Description

Socrates Martinis is a Greek composer of electroacoustic music. His works have been published also under the pseudonyms : nixilx.nijilx / Hélice Pied / blanco estira nuestro (+),hermana Hélice, on various labels like Absurd, Drone records, Entr’acte, Antifrost etc. He has also published a book of poetry and ink sketches on Editions Farfoulas (Small Hand of Bronze, 2010). Martinis uses sounds that are mainly crafted by objects, found sound and field recordings . His music is developed within a semiotic framework that defines its identity between three diverse axes: conceptual/literary, sonic and visual.

North is based on Martinis’ performance “Wedding and the Negative”. The concept of the performance (i.e the drama of erotic desire) is here in further developed through a cycle of 8 poems, some ink sketches and 3 tracks, the longest of which is a reworking of its sonic part.
North is available as a hand crafted book of 26 pages accompanied with a 3″inch cd-r, released in an edition of 80 copies

Wire Magazine
Martinis is an artist based in Greece.This current release is reported to be the documentation of a performance piece called Wedding And The Negative. The package includes several poems (in Greek and English), as well as some small paintings, all bound into a little book with the 3″CD. His previous pieces have utilised location recordings, but the material here has no clear organic origin. The first two pieces are fairly quite, but the longer third is quite raucous, sounding like a recording from inside the stacks of steam ship barrelling along at full throttle. Perhaps this is a comment on marriage, which might be compared to a funnel every once in a while. Perhaps you had to be there to get the full message. But the set is nice – each part is quite engaging, although I’m a little too dense to put it all together. (Byron Coley)

Just Outside
A 3″ disc accompanied by a booklet containing poetic text and illustrations. It’s a very personal document, including the music, even as it’s made up of three skeins of grainy electronics: a short, loud burst that peters out in seconds, a few minutes of steamier, damper sound, as of a large, interior generator of some kind, and ten or so minutes of a more grinding, dirty sound, reminiscent of a large device in need of oil. Abstract but strangely intimate, no more, no less. the poems (in Greek typescript as well as English) seem to similarly straddle some border between distanced and closely felt, for example: Light that spills/and rhythmically emits odors of milk/with the voice of steam locomotive engines. The five ink paintings are like personal signs or totems, again quite inward looking, bearing an aura of meaning all but unknowable to the viewer. Very interesting and, ultimately, strangely alluring work. (Olew Nick)

acloserlisten.com
Multidisciplinary Greek artist Socrates Martinis records under numerous pseudonyms. The cover of North suggests additional guises through the use of symbols. His music – a mixture of field recording and “found sound”, does the same. There’s no pigeonholing this artist. His poetry is allusive: “The memory of Saturday / in the form of an old man in black”. A clear erotic thread runs through his words and provides the backdrop for “Wedding and the Negative”, a performance whose component parts are contained here. The 14-minute CD3″ begins with a literal “Bang”, a 13-second attack that leads into two drone-based pieces. “The wedding” simmers; “Sign and afterwords” sounds like a fight. It’s unclear who the protagonists may be: a pair of spouses or a pair of opposing desires. What is clear is conflict; as the cover implies, a battle between bone and bell.(Richard Allen)

Vital Weekly
Socrates Martinis is a self taught artist from Athens – Greece. He writes texts, draws minimalistic paintings and creates sounds by field-recordings, found sounds and objects. “North” is based on the performance “The Wedding and the Negative.” The release is a mix of sound, texts and graphics. The CD-r starts with a big bang and flows into the quiet track “The Wedding” with some subtle noise and minimal changes. Great piece of minimal noise. The last track “Sign and afterword” has more diversity and starts very intense and harsh and ends in silence. In between the sounds change into other noisy sounds and flows into a more silent ongoing repeating drone. The booklet is like a classical poembook and consists poems and drawings of Martinis. The poems are in Greece and English and describes the nature, old myths or about the memory. The poems written between 2009 and 2013. This release gives a good insight of the artistic world of Socrates Martinis. The combination of poetry, drawings and sound has been well done and it is nice that the release is small (the booklet has size A6) what gives a intimate and personal touch to this release. (JKH)

diskoryxeion.blogspot
Έχω αναφερθεί κι άλλες φορές, στο Δισκορυχείον, στον πειραματιστή Σωκράτη Μαρτίνη. Η πρώτη αφορούσε στο 45άρι του “au seuil de la liberte (diptych)” [absurd, 2009], η δεύτερη σχετιζόταν με την παρουσία του στο LP «Παράξενα Παραμύθια» [Η Λάθος Άκρη του Τηλεσκοπίου, 2012], ενώ η τρίτη είχε να κάνει με την κασέτα του “Fusil Photographique” [noise-below.org, 2014]. Τώρα, έχω μπροστά μου, διαβάζω και ακούω, τον «Βορρά» [more mars, 2014], ένα δίγλωσσο βιβλιαράκι (ελληνικά-αγγλικά) 26 σελίδων με ποιήματα και σχέδια, στο οποίο περιλαμβάνεται κι ένα 3ιντσο CD-R/EP 14λεπτης διάρκειας με τα tracks “Bang” 13 μόλις δευτερολέπτων, “The wedding” τρεισήμισι λεπτών και “Sign and afterwords” που… ξεφεύγει στο χρόνο, ξεπερνώντας τα δέκα λεπτά. Ήχοι, κείμενα και σχέδια συναποτελούν, όπως αντιλαμβάνεστε, το όλον πακέτο, που έχει… παράξενα ερωτική κατεύθυνση –για το… «δράμα της ερωτικής επιθυμίας» διαβάζουμε στο site της more mars– κάτι που το αντιλαμβάνεσαι από τα ποιήματα και τα σχέδια περισσότερο, παρά από την μουσική, που είναι αρκούντως εικονοκλαστική. Ο πειραματικός και αυθόρμητος χαρακτήρας της μουσικής τού Μαρτίνη συνίσταται σε μιαν επεξεργασία φυσικών και λιγότερο φυσικών ήχων, οι οποίοι, ως field recordings, μπορεί ν’ ακούγονται συνεχώς δίπλα μας, παρότι, μέσω του μετασχηματισμού τους, μοιάζει να απομακρύνονται από το χειροπιαστό και το καταληπτό. Τούτο, μπορεί να δημιουργεί μιαν αντιπαράθεση με τον λόγο ή και με τα σκίτσα, που είναι εύκολο εν πολλοίς να αποκρυπτογραφηθούν, από την άλλη, όμως, φαίνεται πως υπογραμμίζει και το «μη ελέγξιμο», και εν τέλει το «ανεξιχνίαστο» μιας… ερωτικής καταγραφής (που μπορεί να ξεκινά από την επιθυμία και να καταλήγει στην τελετή).(Φώντας Τρούσας)