Bokomolech: Xero 1995

Alternative Rock band formed in 1991 in Athens, Greece. Their name is a misspelling of the name of Ukrainian physiologist Alexander A. Bogomolets (1881-1946) who made research on life extension,

producing also a serum of the same name. On 13/7/1996 they performed live at 'Rock Of Gods' (Piraeus) along with 'Violent Femmes', 'Jesus And Mary Chain', 'Paradise Lost', 'Dead Moon' & 'Bad Religion'.
On 16/7/1998 they performed at 'Rockwave Festival' (Piraeus) along with 'Pulp', 'Sonic Youth', 'Closer ', 'Puressence' & 'Τα Ξύλινα Σπαθιά'.
They performed live at Indie Free Festival (Athens) in 1992, 1993 & 2010.
                                                                          

Their debut album, "Xero" (LP-1995, CD-1996, Lazy Dog) was hailed by critics of the time (and not only) as one of the best Greek English albums ever released. Soon, they gained the justified reputation of one of the most exciting concert bands of the Athenian scene.
                                                     

Bokomolech began in 1991 in Athens, first as a relaxed company of friends and from 1993 onwards, with a stable line-up that lasted a decade. After 9 years of absence, they come back with new members in the band composition. After Evi Fragedaki’s withdrawal, Christina Kassesian and Tassos Protopapas

joined the initial members: Dimitris Ioannou, Vlassis Karayannis, Lila Katerinaki and Kostas Ragoussis and their contribution fueled the band with ideas and energy. Tassos and Christina were invited, coincidentally, at the same rehearsal sometime in early 2008. The result was quickly obvious and everyone liked it and so they decided to continue together. The broad musical education of both contributed positively to the new compositions and further facilitated their smooth integration into the team and the way it operated and still operates.
                                                                 

Something that has not changed at all after so many years and continues to dominate is the composing process: a fully interactive, while silent, collaboration in which everyone contributes in their own way and means and from which results both the composition of sounds – instruments and the structure of

each track. On the other hand there is an interesting change of the creative process of the album. As many of the ideas of the tracks came some time before the recording, and because of the intense desire to return to the studio, the experience of recording with the new line-up proved highly interesting. Although the recording was essentially live, it was followed by a long period of listenings and re-recording. The digital recordings, at Noizlab studio of Paris Tekidis, allowed more processing to the home studio infrastructure and consecutive tests during mixing.
                                                            

The first complete result of the new assembly is “Mass Vulture”, which according to Bokomolech is

their most mature and complete work. It was worked within the last two years, under their full artistic direction and production and it combines, with an even clearer idiosyncratic way, elements from all their previous works: the sensitivity and musicality of “Xero” and “Insect (songs)”, the homogeneity of SNP “Jet Lag”, the acoustic elegance of “Slowburner” and the energy of “Exit: Trance”.
                                                 

The lyrics are as always open to different interpretations, but this is overall the most “political” album of Bokomolech. This is also reflected in the title of the album, which is an attempt to compress the two basic positions developed in the public discourse about the Greek 'crisis’, positions that can be encoded

around the dipole guilt-victimization, and together a position that combines them. “Mass Vulture” refers more to a process (schematically, the application of “The shock doctrine” in a society) rather than a subject. Simultaneously, however, it refers to those mechanisms of mass culture that systematically brought out (and, depending on the establishment and defense of each, imposed) a model of thinking and behavior that made the society a convenient and vulnerable target for such attacks. This idea of the world, that loses its cohesion and crumbles, was captured in an ingenious way on the album cover, made by db.
                                                       

Seven years after the release of their acclaimed “Mass Vulture” LP, Bokomolech are back with a new EP titled “Bright New Darkness”, for the production of which they collaborated with renowned producer and musician Coti K. (The Man from Managra, Mohammad). “Bright New Darkness” comprises a small set of songs that took form through the band’s recent live appearances, characterized by a common compositional and lyrical theme: How can one keep, as both an individual and a member of a collective –be it a family, a band or even society at large-, the flame of their world alive in the midst of consecutive, embedded crises threatening to bring it down.
                                         

