have less of that Balkan eastern element of our prior works. We didn’t lose it but you can hear it less. Continue reading »

Sep 182011
 

Yes, I have been called this name before, but this post isn’t about me. It’s about a new band from Athens, Greece called Lunatic Medlar. The band  is composed of members from other longer-standing collectives: Tardive Dyskinesia, Konkave, Sun of Nothing, and Universe 217. I’m a big fan of Tardive Dyskinesia (most recent post about them is here). So, when I saw a mention of this new band, I checked them out this morning.

Their music turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for a sleep-deprived, slightly hungover Sunday morning here in the Pacific Northwest, where summer is now already a distant memory and it’s wet, cool, and gray (pretty much what every day will look like between now and next July). They’re working on a debut album that will be titled Finely Tuned Machine. Until that baby is ready for birth, the band have recorded five songs in a live performance. The multi-camera videos are pro-quality, and all of them can be streamed on the Lunatic Medlar facebook page.

The music is instrumental metal, featuring the kind of polyrhythmic complexity and heavy groove that first drew me to Tardive Dyskensia, and the live performances are pretty fucking tight. It maketh my head to bang. Check out a couple of the vid clips after the jump. We’ll keep you posted on what’s happening with that album. Continue reading »