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space_io (volume I)

BASSCAPOLOGY

that’s the term I invented to describe my new solo album, ‘spaces_io (volume I)’ – a means of escape from the confines of your room during lockdown.

It’s my fourth album but it’s also the first of its kind, sort of.

AUDIO, VIDEO, DISCO

I started ‘absurdcus’ back in 2003 as a means of always having a creative öutlet at hand. But it wasn’t until recently that I realised that it has become my most valuable educational resource.

Basically I learned everything I know or am good at by working on my absurdcusian craft. From composing, playing and recording instruments, using a DAW, mixing, to filming and editing videos, 2D and stop-motion animations, writing gear reviews, playing in bands, social media skills etc.

The absurdcus motto is my own motto – audio, video, disco – I hear, I see, I learn.

SPACES_IO (VOLUME I)

my fourth release is a sort of return to the roots, as cheesy as that may sound.

Lately it has become increasingly difficult for me to write any music, I felt nothing I wrote was good enough, I needed to raise the bar with every note. Every chord progression needed to be something one wouldn’t expect, every melody innovative, every beat unheard of. And that basically stopped me in my tracks, the joy of writing was slipping through the cracks.

This record is the opposite of that, it’s a reminder of why I started playing music in the first place. It was not so I could swing a psychic bat at my head for not coming up with the most original basslines. It was not because I had something very important to say and felt other people should hear it, too.

It was because it was easier to pour emotions into sounds than into words. And learn along the way.

‘spaces_io’ is a reminder that I DO NOT have to adhere to any guidelines. I can write a 13 second punk song using only spoons if I want to. Well, maybe on the next record, not this one, though.

So, without further ado – here are 30 minutes of bass scapes,  explorations of spaces. All sounds are  made with electric, fretless, acoustic and electric upright bass. The album is mostly built on improvised pieces recorded during quarantine in 2020, what a year, right?

 

As always, you can download it for free (or pay-what-you-want) at absurdcus.bandcamp.com/album/spaces-io-volume-i

Or listen to it on YouTube below.

Or stream it on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and the likes soon.

Or check the hyperfollow link here.

Or do none of the above, that’s ok as well!

#norc

 

Well, this one is done, on to new adventures then!

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end of year album list

2022

well, what a year.

but here are some new releases I really enjoyed:

Antonio Sanchez – SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol III)
Svaneborg Kardyb – Over Tage
The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta
Alexisonfire – Otherness
Black Midi – Hellfire
Meshuggah – Immutable
Jordan Rakei – Bruises EP
Yebba – Live at Electric Lady EP
Mădălina Pavăl – Roiesc
Porcupine Tree – Closure/Continuation
Richard Spaven – Spirit Beats EP
David Maxim Micic – BILO IV
Am Fost La Munte Și Mi-a Plăcut – La Vale
Kristóf Bacsó Triad and Daniele Camarda – Imaginary Faces
Snarky Puppy – Empire Central

also, really loving the new Paramore singles so far!

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ye album lists for previous years

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2021

YEBBA – Dawn
Jordan Rakei – What We Call Life
James Blake – Friends That Break Your Heart
Moses Sumney – Live From Blackalachia
Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Pino Palladino + Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments
Black Midi – Cavalcade
Lucia – IMMERSIA EP
Mörk – In The Golden Hour
Leprous – Aphelion
Turnstile – Glow On
Nick Johnston – Young Language
Bill Laurance – Zeal EP
Poppy Ackroyd – Pause
Michael League – So Many Me
Cenk Erdoğan – Ara Nağme

 

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2020

White Walls – Grandeur
Michael Manring – Small Moments
Tigran Hamasyan – The Call Within
Ólafur Arnalds – some kind of peace
The Pineapple Thief – Versions of the Truth
Spaven X Sandunes
Plini – Impulse Voices
Puscifer – Existential Reckoning
Figueroa – The World As We Know It
Helen Mountfort – Ebb
IDLES – Ultra Mono
Jesús Rico Pérez – SCARS III
Intervals – Circadian

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2019

Leprous – Pitfalls
Jakub Zytecki – Nothing Lasts, Nothing’s Lost
Tool – Fear Inoculum
The Contortionist – Our Bones EP
Bon Iver – i,i
City and Colour – A Pill for Loneliness
Cloudkicker – Unending
Mark Lettieri – Deep: The Baritone Sessions VOl1
Hildur Gudnadóttir – Joker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Deliric x Silent Strike – II
Nick Johnston – Wide Eyes In The Dark
Dub Trio – The Shape Of Dub To Come
shey baba – Requiem
Brad Mehldau – Finding Gabriel
GoGo Penguin – Ocean In A Drop EP

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2018

Lucia – Samsara
GoGo Penguin – A Humdrum Star
Richard Spaven – Real Time
Ólafur Arnalds – re:member
Childish Japes – Salamander
Between The Buried And Me – Automata II
Nik Bärtsch’s RONIN – Awase
Jacob Collier – DJESSE (vol I)
Poppy Ackroyd – Resolve
Mammal Hands – Becoming
Zoe Keating – Snowmelt

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2017

Richard Spaven – The Self
Jordan Rakei – Wallflower
Leprous – Malina
Björn Meyer – Provenance
David Maxim Micic – Who Bit The Moon
Childish Japes – After You’re Born
The Contortionist – Clairvoyant
Steven Wilson – To The Bone
almadeer – Igra
Iris Lune – Lost In Chatter

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audio, video, disco

I’ve always loved this phrase

it’s such a good description of a huge part of my life. It means “I hear, I see, I learn” in latin. It somewhat explains why I try to keep my music as free downloadable albums.

I am self-taught at everything I am marginally good at. This, of course, has its advantages and disadvantages. An immediate disadvantage would be lacking the terminology and having to use my own convoluted maps instead of the common shortcuts. On the other hand, the biggest advantage would be coming to appreciate and treasure the learning process.

I never considered myself to be a real musician, though I’ve been playing an instrument for 20+ years. Sounds odd, I know, but bear with me. I grew up not knowing that music can be taught but instead I thought you must be born with the ‘gift’. Music must be a magical, mysterious phenomenon, no way you could reduce it to rules and structure and mathematics. I always labelled myself an amateur even when a large chunk of my income was from playing music. Damian Erskine recently changed my mind though with this video and I upgraded the label to ‘music enthusiast’.

My first album’s called ‘the Öutlet‘ and it’s more of a collection of tunes from 2003 to 2011 than an album. I put it up online because I have some very insistent friends. My second album is called ‘a drop of Calm‘ and it was composed in 2 weeks after the very difficult oct-nov of 2015. My third album is from 2017 and it’s called ‘T‘. Initially it was meant to be a soundtrack to a video-game, hence the more electronic vibe. All 3 albums are free to download, or you can pay what you want for them. They are free not because I don’t consider them valuable. Quite the contrary, they are free because they are very valuable to me.

Album no.4 is in the works

and slowly but surely it will come to fruition. I’m in the 8th year of carefully balancing a steady full time job (albeit working from home), a very actively gigging band with family life and other paraphernalia. Slowly but surely new lessons will be learned.

And talking about new lessons, here’s a video I did.

‘A day in the life of’  type of skit. And I admit it, besides having received quite a few messages on FB from absurdcus fans, the only other reason I wanted to have my albums on streaming platforms was to be able to have my own music on my Instagram stories. And it’s very cool for my cat videos to have an absurdcusian soundtrack!

Also, here’s my VIP LINK if you want a Distrokid subscription. You get a 7% discount off your first year. And it’s very easy to use, yay. Have fun!

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