This agony to find light in the surrounding darkness informed the record’s title, but it also emerges out of both the lyrics of the six songs (the titles of which can be read in sequence as the EP’s main

narrative) and the dense electric/electronic instrumentation that, thanks to Coti K’s mastery, tightly embraces the insistent melodies without drowning them. As the record’s artwork by Petros Voulgaris suggests, “Bright New Darkness” is a balancing act, or a dialectical composition of contrasts: within its chaotic soundscape, it retains a pop sensibility; within the old it discovers the new; amongst the ruins it senses a future still unclear; within the darkness it finds a blinding spark of light.
                                                                  

Oι Bokomolech είναι ένα συγκρότημα από την Αθήνα. Τα μέλη του συναντήθηκαν το 1991 στο Πολυτεχνείο, όπου σπούδαζαν αρχιτεκτονική. Μετά από μια περίοδο πειραματισμού με τη σύνθεση, κατά την οποία εμφανίστηκαν στα δύο πρώτα Indie Free Festival (1992-93), κατέληξαν στο συνδυασμό ενός τραγουδιστή (Δημήτρης Ιωάννου), δύο κιθαριστών (Κώστας Ραγκούσης, Εύη Φραγγεδάκη), μιας μπασίστριας (Λίλα Κατερινάκη) και ενός ντράμερ (Βλάσης Καραγιάννης). Η σύνθεση αυτή διάρκεσε μια δεκαετία.
                                          

Όπως ακριβώς θα περίμενε κανείς από τον συνδυασμό ενός τόσο συνηθισμένου line-up και ενός τόσο παράξενου ονόματος (που αποτελεί παραγραφή του ονόματος του Ουκρανού φυσιολόγου Oleksandr

Bogomoletz, ο οποίος, τη δεκαετία του 1940, συνέθεσε ένα ελιξίριο για την παράταση της ζωής ως τα 140 χρόνια), τα τραγούδια τους αποτελούν ιδιόμορφες μίξεις συνηθισμένων στοιχείων. Αυτό οφείλεται, τόσο στη συνθετική διαδικασία, που συνίσταται στο συλλογικό αυτοσχεδιασμό πάνω σε μελωδικές γραμμές που προτείνονται (συνήθως από τον Κ.Ρ.) κατά τις πρόβες, όσο και στις ποικίλες επιρροές τους.
                                               

Το ντεμπούτο άλμπουμ τους, “Xero” (LP-1995, CD-1996, Lazy Dog) χαιρετίστηκε από τους κριτικούς της εποχής (και όχι μόνο) ως ένα από τα καλύτερα ελληνικά αγγλόφωνα άλμπουμ που κυκλοφόρησαν ποτέ. Σύντομα, απέκτησαν τη δικαιολογημένη φήμη ενός από τα πιο συναρπαστικά

συναυλιακά συγκροτήματα της αθηναϊκής σκηνής. Οι επόμενες τέσσερις κυκλοφορίες τους έγιναν από τη Hitch Hyke, το σημαντικότερο ελληνικό label της εποχής. Το “Insect (songs)” (mini-LP, CD, 1997), το “Jet Lag” (2LP, CD, 1997) που ηχογραφήθηκε στο στούντιο του Steve Albini στο Σικάγο, το “Slowburner” (CD, 1999) για το οποίο συνεργάστηκαν με τον Coti K. και το “Exit: Trance” (CD, 2003) και πάλι με τον Albini, αυτή τη φορά στο Black Box, στη δυτική Γαλλία. Λίγο πριν από την κυκλοφορία του τελευταίου άλμπουμ, η Εύη αποχώρησε από το συγκρότημα.
                                        

