Savath & Savalas

Founded: 2000

Headquarters: All Over

Website Link(s): http://www.prefuse73.com/savath.shtml

Label(s)

 * Hefty
 * WARP
 * Symbiotic

Genre(s)

 * Folktronica
 * Minimalist Electronica
 * Post-Rock
 * Glitch

RIYL

 * Tortoise
 * Juana Molina
 * Fonica

Band Members

 * Guillermo Scott Herren
 * Eva Puyuelo Muns

Includes Members of

 * Prefuse 73
 * Delarosa & Asora
 * Ahmad Szabo
 * Piano Overlord
 * La Corrección

Band Biography
Guillermo Scott Herren, best known for is hip-hop driven glitch-capades as Prefuse 73, describes his folk infused side project as this, "if Prefuse is my best friend, then Savath and Savalas is my baby." While listening to any of his releases under this moniker, one can immediately understand the tenderness and love he puts into each one of these albums. Each song sounds like it has been intensly studied, understood and deciphered into a series of acoustic melodies and electronic excursions. Of all Herren's projects, Savath & Savalas is the most acoustic based, though there is without a doubt no lack of electronic manipulation. In fact, this is the only moniker prior to Piano Overlord that lets the glitches and white noise take a backseat to experimentation with an array of acoustic instruments. Each album has its own unique sound, but they all share a very patient aesthetic and the ability to transport the listener into a state of cathartic bliss.

2000's Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey has been the most revered of the Savath & Savalas albums. The sound is a few years ahead of its time, concentrating more on letting the music breathe and evolve patiently rather than overloading with as many samples as possible. It is also features the most electronic manipulation of any of the albums; Herren lets white noise and other sounds that are usally left on the cutting room floor linger and dance in the background of each song. There is certaintly a large glitch influence throughout, but it is always used with the upmost patience and discretion.

2002's Rolls and Waves EP found Herren experimenting much more with acoustic instruments varying from accordians to horns and anything else he could get his hands on. The 17-minute EP may be the most effective music Herren has ever produced evoking a timeless sound in five 3-minute songs.

By 2004, the Savath & Savalas project had taken another turn, this time being heavily influenced by Herren's hiatus in Spain in a quest to discover his roots. During this recess, he teamed up with Eva Puyuelo Muns to create his latest installment into the Savath & Savalas project. With Muns using her angelic spanish voice, Herren almost left all of the electronics at home, instead embracing spanish folk songs and instrumentation. The album, Apropa't, varying so much from the two previous albums did take his audience by suprise, but the music speaks for itself and is an important evolution in Herren's ever-changing musical voice. Later the same year, Mañana was also released, and was very much in the same vein as Apropa't. In fact it sounds much like an extension of the previous album and because of that did not receive quite as much recognition as the previous outings.

The next Savath & Savalas record is in production, and it will be interesting to see which direction Herren decides to take now that Muns is no longer in the mix.

=Discography=

Albums

 * Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey 2000 (Symbiotic)
 * Apropa't 2004 (WARP)
 * Mañana 2004 (WARP)

EPs

 * Rolls and Waves 2002 (Hefty)

Singles

 * Immediate Action 2000 (Hefty)