K.BHTA & Nikko Patrelakis: “Neapoly”
An eclectic journey that’s perfect companion for your next road trip.
After its premiere at the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera back in March, K.BHTA and Nikko Patrelakis’ new collaborative project “Neapoly” is out now digitally via Bandcamp. Our beloved Greek producers deliver a sublime debut album, an exploration and experimentation journey into electronica and its innumerable sounds and forms.
“Neapoly”, a “new city” (in Greek), a new meeting point, is the result of two years of experimentation and recordings for a common dream of two musical fellow- travellers: to share their mutual love for electronic music. On the 12-track record, K.BΗΤΑ and Nikos Patrelakis explore electronic music starting from its roots, both as form and as style. The minimalistic repetition of arpeggiators, the design of the artificial timbres from the very beginning, as well as the use of analogue sources and processors form the base of the record’s sonic reality. At the same time, the creators turn their gaze to the 70s and 80s, seeking the original musical and aesthetical references of electronica.
Speaking about “Neapoly”, Κ.BHTA says: “In the spring of 2020, during the early, hard days of the pandemic, Nikko and I used to speak on the phone and, in one of our talks, we hit on the idea of experimenting with some electronic music pieces in order to present them at some point in an online concert. Nikko was locked down in Epidaurus whereas I was in a village outside Corinth. Both of us had laptops and small synthesizers with us; thus, we started writing to each other and creating drafts while Nikko, at the same time, began shooting video material and editing the first images. We worked on the material for about two years and, in the summer of 2021, we started on the final phase of the production in Nikko’s studio, a process which lasted until the end of the year. I was working on the painting of the foxes during the same period and, when I showed it to Nikko, we agreed straight away that this should be the representative artwork for Neapoly; two animals in the wrong whereabouts, like the two of us, creating electronic sounds amid nature. We named our new project ‘Neapoly’ after the Greek words for ‘new city’; it would represent a new space for us, a mutual trek of exploration and experimentation with electronica, its minimalist forms and repetitive sequences, aspects of a world made out of concrete that is trying to prove its strength and presence in nature”.
Stream the whole thing below, and ride with us.
The album “Neapoly” is out now digitally via Bandcamp.
Pick up your copy here.
