Live: Europavox Festival with The Limiñanas, The Oscillation, The Noise Figures, The Third Sound (Athens, Dec. 10th, 2016)

The Limiñanas, live @ Europavox Festival, Fuzz Club, Athens

Europavox Festival, a project dedicated to the promotion of European musical diversity which started in 2006, opened its doors for the first time in Athens last Saturday, with an event held at Fuzz Club, featuring The Limiñanas from France, The Oscillation from the UK, The Noise Figures from Greece and the Berlin-based The Third Sound, the band formed by Hákon Aðalsteinsson, formerly of Icelandic band Singapore Sling.

The Limiñanas

The Limiñanas, the headliners of this mini festival, played an excellent 70-minute set filled with infectious, '60s-influenced psych and garage pop melodies.

The band from Cabestany, in the south of France, presented tracks from their recent album "Malamore", as well as older material, which showed us how the language-barrier can be easily broken down by the power of good, old rock’n’roll. Their songs, sung in French and English by either Marie or Lio Limiñana, the group’s creative core, are driven by buzzing garage-rock guitar lines and simple, yet highly-effective, drum rhythms. The Limiñanas’ rock energy and good vibes didn’t take too long to spread from the band to the audience, who showed their appreciation to both new and old material; the perfect ending for a fine night of rock music from all corners of the European map!

Marie and Lio Limiñana

Earlier in the evening we also enjoyed The Oscillation’s krautrock-influenced, psychedelic sound, The Noise Figures explosive, garage-blues rooted, guitar & drums workout, and The Third Sound’s mix of psych-rock and post-punk.

The Oscillation, live @ Europavox Festival, Fuzz Club, Athens

The Noise Figures, live @ Europavox Festival, Fuzz Club, Athens

The Third Sound, live @ Europavox Festival, Fuzz Club, Athens

The Oscillation, the band formed by Demian Castellanos almost 10 years ago in Walthamstow, presented their latest album "Monographic", which sounded even better live, with the motorik drum beat adding more drive to their fuzzy guitar sound. The Noise Figures, the representatives of the local rock scene, seem to be getting better and better each time we cross paths, and this was definitely the best show we have witnessed by them so far, while The Third Sound kicked off proceeding by spreading their dark "Gospels of Degeneration".

The Limiñanas

The Oscillation

The Noise Figures

The Third Sound

Check out below The Limiñanas playing "Funeral Baby", as well as highlights from the performances of The Oscillation, The Noise Figures and The Third Sound at the Athens edition of Europavox Festival:

The Limiñanas - Funeral Baby (live in Athens @ Europavox Festival)

The Oscillation - Take Us to the Moon (live in Athens @ Europavox Festival)

The Noise Figures - In The Boneyard (live in Athens @ Europavox Festival)

The Third Sound (live in Athens @ Europavox Festival)

Found Sound Vol.11

Sounds from the underground for the adventurous music fan: In the 11th edition of Found Sound we have collected some of the most interesting submissions we've received lately plus the latest findings in our ongoing quest for discovering cool new music. As usual, the mix is diverse and all over the map:

Childbirth - I Only Fucked You As A Joke

As luck would have it, I came across Childbirth the same day I saw the documentary "The Punk Singer" about Kathleen Hanna and the riot grrl movement. Childbirth, a Seattle "supergroup" comprising of Julia Shapiro (guitar, vocals), Bree McKenna (bass, vocals), and Stacy Peck (drums), continue the tradition with the riotous mini LP "It's a Girl!", available on cassette from Help Yourself Records and digitally here. Have a listen above to the hilariously twisted single "I Only Fucked You As A Joke", it's a blast!

The Noise Figures - Out Of Your Mind

Explosive blues-punk with '60s influences from the Athens, Greece, duo The Noise Figures: "Out Of Your Mind" is taken from their self-titled debut LP, released late last year on Inner Ear Records (available here). Fans of Jack White will find plenty to like in this noisy 30-minute wild ride!

Alien Hand Syndrome - Slumber

Alien Hand Syndrome is the alias of Viennese artist Clemens Engert who recently released his second album, "Slumber", an intriguing strain of dark, melodic alternative rock combined with classical piano/cello arrangements. Check out above the title track of the album, whose video uses material from the 1903 film "Alice in Wonderand" by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow and go here for more info and music downloads.

Gretchen Lohse - Ornament Of The Enamored Heart

Ornament of the Enamored Heart (Demo Version) - Gretchen Lohse from Zac Nicholson on Vimeo.

And here's another artist with a fondness for silent films. Philadelphia singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gretchen Lohse creates barebones folk songs built around her enchanting voice and guitar. Flutes, strings and synthesizers creep in the background as well as sounds mined from her collection of old, warped VHS home movies creating otherworldly yet comfortingly familiar psych folk soundscapes. The track "Ornament of the Enamored Heart" comes from her solo album "Primal Rumble", available for download here and on cassette through Humble Twin Records.

Passenger Peru - Heavy Drugs

For the finale, a dose of psychedelic pop with "Heavy Drugs", the first single off Passenger Peru’s self-titled album due out January 28th on cassette and digital formats via Fleeting Youth Records. The Brooklyn duo consists of Justin Stivers (bassist on The Antlers album "Hospice") and multi-instrumentalist Justin Gonzales who recorded the album over the course of a year in Brooklyn basements and tranquil locations in the foothills of the Alaskan wilderness.

Japandroids, The Noise Figures, live @ An Club (Athens, October 24,2012)

Here’s a question for rock music scholars: Was it the sharp rise in popularity of The White Stripes that imposed the guitar-drums power duo as a dominant force in modern indie rock or is this another sign of the plummeting world economy and the subsequent downsizing of everything? One thing is certain though; there are many unemployed bass players out there and as long as bands like Japandroids are capable of such mind-blowing shows like the one we witnessed on Wednesday, the future of the low end in modern rock and its many garage - blues - punk offshoots remains uncertain.

With two excellent albums, one collection and several singles in their discography so far, Japandroids were already high in my personal hierarchy of guitar-drums duos. After their marathon, 110-minute set at An Club which included a large portion of this discography, the band certainly cemented its place near the top of this rapidly increasing list.

The extended length of this particular show was down to the band’s desire to give their Greek fans something extra at their first-ever Athens show. As a result, we had the opportunity to enjoy not only the eight tracks on the band’s most recent LP, "Celebration Rock", but a large portion of their back catalog as well, including tracks from their very first days as a band, like their cover of McLusky’s "To Hell With Good Intentions". All the highlights from their debut album "Post-Nothing" were also present in their set as well, including my favorites "Young Hearts Spark Fire" and "Wet Hair". Japandroids’ rock celebration ended with an explosive rendition of The Gun Club’s "For the Love of Ivy", injecting drunken energy to a cherished classic.

Japandroids, live @ An Club (Oct. 24, 2012)

The night opened with a brief set by another noisy guitar-drums duo, The Noise Figures. The new band, which consists of George Nikas from Zebra Tracks (vocals, drums) and Stamos Babaris from Keyser Soze (guitar), presented their debut EP "Turn Off The Lights" (listen here) with which they pledge allegiance to The Black Keys’ garage-blues sound. The guitar-drums gospel keeps spreading!

The Noise Figures, live @ An Club (Oct. 24, 2012)

Japandroids - To Hell With Good Intentions, live @ An Club

Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and Roses, live @ An Club