Olga Kouklaki

Her talent takes its roots into her very childhood, when aged 8 the Greek artist started a classical music formation. It then germinated when as a young girl with a fascination for electronic music she launched herself into DJing, soon to become a key figure of the most trendy clubs and bars of Athens. It finally started to open out in Paris, cradle of an attracting sound where she moved to in 2001. On her first record, released in England in 2003, she asserted a deep and progressive house, but still hide herself under the pseudonym ODD. She then uncovered herself slowly and carefully, looking for an artistic family. that she found in the Label F-Com, with whom she collaborated as a live keyboard programmer for Jay Alanski (aka Reminiscent Drive), or as a vocalist on TV Dinner, a track by Avril who became an artistic soulmate of hers. Iconic voice of the 2005 song Budapest, a disco-punk cult favorite from French band Poni Hoax, Olga Kouklaki DJs in clubs like Le Pulp or La Mezzanine de l’Alcazar, and plays keyboards for Nouvelle Vague and Bang Bang. Amazed by the range of her talents, the producer of Nouvelle Vague Marc Collin has become her Pygmalion. With his help, Olga finally spread her musical wings by composing “Getalife”, her first album. The title track was remixed by Black Strobe (Arnaud Rebotini) and Volga Select and released on a maxi record published by the label The Perfect Kiss (Pias). The same label released her debut album in 2008. Cheered by Les Inrockuptibles as the “Pythia of an electronica as incantatory as it is languid”, her music is described as a “dark pop electronica walking in the footsteps of Chloé or Jennifer Cardini”. Olga seduces and imposes a “deep and somber voice” behind which the press is surprised to discover “a little doll (the meaning of the Greek word Kouklaki), both shy and cheerful”. The doll since grew up. “I U Need” is a work of dark splendor that resonates in a pop vibrancy. The album is more visual, more accessible and definitely appealing. Lynch, a key reference of the artist, however still haunts this almost post-punk road trip, which is part glamorous, on the song Sweetheart where Mélanie Pain (Nouvelle Vague) ironizes on the stereotypes of femininity; part cinematic with the western-like guitars of the instrumental track Jukebox; and part hypnotic with its mesmerizing electronic waves and vocals by Liset Alea (Nouvelle Vague) on Hollow Lives, or by Tim Keegan on Who Are You. “I U Need” is as enticing as it is filled with desire, and definitely makes Olga Kouklaki the electro mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea.