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ANTAEUS
Not to be confused with the French death metal band who debuted with 2000s Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan, this Antaeus is a Greek-born, New York-based DJ and producer who -- as the album title suggests -- specializes in a brand of world fusion electronica heavily influenced by the music of his homeland. Unfortunately, the resulting blend of bouzouki and ambient techno does no particular favors for either style of music; rather than integrating the two forms, too much of Byzantine Meditation simply sounds like Antaeus is playing an old Nonesuch Explorer compilation of Greek music over backbeats. This lack of imagination, combined with a seeming lack of ideas (the title track appears in four not-very-different mixes, and "Kyrie" in three, together accounting for over half of the album's 65-minute running time), makes the album's occasional bright spots, like the skittering stop-start rhythms of "Delfic Gong Seven," stand out that much more, but it does overall make for a pretty dreary listen. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
During the 1992
Winter Music Conference, Antaeus received the “Best Disc-Jockey” in Los
Angeles award. That year he also became a voting member of the National Academy
of Recording Arts and Sciences, the governing body for the GRAMMY awards.
Since 1989 Antaeus
has been involved in recording, remixing or production for a diverse selection
of artists such as Young M.C., Falco, Lonnie Gordon, Def Jef, Malcolm McLaren,
Yanni, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Herbert Gronemayer and Earth Wind and Fire. His
remixes for The Boys and the Rolling Stones have respectively earned him
platinum and multi-platinum plaques. Additional gold and platinum awards came
from work associated with Janet Jackson, Crystal Waters and Heavy D. His dance
projects, under the names Jeek!, Aar and Beat Pulse Mecca were released by
Tribal/IRS and ZOO/RCA records.
In the mid-90’s
Antaeus returned to Greece. Influenced by ancient Greek and Byzantine Music, he
worked on a personal album titled “Byzantine Meditation”. The chill-out
soundscape that he created fuses voices, traditional instruments, hip-hop and
drum ‘n’ bass. “Byzantine Meditation” was released in Greece in 1997 and
it remained top-5 on the official Greek sales chart for several months. Over the
next two years it successfully sold in many territories around the world and the
title track was used in Jacobs coffee TV commercials.
In 2000 Antaeus released “World Prayer”, his second album. The Virgin Megastore official magazine raved:
Few Greeks up to now have been able to make their presence felt in the international music world. One of them is Antaeus who… after the success of “Byzantine Meditation” in 1997, is back with “World Prayer”. Sources of inspiration this time are religions from around the world, always with the enchanting atmosphere that Antaeus creates…”
Several tracks from
“Byzantine Meditation” and “World Prayer” have been included in chill-out
and lounge compilations in European and Asian territories.
A re-mastered version of “Byzantine Meditation” -with four additional tracks-
hit the U.S. market June of 2004. The title track received significant airplay
on Smooth Jazz and eclectic stations.
“zero4”, Antaeus new album in five years, was released in Europe May 2005 (Planetworks/EMI), and it will be released in the U.S. by Monom Records August 2005.
© 2005 World of Gregorian | Alexander Vladimir Tzimisce