Sunday, September 30, 2007

Magic De Spell-Kiss the mirror,1984+Cpt. Bind,1985,LPs,Greece



Magic De Spell were formed in 1980 in Athens Greece.Their original line up featured:Theo Vlahakis(drums),George Scarlatos(bass),George Alahouzos(guitar,later famous special effects artist),and Alex Kiriakides (vocals).Under this line up they have released their 1st 7" e.p "Nightmares", through Happening label.This 7" was punk oriented ,very amatourish,yet beautiful,a classic example of early greek punk,sounding like a mixture between early Clash,999and early Wire.It is already a big collectors item(it was featured in KBD series) ,selling for 100-150 Euro. 2 years later Elias Aslanoglou joined them on vocals and keyboards are added.The sound is now more new wavish/synth based with the dark atmosphere that is characteristic of this period.They released 2 LPs through Happening/Music Box label ,"A body in a Snare" and "Kiss the mirror", and in 1985 "Cpt. Blind " LP through Enigma label(the greek one ,responsible for many grat greek releases such as the Byrne/no inspired Recording is an art ,the great punk compilation Diataraxi tis koinis isixias,the great punk LP,Adiexodo and others).From the 1st through the 3rd Lp the sound is mutating to more and more synth based ,to end up to the 3rd LP which is pure synth wave and the band is now a trio. The band till 1985 is English speaking.Mentionable are the live performances ,mostly based on the charismatic performer that Elias Aslanoglou is. After Cpt. Blind the band splits up ,to reform again in 1993 with a totally different line up ,turning to Greek lyrics,collaborating with J.J.Burnel ,but ,IMHO ,the result is disappointing for all their 80s fans.The sopund is much guitar based,reminding the UK early 90s scene with some hints of commercial punk rock.Of course with their after 1993 releases they got very famous in Greece and are consider as one of the top 5 Greek rock bands....but nothing special for those eager to explore new musical paths.

***************NEW LINK POSTED SEPTEMBER 2012***************

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PS:this post is dedicated to all those devoted fans and fellows in the 80s Greek weirdnes,who insistent on their musical explorations and they keep doing this till now.We all remember the Grava concerts (that Metro Decay's singer delirium) and Magic De Spell in Politexno with Elias dressed as karate fighter !

3 comments:

  1. Ti grafeis re mutant edw mesa gia concerts sto Lykeio Gravas kai sto Polytexno theatro... pou ta thymithikes ayta re sy? Bale kanena mp3 apo to Polytexno ...

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  2. Χίλια ευχαριστώ. Μήπως μπορείς να βάλεις το "men of clay" των Villa 21; Είναι το μόνο που μου λείπει απ' τη δισκογραφία της creep και σχεδόν αδύνατον να βρεθεί.

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  3. Έως και συγκινητικό...

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