N.K.

Solo Acts by Coti: electronics/ Nikos Veliotis: feedback / ILIOS: oscillators, field recordings
&
Trio Mohammad (cello/contra-bass/oscillators) presenting Spiriti

Costantino Luca Rolando Kiriakos, born in Milan, Italy in 1966, moved to Greece at the age of 6, where, better known as Coti or Coti K., has been involved in various Athens pioneering electronic bands since the mid eighties (Ricochet, Dada Data, Raw, Spiders’ Web, In Trance 95). He works as a musician, composer, installation artist, record producer and sound engineer, and collaborations include: Tuxedomoon, Stereo Nova, Blaine Reininger, The Raining Pleasure, Nikos Veliotis, Ilios and others. He has released various solo CDs, written music for film, theatre, dance companies and TV. A member of club 2-13, he has played live electronics with many musicians including Evan Parker, Phil Durrant, Nikos Veliotis, Rhodri Davies, Andrea Neumann, Phill Niblock, Mark Wastell, Matt Davis and others.

Nikos Veliotis is cello player and video artist who at last after all these years needs little introduction to the greek music-loving public. Whether endlessly bowing, simply plucking, or grinding his cello to pieces, he’s guaranteed to add immesurable weight the proceedings. He’s been known to perform in the experimental outfits of Cranc (Rhodri & Angharad Davies), Looper (Martin Kuechen & Ingar Zach), Texturizer (with Coti K), Mohammad (Coti again, and Ilios), Vertical (with Anastasis Grivas) but also with the occasional songwriter type (David Grubbs, Giannis Aggelakas).

Active since the early 90′s in sound art and image, ILIOS has been exploring the extremes of sound and image derived phenomena. Through constant change in his sound palette touching and surpassing the limits of the sound spectrum ILIOS advocates for an anti-career. Some of ILIOS recorded output has been regarded by the media as: “The sound of death” or “The most enervating record imaginable”.

More than 200 live shows, lectures and workshops in 30 countries in: Asia, South + North America, Europe, Oceania pushing the space and body resistances to a hard test pursuing a state of alert for the human senses. Numerous audio releases including: “Kenrimono” based on sounds of pachinko parlours, “Vento Elektra” based on electric signals and home electricity, the “Symphonies for oscillators and internal combustion engines”, based on car vibrations; and many others. Also works for contemporary dance companies, theatre, films, animation. Collaborated with many sound artists live and in studio. Has been commissioned works by: World New Music days (Switzerland), Resonance Fm (UK), Yelp DanceCo (Greece), Fabrica (Italy), SineQuaNon (Greece), Grey (Denmark), DogPack (Greece), KineKine (Greece) a.o

Curatorial works include: “Electrograph – “Athens Sound Media” a festival on sound media in Athens (Curator + Co-director), Greece 2001 to 2006 ,SDR Muestra de Arte Sonoro de Santander in Santander, Spain since 2008 (Curator + Co-director), [Un]Commonsounds project (Co-director), sound events for the Athens Biennial (Curator), among others. Current parallel music projects include: Mohammad (Coti K / ILIOS / Nikos Veliotis), Loudspeaker (Chessex / ILIOS / Karkowski).

Since 1997, runs Antifrost, a publishing platform/label for sound media with more than 50 works published till date by renowned artists from all over the globe.

MOHAMMAD is the project of Coti K, ILIOS and Nikos Veliotis. Having worked separately in the experimental field they decided to join forces in order to study and work on the principles of inter-modulation using contra-bass (Coti K.), oscillators (ILIOS) and cello (Nikos Veliotis).

a review by (ParisTransatlantic):
This 280-copy limited edition triple-LP box, the sequel to last year’s intriguing Roto Vildblomma, will, I suspect, appear in many reviewers’ best-of lists. Mohammad – Nikos Veliotis, Coti K and Ilios – seem to have been born to produce ominous sonorities together, and this set definitely places them in favorable position to dominate Subsonic Valley while keeping a residence in Dark Melody County. There may be three discs, each with its own title (respectively, “Malad Van”, “Yap Divòce Tectónica” and “Dis Koraci”), but the core of this music is one and only one: the purveying of gaping tremor, either self-sufficient or strategically placed in a basic configuration not describable as a “tune”, but maybe a part of one, perhaps conceived by Black Sabbath, played on a mellotron and transposed down an octave. The timbral recipe – cello, double bass and oscillators – leaves no doubt on what the ears identify and descramble for the brain to retransmit to the body. The essential traits are right there: a powerful kind of subliminal throb – the sort of oscillation that sets loose objects in rattle-and-buzz mode at less than whispered volume – is persistently in motion, almost never absent. Its clutch is occlusive and convincing, the habitual sturdy pulsation materializing in a few seconds. Still, it’s not just low-frequency galore. The lyrical material (no better way to call it) revolves around extensive tones intertwined in mournful counterpoint and a quasi-systematic use of glissando, a phenomenon which some scientist should study to understand its emphatic repercussions on human consciousness. Similarly, the extraordinary morphing hum that characterizes “Ülvi Borzadás” at the onset of the second album would be valuable for therapeutic purposes. On the other hand, “Moniman”, the awesome “Tectonica” and “Grad” sound like East-European folk melodies slowed down to tortoise pace, unembroidered funeral marches for the ottava alta. Not to mention a handful of infinitesimal details (including even a barking dog) that underpin the gloomy moods and the sense of physical desolation. Act fast and secure a copy of what is destined to become a cult item.–MR

websites:
http://www.mohammad.gr
http://www.nikosveliotis.com
http://www.siteilios.gr
http://www.cotik.com