Όλο αυτό το διάστημα, οι Bokomolech εμφανίστηκαν πολλές φορές στην Αθήνα, τη Θεσσαλονίκη και άλλες ελληνικές πόλεις. Συμμετείχαν μεταξύ άλλων στο Rock of Gods festival και στα δύο πρώτα Rockwave, ενώ έπαιξαν ως support band με τους dEUS, την PJ Harvey, τους Shellac, τον Steve

Wynn, τον Bonnie “Prince” Billy και τους Zita Swoon. Ακολούθησε μια περίοδος εσωστρέφειας και σπάνιων εμφανίσεων, έως το 2008 όταν, στους τέσσερις πια Bokomolech, προστέθηκαν ο Τάσος Πρωτόπαπας (keyboards και λούπες) και η Χριστίνα Κασσεσιάν (κιθάρα). Τα νέα μέλη έδωσαν μια νέα δυναμική στο σχήμα που οδηγήθηκε και πάλι στο στούντιο το καλοκαίρι του 2009. Μετά από μια αργή αλλά επίμονη διαδικασία επιλογών και επεξεργασίας, οι Bokomolech κατέληξαν στα δέκα κομμάτια του “Mass Vulture”, που κυκλοφορεί τον Φεβρουάριο του 2012, σε LP και CD από την Inner Ear.

Οι Bokomolech είναι οι:

                                                                          

Δημήτρης Ιωάννου
Βλάσης Καραγιάννης
Χριστίνα Κασσεσιάν
Λίλα Κατερινάκη
Τάσος Πρωτόπαπας
Κώστας Ραγκούσης

Bokomolech – Xero
Label: Lazy Dog Records – LZD 014
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Greece
Released: 1995
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

SIDE A

                                                              

A1.     Sin River
A2.     Dove
A3.     Afraid
A4.    Between Out & Inside
A5.    Prove Me Wrong

SIDE B

                                            

B1.     Give It Up
B2.     As A Game
B3.     Dignity As An Excuse
B4.     My Words

Recorded At – 111 Studio
Recorded At – Studio 5, Athens, Greece
Mixed At – 111 Studio
Mixed At – Studio 5, Athens, Greece
Pressed By – Gramofonové Závody – MZE 3039
Pressed By – Gramofonové Závody – MZE 3040
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Lazy Dog Records
Copyright © – Lazy Dog Records
Printed By – Αστέριος Χ. Γούσιος

Artwork – Knoway Grafi
Bass, Vocals – Lila Katerinaki
Drums, Percussion – Sakis Karagiannis
Guitar, Vocals – Eve Fraggedaki, Kostas Ragoussis
Noises [Helped With All That Noise] – Kostas Kouzoulos (tracks: A4, A5)
Photography By – Dimitris "Chick" Cottas, Dimitris Ioannou
Photography By [Band] – Dimitris "Chick" Cottas
Piano – Mary Zoura (tracks: A2)
Producer – Bokomolech (tracks: A2, A4, A5, B2), Leo Papadakis (tracks: A1, A3, B1, B3, B4)
Recorded By [At 111 Studios], Mixed By [At 111 Studios] – Kostas Arniotis (tracks: A1, A3, B1, B3, B4)
Recorded By [At Studio 5], Mixed By [At Studio 5] – Greg Papanagiotou (tracks: A2, A4, A5, B2)
Songwriter [All Songs] – Bokomolech
Vocals, Tambourine – Dimitris Ioannou
Words By – Dimitris (tracks: A1 to B1, B3, B4), Eve (tracks: B2)

DISCOGRAPHY

                                                                         

Xero   Lazy Dog Records         1995
Jet Lag  Hitch-Hyke Records         1997
Insect (Songs)   Hitch-Hyke Records     1997
Exit (Trance)   Hitch-Hyke Records     2003
Mass Vulture  Inner Ear, Inner Ear     2012

MP3 @ 320 Size: 90 MB
Flac  Size: 254 MB