To read recent reviews on MIKHAIL's album ORPHICA please click here
1.
Discovered by Björk, this young Greek exile in London shares the Icelandic fairy’s taste for vocal audacity and a capacity to create unique worlds through sound. He is releasing his first album, moulded with mythological references which make for a spellbinding journey to musical climes. At the crossroads of Arthur Russell, Matmos and Eyeless in Gaza, one has rarely heard a sound-alchemist master so effortlessly machines (diaphanous beats, insect crackling), instrumental arrangements (cello, harp, oneiric harpsichord) and singing; from the emotive exaltation in Prediction to the radical strangeness of Dance or Love Song, a unique mix of sighs, coughs and strangulations.
by D.S. - Le Monde, 29 May '07
2. Text written
by art critic Cherry
Smyth nominating Mikhail for an Open
Frequency profile
on AXIS
"Mikhail Karikis's soundscapes bring the ecstatic spiritual passion of Greek orthodox choral music to the sexual embodiment of contemporary electronica; to see him perform is to witness someone making an instrument of the body to channel a dramatic, fitful, exuberant musical language. 'Untitled in CoF Minor' uses fragments of what sounds like Greek film score with a growled stuttering voice that cannot manage to fully articulate but bursts then stops and enfolds into another sequence, half Greek folk, half techno. The pictures he paints with his compositions are abstract, rigorous, stuck, fluid, animalistic and angelic. Other tracks incorporate the guttural noises of burping, of amplified static, of intermittent phonemes, of snatched laughter and whistling. Sometimes there's the echo of a strained breath - not a death rattle, but a life rattle as if someone new is coming to birth."
To view Mikhail Karikis's full Open Frequency profile on AXIS web, please click here.
3. (Live concert review extract from Mikhail's performance with Alamire choir which took place on the 13th April 2007 at Magdalen Chapel, Oxford)
[...]
What Karikis provides with his interleaved pieces is a commentary
on both Josquin’s
music and this broader ‘polyphonic’ narrative. Generally they work
with pulsating harmonies and rather minimalist repetitions over which his differentiated
voice is floated. He has an extraordinary vocal range – from animalistic
growls to extremely high, pure tone. In this context his work appears as an
emotional address, which hints at a contemporary secularised eroticism, in
answer to – or even embellishment upon – the devotional ecstasy
of Josquin. In these shorter pieces, Karikis projected into the space well
and, as variation, took up various positions in the chapel for each one. The
more corporeal sounds of Prediction or Unitiled in Cof Minor (a pun on ‘cough’)
presented an extended timbre, which attempts to correlate the resonating chamber
of the body with the Gothic cavity of the chapel itself [...]
by David Ryan - Art Monthly, June 2007 - issue 307 (UK)
4.
Epic, mystical intrigue from the mysterious art-beatnik Mikhail. Full of orchestral valur and indigenous sounds, underscored by a touch of electronic intrusion, ‘Orphica’ balances on a warrior’s swords-edge, scuttling from peril to peril. In places it’s as richly defined – more often than not culminating in resounding crescendos via heaving strings – as it sounds made from a workshop of redundant knick-knacks. The theatricality scoring Mikhail’s own versions of Greek tragedy, in homage to Orpheus from his London base, sounds perfect to back a dramatic foreign movie trailer. The runaway ‘Dance’ will have you ducking from flying daggers and hidden dragons, delivered with frantic stage choreography. ‘Argonautica’ bellows round the concert hall as backing tenors observe Mikhail’s torture in uproar, and ‘Prediction’ is sorrowful, classical music made to corkscrew through leftfield.
‘Maenads’, a secluded spell of the supernatural, and ‘Mythical Laboratory’ seeing Mikhail arranging test tubes from the underground, highlight Karikis’ automated aspect; synth heartbeats, glitch-ridden percussion, rebounds, splutters and flexes. But the mediaeval, folk-footed/monastic element moors everything, writing postcards from a picturesque European village seemingly possessed by uniquely troubled vocals. As the sonic walls threaten to cave in on Mikhail, they’re a toss-up between chopped-up sopranos wailing in reverse (‘Invisible Thread’ sounds particularly pulled over all the place) or an orchestral growl needing subtitles performed by Bob ‘Bobcat’ Goldthwait out of Police Academy (particularly on ‘Untitled in CoF Minor’). An unorthodox, specialised opus for those that like to be surprised by a challenge.
One Week to Live, issue 78, 4 June '07
5. (Excerpt from an interview)
"Mikhail's song on the album was the one that I singled out and noticed from the very beginning. It is emotional and de-constructed; his performance reminds one of Diamanda Galas accompanied by cello [...] We look forward to his audio-book 'The Acoustics of the Self' which will be released soon, and to his first album"
Translated from Greek. To read entire review and interview in English with Mikhail Karikis please visit: Tranzistor Interview
Tranzistor.gr (music magazine), by M. Hulot
6.
"Bjork's album Army of Me [...] is also a kind of talent spotting record and an opportunity for young emerging musicians to show their work [...] The most original of all is the wildly experimental song by Mikhail Karikis which sounds like nothing else you have heard before; it's like an orchestra at war with him marching ahead [...] This is a great album."
