We were the first to bring you A Victim of Society's single “Sweet Girl” and have followed the output of Nickos Dervisis, aka Kid Flicks, over the years, and today we bring you the best from both parties. On the premiere of the Kid Flicks remix of AVOS' “Sweet Girl”, the vocals and stems from Vagelis Makris and Fotis Ntouskas get re-decorated in the sweetness of new rhythm mechanics. Dervisis has also been focusing attention on writing and recording the follow-up to 2012's By Typing “I Talk”, You Don’t Talk in between hanging out with Vagelis and Fotis over tsipouro, and reinterpreting their creative works.
The original AVOS vocals fire out in the beginning, in edited echoes as the drum patterns begin their alignment. Like the orchestral discord that settles in before a symphonic performance, the arrangement of samples collect themselves into their proper places and sections as the sequence starts it's coordinated run. Electronic flocks of bird-like noises are added to the remix, opening up the growling gurgles of distorted notes to reveal sporadic bells, woodwinds, and a wealth of organic field-found sounds. The original bass line from AVOS' “Sweet Girl” is utilized like an algorithmic base, where new dance schematics are introduced to the equation. Further instilling a sense eagerness for the new upcoming Kid Flicks release, join us following the debut for our conversation Nickos after the jump.
How did you get the opportunity to re-channel the stems from A Victim of Society's “Sweet Girl”?
While listening to their debut album [Distractions], “Sweet Girl” was the song I enjoyed the most, and since Vagelis and Fotis are dear friends of mine I asked them if they wanted me to remix the song and they agreed.
Do you and labelmates, Vagelis Makris and Fotis Ntouskas confer and trade notes or collaborate ever when no one is looking?
I don't know, maybe this has already happened when no one was looking, but you can regularly find us drinking beer or tsipouro in the studio or in a Tsipouradiko and fooling around.
How did you transform “Sweet Girl” into an electric-chirping dance odyssey?
I started chopping up channels from the song, then added samples from my own recordings and tried to mess with it keeping Vangelis' vocals on top. I decided not to use any guitars at all and focused on the drum patterns.
Tell us about fine-tuning your Kid Flicks ensemble of two drummers, bassist, and everyone and everything in between?
Before 2012 I was performing by myself using laptop, a sampler, a guitar and vocals. After two years, at a time that I realized I am not having the amount of fun I needed to keep on doing it this way, I asked the guys to join the line up and I must say that our shows gained a power I couldn't even dream of. We were very influenced by Caribou and Boredoms' live sets. A Caribou show in 2008 was one of the greatest shows I ever saw in my life and I think the idea of mixing the electronics and samples with 2 drum sets was in the back of my head from the first place.
How was the recording process been for the new album?
The recording sessions are not over yet, but I must say we are all very happy with what comes out.
What have you discovered about your sound and process from working on the new full-length, that follows up, By Typing “I Talk”, You Don’t Talk? What changes in styles and sounds have you noted in this creative evolution?
First I changed the way I compose. I used to write songs with the stream of consciousness, but now traditional songwriting, using guitar or keys, was involved in the process. Then I tried to mix the chord progressions with samples from my library or records. The beat-making is more complex on these new recording. I was jamming with a bunch of drum machines, samples, natural sounds like snow walking sounds or water splashes mixing them with acoustic drum sets and percussion. We are trying to create huge beats and drum patterns influenced by greek, middle Eastern and samba rhythms.
Secondly I was influenced by Parajanov’s films. I was stunned by the overload of information of, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. The film also has an amazing sound design and soundtrack. I have watched it over and over and sometimes I don’t even look at the screen, I just listen to it. I wanted to give the new songs this sense of an always moving structure. I wrote about 20-30 songs and then concentrated many tunes and parts from all of them into 9 songs, trying to keep the songs tight and as poppy as possible, mostly major scale baroque-pop influenced stuff. It’s not so much messy or lo-fi or very abstract, it’s more intense and moving all the time, like a Tintin comic. Also I went to Istanbul recently and I think the city by itself influenced me a lot: the sounds, the people, the colors, the food. It felt very familiar, cause Athens and Thessaloniki are somehow transmitting the same essence, but Istanbul has that sense of anarchic liveliness to the max.
Thoughts about the latest developments and favorites from the Greece indie scene?
I think it's doing more than great. I don't wanna start namedropping. I suggest checking out the website of Six d.o.g.s., a venue in Athens. It has a catalog of every artist that has performed there. You can find amazing stuff there!
What are some of the Kid Flicks summer through fall plans, strategies, hopes, projections?
Finishing the new music is definitely a priority. After that we're gonna start touring as much as possible. We also have lots of stuff going on, everything will be announced through our pages at the right time!
