Totsouko & Illy
At
First release for the duet Totsouko & Illy by the record company To Pikap Records, entitled 'AT.' Totsouko & Illy give us an unpretentious and at the same time dense, concept album. Recorded in September 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje as the sound environment of a performance by artist Alexandros Plomaritis, the work acquires its autonomy with its release on vinyl. Listening to it, one recognizes the subtle acrobatics between the voluntary intention of the composition and the improvisational response to the temporal and spatial conditions in which it was born. It is this ability of some musicians to transform even the unexpected of a live performance into an organic element of their expression. The past and the present constantly converse in the work of Totsouko & Illy through a process of elegiac disorder. Kosmische and dub atmospheres meet ritual percussion and gamelan cymbals, while dilated prog snapshots are permeated by Sun Ra's poetry about freedom. The result is a contemporary musical work with a strong personality and original character.