“KosmosG re-imagines classic bouzouki stoner music of the 1930s through the lens of electronica, covering everything from ‘space age bachelor pad’ music to contemporary trip hop. OPA!”
I know you want to take a listen to KosmosG after reading that description of Ta Deka Agapimena Tou Dmitri, this enigmatic artist’s latest album. That title refers to “the ten favorites of Dmitri,” Dmitri being the Dmitri Mavra of Fuzzy Mind, the record label that hosts KosmosG. It gets deeper than that–these are Dmitri’s ten favorite rebetika songs, dragged into the 21st century through the keyboard wizardry of KosmosG (aka Kevin Gerzevitz).
Confused? Just take a listen to Ta Deka for a minute or two and you’ll figure it out pretty quickly. This is folk music from many places at once–Greece, the Middle East, every place where rebetika gained a foothold. Instead of using traditional instruments such as his usual violin, accordion and baglama, KosmosG heads straight to his keyboards and his programming and sampling machines with all the fancy knobs and he creates little trip-hop masterpieces that feel like radio signals from outer space.
This isn’t my first exposure to KosmosG. I reviewed his first album, Elektrik Teke, and it has the same feel as this album. But Kevin/KosmosG has gone a little deeper into the studio space and has produced something powerful, lean and beautiful. This is punchy and vibrant music, and it’s a lot of fun, and a lot of that has to do with plenty of bass energy that just pummels your chest. In fact, this was the first album I listened to with the Focal Clear MG headphones and the Ferrum Audio Hypsos and Oor headphone rig and I still felt the steady thumping in my rib cage as if the sound were coming from a big pair of loudspeakers.
Yup, this is some killer headphone music as well. Most importantly, this is classic bouzouki stoner music from the ’30s, and you don’t have nearly enough of that in your life or your record collection. Plus, you can get this amazing KosmosG t-shirt as well. I’ve asked for mine, and I’ll wear it proudly.
