Night On Earth (band)
Encyclopedia
Night On Earth is a multi-collective band which originated from Athens
, Greece
in 2004.
Borrowing their name by the famous Jim Jarmusch
film , the band is best known for the cinematic essence that echoes throughout their compositions and lengthy improvisations.
They are comprised usually of seven musicians, covering a typical rock band basis, which is completed by classical instruments such as piano and violin. Some descriptions that have been posted or written concerning their musical identity are: blues noir, detuned blues, "if you ever wanted Portishead to cover Tom Waits
", "somehow blending melancholic jazzy moods over trip-hop with a touch of spacey and trippy sounds". So far, Night On Earth have released two albums.
that was performed live by Paracroussis, a devoted "post-music sound-terrorist collective" where NOE's members where involved back then. Their musical style can be portrayed as a puzzle of trip hop
and blues noir, tuned in a jazzy mood, under an improvising spirit; entering trippy and moody soundscapes that echo cinematic references. The band themselves claim that their sound is more influenced by the images of Jim Jarmusch
and Wong Kar-wai
than a specific musical movement. Their music references can be witnessed within a wide range of music world: from Bristol
vinyls to the 70’s progressive guitar trips; from the spirit of 20th century avant-garde
composers to Keith Jarrett
’s endless piano improvisations; from free jazz
to terms of american folk
songwriting.
The band is normally consisted of seven musicians of diverse musical backgrounds and influences.
In October 2006, the band recorded, produced and released their debut album, a selftitled double-CD, under Greek independent label Outlandish Recordings, hosting guest musicians such as contemporary cellist Nikos Veliotis, trumpetist Natryx and sonic artist Nokalypse. The album received remarkable reviews from webzines, press and radio and had its impact on the Greek music scene.
In December 2008, their second album entitled "Second Hand" was released, under the label of Upstar/Sony Music. The album was the result of the innovative collaboration between the band and famous Greek folk songwriter Thanassis Papakonstantinou
who also produced it, hosting widely acclaimed guest musicians from a broad range of musical background of the local scene, such as Fotis Siotas, Yiorgos Georgiades, Sofia Eukleidou, Marily Milia, Pantelis Stoikos and others. The album introduced band's perspective on the songwriter’s older material, creating songs based on his music and lyrics and bringing together diverse influences ranging from free jazz
and post-rock
to Greek folk music
.
Night On Earth frequently perform under alternate line-ups introducing different aspects of their sound. By the subtitle in a silent way
they perform as an acoustic trio (piano, voice & violin) featuring guest musicians. During these shows, they perform acoustic versions of their repertoire as well as jazz standards, favorite songs, improvisations, film themes, rembetiko and traditional music. They also perform under the subtitle ‘impro’ in concept gigs devoted to improvisation, mainly free.
(Antony and the Johnsons
, Current 93
), Mecano
(NL), Gevende (TU) and Thanassis Papakonstantinou
, one of the most influential Greek folk songwriters. In March 2007 they toured Greece with American underground songwriter/singer Dayna Kurtz
, sharing double-bill shows. They have also performed in Berlin
venues.
.
Collaborating musicians
Costinho and Petros Lamprides
Costinho
Sophia Sarri
Lagos
Petros Lamprides
Digital Alkemist
Kostis Tsioulakis
Dimitris Aronis
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
in 2004.
Borrowing their name by the famous Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
film , the band is best known for the cinematic essence that echoes throughout their compositions and lengthy improvisations.
They are comprised usually of seven musicians, covering a typical rock band basis, which is completed by classical instruments such as piano and violin. Some descriptions that have been posted or written concerning their musical identity are: blues noir, detuned blues, "if you ever wanted Portishead to cover Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
", "somehow blending melancholic jazzy moods over trip-hop with a touch of spacey and trippy sounds". So far, Night On Earth have released two albums.
History
The band was formed as an outcome of an improvisationImprovisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
that was performed live by Paracroussis, a devoted "post-music sound-terrorist collective" where NOE's members where involved back then. Their musical style can be portrayed as a puzzle of trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
and blues noir, tuned in a jazzy mood, under an improvising spirit; entering trippy and moody soundscapes that echo cinematic references. The band themselves claim that their sound is more influenced by the images of Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
and Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
than a specific musical movement. Their music references can be witnessed within a wide range of music world: from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
vinyls to the 70’s progressive guitar trips; from the spirit of 20th century avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composers to Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...
’s endless piano improvisations; from free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
to terms of american folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
songwriting.
The band is normally consisted of seven musicians of diverse musical backgrounds and influences.
In October 2006, the band recorded, produced and released their debut album, a selftitled double-CD, under Greek independent label Outlandish Recordings, hosting guest musicians such as contemporary cellist Nikos Veliotis, trumpetist Natryx and sonic artist Nokalypse. The album received remarkable reviews from webzines, press and radio and had its impact on the Greek music scene.
