I’m not sure how Discrepant Records locates the best ethnotronic acts (journeys to faraway lands? chat rooms? psychic connections?), but the label that brought you Gonzo/Lowdjo and Kink Gong now comes forward with Kyriakides and Moor’s Life is a Million Heartbeats, an exploratory mission to the center of Greek rebetika music’s skull. Seeing as I’ve never heard this particular genre (and I’m guessing you haven’t either), all I can ostensibly do is tell you what to expect. And brother, you should expect a lot. The duo, using guitar, live samples, and electronics, manage to project this mysterious music onto a new cave wall, revealing intricacies that may or may not have anything to do with the root source of the rebetika tunes they’re jiving all over. Suffice to say, while Moor and Kyriakides harbor reverence for the artform, they’re not shy about widening its eccentricities and tweaking around with what seem to be its most ironclad conventions. My favorite section is the last song on Side B (so typical, amIright?), a screeching guitar-drone that sounds like an electric, old-school BJM riff paused and stretched over five minutes, with accents sprinkled on to taste. Also breathtaking are the samples of female vocals, quivering and ghostly enough to haunt your family for generations if you dare to spin Life is a Million Heartbeats in your home. I just heard something ‘creek’ in the other room so I gotta go…
More about: Yannis Kyriakides + Andy Moor