Shock Records, by N.Peters, 7 May 2005
7.
"The incredible contribution by Mikhail Karikis, entitled just "Once more", has a splendid orchestral part but surely the most impressive vocal passages. Very rarely have I had the chance to listen to a beautiful piece with a musical part that remains so entirely "disjointed" from the vocal part, which I can define as brutal but which is in fact amazing in some passages. (This is) a cd recommended if you love experimentation and if you are ready to open to various kinds of music."
Translated from the Italian original text:
"Incredibile poi il contributo di Mikhail Karikis, l'unico intitolato "Once more", splendido nella parte musicale ma sconcertante in certi passaggi vocali. Raramente ho avuto modo di ascoltare un brano così bello nella parte musicale e rimanere decisamente "spiazzato" dalla parte vocale, che non posso definire brutta, ma appunto sconcertante in alcuni passaggi. Un cd consigliato se siete amanti della sperimentazione e se siete pronti ad aprirvi a diversi generi musicali."
Babylon Webmagazine, by Immaly
8.
"And the Palme D'Or [...] goes to Mikhail Karikis, who composes here a de-constructed, fragmented song with interfering ruptures of violins, loops of accordion and chopped voice. The version of this Greek artist demands respect."
Translated from the French original text:
"Mais la palme (puisque cela est d’actualité) revient à Mikhail Karikis, qui compose ici une reprise déconstruite et ébouriffante. Mêlant rupture de violons, boucles d’accordéon et voix hachée, la version de cet artiste grec force le respect tant il prend à contre-pied la version originale pour finalement en tirer le plus vibrant hommage."
Foutraque, by DrBou
9.
"This can be a homage to the Masters of the avant-garde of the 20th century, Schoenberg father of the serial music, or Stockhausen spiritual father of the Elf of the Geyser; and how not to quote here the symphonic fleurant version by Mikhail Karikis that is like the wind of the steppes with hints of dissonance?"
Translated from the French original text:
"Peut être est-ce un hommage aux maîtres avant-gardistes du XXème siècle, Schoenberg père de la musique sérielle, ou Stockhausen père spirituel de l'Elfe des Geyser? Et comment ne pas citer aussi la version symphonique fleurant bon le vent des steppes avec un soupçon de dissonance par Mikhail Karikis?"
Fluctuat.com, Ivy (Ecrire à cet auteur)
10.
"Mikhail's song sounds like a mini-opera that mixes Brecht with Greek orthodox church/folk music."
Whisperin & Hollerin, by Different Drum
11.
"The most avant-garde and the absolute highpoint of the album, which has affinities with the work of Philip Glass, is the song by the Greek artist Mikhail Karikis."
Translated from the German original text:
"Wer's avantgardistischer mag, darf sich (einer der absoluten Höhepunkte!) an der an den frühen Philip Glass gemahnenden Version des Griechen Mikhail Karikis erfreuen."
Tele2internet, by Tobias Köberlein
12.
"The Greek Mikhail Karikis may not go unmentioned with his sacrificial Symphony, the sensational: "' Once more ' in C-minor". His work seems likely to appear in future remix-projects of the Icelandic singer."
Translated from the German original text:
"Nicht unerwähnt bleiben darf auch die Arbeit des Griechen Mikhail Karikis. Der nämlich empfiehlt sich auch für künftige Remix-Vorhaben der Isländerin mit einer sakralen Symphonie (sensationell: "'Once more' in c-minor")."
Cd-Kritik, by Michael Frost, 15 Mai 2005
13.
"It is a brilliant release in its own right that should be in your collection even without the added bonus of contributing to UNICEF."
The Critic, by Wolfgang Steuer
14.
"The composition of the Greek Mikhail Karikis is the strangest; the original tune is transformed into a tuneful wind by the performance of traditional stringed instruments. The musical instruments send out many non-harmonious experimental sounds which are interrupted by vocal sounds and sighs in a way which produces an atmosphere of secrecy and tension."
Translated from Chinese
Nanfang Daily
15.
"Eller måske mest af alt græske Mikhail Karikis, som bevarer Björks tekst for at tilsætte den en uhyre skæv, sammensat og dramatisk kompositionsmusik, der skingrer af orkestrale overtoner, panisk galopperende klarinetter og en elektronisk behandlet vokal, der ikke desto mindre lyder som noget fra en ægæisk folkesang. Se, dér er der en kunstner, man gerne hører meget mere til!"
Geiger, by Steffen B. Pedersen
16.
"Mikhail Karikis's work is theatrical art-music."
Translated from the orginal Swedish text:
"...eller den teatraliska konstmusiken från Mikhail Karikis."
Dagensskiva, by Kal Ström
17.
"(Mikhail's song) is the most "interesting" mix on there."
Moopy.com
18.
"The interpretation of the Greek Mikhail Karikis is in the style of lyrical belcanto."
Translated from the Italian original text:
"il greco Mikhail Karikis l'ha reinterpretata stile belcanto lirico"
Musica Tiscali
19.
"Beyond description."
Olrik, Denmark
