Raw formed during the summer of 1990, when Giannis Papaioannou and Makis Faros started making music for imaginary waiting rooms! They combined the traditional "electronic" way of tape-loops, the industrial timbres of musique-concrete with the harmonics of world music, all filtered through digital sampling and computer programming. During the fall of 1990 they recorded their first demo-tape, featuring 8 pieces, which was freely distributed among friends. At the same time both members attended classes in Iannis Xenakis' Centre of Contemporary Music Research in Athens, and they presented their final algorithmic works, under the title "Creation". Both pieces received prizes. In the meanwhile, they recorded four pieces on a beefy 24 analog track studio and one of them, their first release, appeared in the compilation "Random Relations Part 1", by their own independent label, Elfish Records.
Then they decided their first full scheduled project, a future trilogy, which started from written thoughts on trips between Sweden and Greece. Their homes became two different studios, exchanging musical ideas and digital media of sampled material. The first part of the trilogy was called "Land" and it was a result of six months programming on Igor (their dedicated Mac II computer). The process was slow but the two friends were more productive than ever. After another month of late night recordings and different sessions with guest friends on acoustic or electric instruments, the result was more than magical! Haunting samplers and cooling synths, screaming e-bowed guitars and crying clarinets, invite the listener to a sonic trip through different musical landscapes, by blending Greek traditional and European contemporary music forms. "Land" was finally completed in September 1991, released through Elfish Records in November and as soon as it came out, received excellent reviews from Greek and European music press.
After two years of endless recordings and many successful (or not so successful) performances around Athens, the band reached the point of completing "City", with Coti K. (their dedicated sound engineer) as a third member of Raw. "City" the second part of their trilogy, is a project fully inspired by the mechanisms of their own big town, Athens. This album sounds completely different than "Land", presenting another electronic face of Raw, who manipulate more rhythm, analog synthesizers and harsh sampling to create the atmosphere of their city. A fine mixture of dreamy synthesized sounds and eerie fretless basslines, feature a trip to the gray Athens areas, the transformation of beautiful childhood dreams to young adult nightmares. Thomas Musialofksi, from Poland played saxophone on two tracks, and Tania Nikoloudi did the female vocal part on "Your Sweetest Pain".
After the release of "City" on Elfish, the band showed on numerous gigs (one in the legendary record-shop Lotos in Thessaloniki -- thank you Pakis!) and all of their shows were dressed in a cyberdelic slide-show, driven by the Greek artist Pantelis Pantelopoulos. Then, Raw made the soundtrack to the short film "The Sea", directed by the Greek underwater photographer Chris Vardopoulos. They also appeared on national TV, interviewed by Argyris Zilos (journalist) and performed live on his show. Unfortunately, in June 1994, Giannis & Makis had to face the decision of giving up with their record label, Elfish. With three new releases in her hands (the legendary Lanterna debut among them) Elfish ceased its activities and The Elfish Society closed its doors. Today, all of Elfish releases are considered as collectors' items around their own country, some of them reaching high bids through e-Bay.
Together with Elfish, Raw vanished. Reasons remain unsolved. The third part of their trilogy, "Mind", still remains unmixed, though recorded on digital tape.
Personnel on this recording:
Giannis Papaioannou: Electronics & tapes
Coti K: Fretless bass & sound engineering
Makis Faros: Drums
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