Is this the first album recorded on a phone?


A diverting but relevant codicil to my 'No such thing as an acoustically perfect concert hall' post is provided by the recently released acoustic double CD Skiathos from the sometime Greek rock guitarist Adonis Mitzelos. For those who, quite appropriately, are reading this post on a mobile phone I will explain that the inlay card text above reads:
Recordings were made on a mobile phone in the spring of 2013 and 2014 and on a small portable digital recorder in the summer of 2015, on the balcony, inside and outside Adonis Mitzelos' family house, in Skiathos.
This album of what Adonis Mitzelos terms Aegean jazz was recommended when visiting Crete last year and confirms the rule of serendipity that chance music purchases are often the best music purchases. It was recorded to quote Adonis Mitzelos' sleeve note "without a second thought, without an eraser... infused with island sound... the church bells and birds" - audio sample here. His guitar improvisations combine with the sounds of one of the Sporades' most beguiling islands to create ambient music with a compelling purpose. Any sonic compromises are more than offset by the atmospheric spontaneity, and it is a measure of the success of this exercise in technological minimalism that I have returned to it repeatedly since returning from Crete. Adonis Mitzelos' album is a persuasive lesson in how digital technologies are a very powerful servant but a very dangerous master.


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Pliable said…
For those with John McLaughlin tendencies Adonos Mitzelos's Beyond the Light - which was not recorded on a phone - is worth exploring - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zrzz2UwMlE
2:48 pm
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