Vangelis Kostoxenakis has almost two decades of career in DJing and music production. He is one of the best embassadors of the Greek producing scene with releases on the biggest labels like Suara, Kling Klong, Snatch and many more. He entered our Comunica last year on a Summer event at Athens and in early 2016, he remixed a track from Tolis Q ft Mikele, released on our label. But let him answer my questions .. [The Messenger of Comunica]
The Messenger : You count already 2 decades on dance music with countless hits in and out of Greek borders. If i remember correctly you were the first who made the DJ/Producer proffessions well known as many new people had the chance to watch you on TV on your show "Expierience Zone" on MadTV. How much have things changed?
Vangelis Kostoxenakis : First of all thank you for inviting me. Indeed things have greatly changed. Many more new people are engaging with music now, producing or DJing. I don't know and i will not judge if this is a good thing. The only thing i believe is that anyone who spends time on this occupation has to know why he/she is doing it and not because it is cool. On the other hand, technology helped formidably for anyone to create music. That's a tool for talented people and pain for our ears when used by non talented people
TM : Phatjack, Angel Stoxx and now VK. In my honest opinion, three different names that reflects your proggress. does music has boundaries afterall?
VK : I was always trying to think out of the box. I never follow what's hot on charts in order to create something simillar. I am trying to focus my creativity on fresh sounds with special attention on production quality. Production for me is the 80% and the rest 20% the idea. What can you do with a good bassline if it sounds like shit?
About the feeling that you ask me ofcourse it is an ethical satisfaction and a proof of my talent wich i constantly question. Believe me if you produce bullcrap, it doesn't matter what your "connections" are.
TM : What led you to create your label "Talk of the Town" and what we should expect in the future
VK : I used to run two labels, Neon music and Mokilok, so i am familiar with that. I was thinking a long time the creation of a new label. Not exclusively for promoting new Greek artists and other crap that i listen all the time and i freak out but for releasing good music no matter where it comes from. Till now we have scheduled 9 releases that spans till October and we recieving demos daily. There will be releases from Piem, Chris IDH, Dennis Cruz, Yamil, Ninetoes, The Deepshakerz, Shosho and many more
TM : On your last release at Comunica you gave us a really good remix on TolisQ's and Mikele's "Keep on Movin" . Have you ever shared decks with them? Talk to me a bit about your relationship with those artists
VK : With both of them we are veterans now. With Tolis there is a mutual respect since ouououououou years ago, and with Mikele it was around 1998 when, with his collaborator at that time, i used to listen to them at Camel club at the old airport (thats a greek region in athens) . Together with Leonidas (L-Sega) they were a source of inspiration for me at that time, and the reason i am doing what i do today. Probably he doesn't know because i never told him.
Passionate DJ, bipolar music personality, who’s scared of speed and feels dizzy in high heights, Vangelis Kostoxenakis is a dedicated music producer hailing from south side of Athens/Greece.
Here is the exclusive Comunicast he did for us and it sounds great
You can find more about Vangelis on the links bellow:
https://www.facebook.com/VangelisKostoxenakis.Official
https://www.facebook.com/talkofthetownofficial
Thank you Vangelis for this interview, it has been a pleasure.