In December 2008, their second album entitled "Second Hand" was released, under the label of Upstar/Sony Music. The album was the result of the innovative collaboration between the band and famous Greek folk songwriter Thanassis Papakonstantinou
Thanassis Papakonstantinou
Athanasios Papakonstantinou is a Greek singer-songwriter.-Short biography:He is married, with two children. Papakonstantinou studied Mechanical Engineering in Thessaloniki, which he practices as well as being a musician...
who also produced it, hosting widely acclaimed guest musicians from a broad range of musical background of the local scene, such as Fotis Siotas, Yiorgos Georgiades, Sofia Eukleidou, Marily Milia, Pantelis Stoikos and others. The album introduced band's perspective on the songwriter’s older material, creating songs based on his music and lyrics and bringing together diverse influences ranging from free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
to Greek folk music
Greek folk music
Greek folk music includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the...
.
Night On Earth frequently perform under alternate line-ups introducing different aspects of their sound. By the subtitle in a silent way
In a Silent Way
In a Silent Way is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released July 30, 1969 on Columbia Records. Produced by Teo Macero, the album was recorded in one session date on February 18, 1969 at CBS 30th Street Studio B in New York City. Incorporating elements of classical sonata form,...
they perform as an acoustic trio (piano, voice & violin) featuring guest musicians. During these shows, they perform acoustic versions of their repertoire as well as jazz standards, favorite songs, improvisations, film themes, rembetiko and traditional music. They also perform under the subtitle ‘impro’ in concept gigs devoted to improvisation, mainly free.
Live concerts
They have been performing live since November 2004 in various venues in Athens and all over Greece, touring and participating in festivals. Their live shows are occasionally accompanied by visuals, shortfilms and performance. They have performed as the support act for Baby DeeBaby Dee
Baby Dee is an American performance artist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Ohio.-Early career:In the 1970s, Baby Dee began her musical career as a street performer, but soon decided to take work as an organist at a Catholic church in the Bronx...
(Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...
, Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
), Mecano
Mecano
Mecano was a Spanish pop band whose debut coincided with La Movida Madrileña , a sociocultural movement that occurred in Madrid, Spain during the 1980s...
(NL), Gevende (TU) and Thanassis Papakonstantinou
Thanassis Papakonstantinou
Athanasios Papakonstantinou is a Greek singer-songwriter.-Short biography:He is married, with two children. Papakonstantinou studied Mechanical Engineering in Thessaloniki, which he practices as well as being a musician...
, one of the most influential Greek folk songwriters. In March 2007 they toured Greece with American underground songwriter/singer Dayna Kurtz
Dayna Kurtz
Dayna Kurtz is an American singer/songwriter from New Jersey. Her music is described as a blend of Jazz, Folk and Pop. Critic James Reed of the Boston Globe wrote in a review of Beautiful Yesterday that "there's no logical reason why singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz is not a full-blown...
, sharing double-bill shows. They have also performed in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
venues.
Music in films
Night On Earth have composed score for the short film "Hoy No Vengo A Cenar" by Thanassis Totsikas and Yiorgos Pantazopoulos. They have also contributed with some tracks from their debut album to the soundtracks of "Roz" ("Pink"), a film by Alexandros Voulgaris, and "Kleftes" ("Thieves"), a film by Makis Papadimitratos. The band also appears in a documentary about the trip-hop status in Greece, titled "Trippin' And Hopin'", shot and edited in 2009. They also collaborated with other Greek bands playing live in a one-shot documentary, which was inspired, filmed and edited by Vincent MoonVincent Moon
Vincent Moon is an independent filmmaker from Paris mainly known for his field work music videos of indie rock related musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists like Tom Jones, R.E.M. or Arcade Fire. Besides making music videos he also makes experimental films and documentaries...
.
Members
Current- Costinho - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, rhodesRhodesRhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, HammondHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, analog synthesizerAnalog synthesizerAn analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of vacuum-tube and electro-mechanical technologies...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Juanito - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Lagos - electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Petros Lamprides - electric bassElectric BassElectric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2... - Digital Alkemist - drums, electronicsElectronicsElectronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
- Sophia Sarri - vocals
- Dimitris Miyakis - soundSoundSound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
Collaborating musicians
- Kostis Tsioulakis - drums
- Kleitos Kyriakides - saxSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening... - Dimitris Aronis - electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
Discography
- Night On Earth (Outlandish Recordings, 2006)
- Second Hand (Upstar/Sony Music, 2008)
Related projects & bands
Costinho, Lagos, Juanito and Sophia Sarri- Paracroussis
Costinho and Petros Lamprides
- The Jukejoint Alligators
- Fidel Son
Costinho
- solo musician
- documentary filmmaking
Sophia Sarri
- Sanades (a cappella women choir)
Lagos
- Trio,14
Petros Lamprides
- Checkmate In 2 Flats (Mat se 2 Yfeseis)
- Onions
Digital Alkemist
- solo musician & producer
- DJ
- Nightstalker
- Allison
- Blend Sextet
Kostis Tsioulakis
- Checkmate In 2 Flats (Mat se 2 Yfeseis)
Dimitris Aronis
- Modrec
- Palindrom
External links
- noeband.gr - band's official website
- Night On Earth YouTube - band's YouTube channel
- Night On Earth Facebook - band's Facebook music page
- Night On Earth LastFM - at last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
- [ Night On Earth] at Allmusic
- Second Hand album review by Left Of The Dial Mag
- Second Hand album review by urb.com