BS284 Aleksander Kostopoulos: Akiro

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Aleksander Kostopoulos:
Akiro

Format: Digital single
Label: Beatservice Records
Catalogue number: BS284-1
Release date: 9. aug 2024

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01

Akiro


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Aleksander Kostopoulos follows up his spellbinding 'BaNi' EP on Beatservice Records with another blissful single of cinematic brilliance for the Norwegian label, toeing the line between soul-rousing elegance and dancefloor electronica.

A distinguished audiovisual drummer, composer, and artist from Bodø, Norway, Kostopoulos is renowned for his percussion work in the Sami pop trio ISÁK and his live collaborations with leading Norwegian artists including Mari Boine, Adjagas, Moddi, and Marthe Valle.

His latest solo single, 'Akiro', the first from his upcoming album 'Klangre' due early November, is a score worthy of soundtracking the most breathtaking of scenes. Layered celestial piano chords and modulated synth stabs stop you right in your tracks. It's a voyage that opens out into a driving beat, filled with commanding kicks that ride the bassline and snare rolls that march beside. As it rises, the ethereal textures of the beginning form a new breakdown, building the anticipation towards the tracks true crescendo. Soaring strings waltz around swirling percussion and pulsating arps. A combination that produces a euphoric climax to this stunning track, before it dissolves back down into its otherworldly essence.

An epic and enthralling slice of electronica, 'Akiro' is empowering, rich and refined, all in the same breath.


Aleksander Kostopoulos:
Hbrae

Format: Digital single
Label: Beatservice Records
Catalogue number: BS284-2
Release date: 20. sep 2024

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01

Hbrae


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With a brand-new album on the horizon for Beatservice Records and the first single already causing a stir, Aleksander Kostopoulos gives listeners a further taste of what's in store with the captivating second single 'Hbrae'.

No stranger to cinematic, film-score worthy songwriting, Aleksander is a prominent drummer, composer and artist from Bodø, Norway. Well-known for his percussion prowess in the Sami pop trio ISÁK, he has also collaborated with respected Norwegian artists including Marthe Valle, Mari Boine, Adjagas and Moddi.

'Hbrae' is a sweeping, eyes closed state of blissed out brilliance, that suspends you weightless, momentarily stopping time. Aleksander draws you in with reverberating plucked strings and sumptuous pads, before a crisp drumbeat, serene strings and spiralling arps turn the track into a state of dancefloor euphoria. Immersive and heartfelt yet distinctly club-focussed, this is Aleksander Kostopoulos in his finest form to date.


Aleksander Kostopoulos:
Mendokaa

Format: Digital single
Label: Beatservice Records
Catalogue number: BS284-3
Release date: 1. nov 2024

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01

Mendokaa


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Ahead of the release of his debut solo album Klangre, Aleksander Kostopoulos keeps momentum building with 'Mendokaa' - a track that, particularly when pared with first single 'Hbrae', feels as uplifting as it does timely.

Timely because now, in the global north, the nights are beginning to draw in. The sun is lower in the sky, the air crisper, but the afterglow of a summer still vivid in the memory remains, if only just.

It's a feeling that, in Aleksander's hometown of Bodø - just north of the Arctic Circle - comes on earlier, and stronger. And listening to 'Mendokaa', it's something that doesn't so much as shine through but reverberates across the four-plus minutes of delicate chimes, soft pads, and cinematic overtures.

As the track begins, it's hard not to draw comparisons to maestros of minimalism, like Steve Reich, or Philip Glass. But no sooner have you settled into these hypnotic rhythms, the pace shifts: those pads, not quite thudding, but locking the groove in regardless. As the beat builds, eyes slip into soft focus. There is no soaring crescendo - the pay off here is far more subtle. There is an unmistakable warmth here, and it stays with you throughout.

If all of that sounds a little too sentimental, well, that's just part of what Aleksander does. Through previous work in bands like ISÁK, or in compositions made for the big screen, there is a sense that this is music created to soundtrack time, place - and feeling, too.


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