Daemonia Nymphe from Thessaloniki, Greece, has a quite original style of music. They try to recreate the sounds of ancient Greece with the help of reproductions of ancient Greek instruments. Often the resulting music is quite ritual and esoteric, in songs about satyrs, gods, nymphs and other mythological creatures. For this latest release Daemonia Nymphe follows a different approach: their acoustic songs have been remixed by various artists who mainly use contemporary electronic equipment.
Often remix albums are a waste of time, but in this case the drastic reinterpretations work quite well. Mainly songs from Daemonia Nymphe’s self-titled 2002 album have been dealed with by nine acts, of which I only knew Von Magnet, Beefcake and Mimetic Mute). Most artists have managed to succesfully mold and shape the songs into their own musical spectrum.
A good example is the nice piece by Von Magnet, full of magic and mystery and with a nice groove. Beefcake has created an IDM-ish piece with a lot of atmosphere and tension. Nikodemos gives ‘Summoning Divine’ a dreampop / trip-hop treatment, while Peekay Tayloh gave ‘Hello Bacchus’ some hectic drum ‘n bass rhythms, which meld surprisingly well with the solemn Greek choirs. More electronic / IDM sounds come from Supermarket, Dani Joss and a lovely glitchy, dreamy piece by Basilis. Definite highlight for me is Mimetic Mute aka Mimetic Fake, whose tracks gets me in its spell with moody electronica and dark technoid beats.
