Absurd Records

stelzer · Post by **stelzer** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:33 pm

Ever since I had a couple of CDRs out on the Greek label Absurd, the maniac who runs the label sends me everything he puts out... which is TONS. Far more music than I can keep up with. So this evening, I decided to sit down and listen to as much of it as I can, and am struck by how much of it is excellent. In particular, Lionel Marchetti & Emmanuel Petit "Mere feu 40 Tetes" is great... but it's a CDR limited to 127 copies, a similar number as most Absurd releases. Then there's stuff by Sindre Bjerga, Toy Bizarre, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Matt Davis, Michel Henritzi, Boca Raton, Negative Entropy, M.Behrens, Ilios, the Haters, Rosy Parlane, AMK, and on and on and on....

What I wonder is, do people buy these things? I hardly ever hear anyone talking about the label, rarely notice them being written about, and except for the P.D. "Inweglos" CD reissue I never see these in shops. And yet the Absurd catalogue is totally impressive and huge, and he's been at it for a long time. Has anyone heard what this label is doing? It's very cool!

Post by **mudd** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:15 pm

i have only 3 or 4 releases on the label, and i think i like all of them very much. my favorite is probably the cremaster album.

and people certainly do buy them, because have the time i set out looking for one i come back empty-handed. alas.

m

user_600 · Post by **user_600** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:16 am

i buy this stuff... but not everything

user_350 · Post by **user_350** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:16 am

YES !!! amazing label ... definately one that deserves more credit and/or respect.

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:48 am

A question very close to this came up recently in a Bagatellen conversation. Absurd is a great little label that puts out a lot of good music, occasionally some great music but also one or two duds as well.

The Cremaster disc Mark mentions is indeed very nice, not least because it comes wrapped in a piece of sandpaper... packaging is often pretty interesting with Absurd.
There are a number of other releases I would happilly recommend, but there lies the problem, they are likely to all be out of stock now.

Howie wonders why there are not many reviews of Absurd stuff in existence. The problem is, if they make a hundred or so copies, give away 30 or so to reviewers or past contributors then that doesn't leave many left for the public to buy, and there really isn't a whole lot of point reviewing something unlikely to be available for long.

Don't get me wrong, I love Absurd and I pick up whatever I can lay my hands on ( a mini review of mine of the most recent batch sits somewhere amongst the Otomo, Sachiko et al thread somewhere...) I just wish they would make 250 copies of half as many discs so that keeping up isn't quite the task it is at present!

franz bieberkopf · Post by **franz bieberkopf** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:51 am

distro is also a bit sketchy. at least for me to get them through rekkid stores as opposed to mail ordering (which is something i can't afford to do all the time).

really diggin' the new Colley. made darn sure i got my hands on that one.

cleanzero · Post by **cleanzero** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:31 pm

Maybe i'm dummy...but i can't find the website of this label ( i also should have one Cremaster record. i saw them live at the Sonar a few years ago)

bobuffs · Post by **bobuffs** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:07 pm

Richard Pinnell wrote: Don't get me wrong, I love Absurd and I pick up whatever I can lay my hands on ( a mini review of mine of the most recent batch sits somewhere amongst the Otomo, Sachiko et al thread somewhere...) I just wish they would make 250 copies of half as many discs so that keeping up isn't quite the task it is at present!

FWIW, we often pick up about 10% of every Absurd limited edition release and it takes anywhere from 3 months to 1.5 years for us to sell out of any given title. Also, I’ve seen older releases in other distro catalogs kicking around for years so Nicolas seems to have the edition number pretty much correct (in other words, nothing sells out instantly). His releases come a little more frequently than most labels but it's pretty under control given his more-than-fair prices and excellent ear (total quality control).

One label I can't keep up with is Audiobot!

AMAZING releases and so many of them!!! But I’m not complaining…maybe just a little jealous/intimidated by how productive that label is.

Carlo...I'm sorry for further delays!!!

stelzer · Post by **stelzer** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:17 pm

http://www.anet.gr/absurd/" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

That's the website for Absurd. I just looked at the list of releases... hm, never saw them written out all in one place before, but boy is his label correctly named! ABSURD!! Wow.

As for Audiobot, I owe Carlo an order.... coming soon!

nirav · Post by **nirav** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:44 pm

That one is a little out of date, he posted a new one to HN_AM:

comin' sooner or later

- emil beaulieau/jason lescalleet split 7"
- michael prime / max eastley CD
- emil beulieau : pure cdr (reissue of the s/t perverse series tape from 96
compiling absurd's favest emil's tracks from his 5 first emil pure cds,
supplement to the forthcoming absurd issue that will accompany the new issue
of overdub zine)
- ferran fages/will guthrie cdr
- howlin' ghost proletarians : the singer cdr (co-produced w/ phase recs)
- kalorifeur : cdr (freaked lo-fi greek duo on editions_zero)

also as lots of people ask me often around the entire releases catalogue
here it is. all cdr unless otherwise noted.

#1. die feine trinkers bei pinkels daheim : papagoyenboom

#2 mlehst : living without feeling

#3 kapotte muziek : lauter

#4 incapacintants/k2 : we are all stupid

#5 maeror tri : hypnotikum II LP co-produced with poeta negra label.

#6 leif elggren : 45 minutes from underneath the beds

#7 maeror tri : archaic states

#8 giuseppe ielasi : 5 tracks

#9 /editions_zero#1 rudolv eb.er/joke lanz : akustiche action (essen)

#10 mnortham : from within the solar cave CD

#11 costis drygianakis/nikos veliotis : 28/4/2001

#12 gunshop : the mechanics always have a part left over

#13 toy bizarre : kdi dctb 116

#14 feine trinkers bei pinkels daheim : hungerhaken’s speckrolle

#15 noise-maker’s fifes : raw

#16 fibo trespo : s/t

#17 mbehrens : selected minimalist concerns

#18 howard stelzer/frans de waard : torn tongue

#19 rabbitspeech (madder vs stylianos tziritas)

#20 haters ‘ictanea all naris’ t-shirt & 3”cdr

#21 – mark wastell/matt davis : derby/liverpool

#22 – nikos veliotis/dan warburton : vw

#23/editions_zero #3 – v/a : research center for the definition of happiness

#24/small music theatre – ilios : 18102002

#25 murmer : definition

#25 mattin/rosy parlane : agur 3”cdr

#26 gareth mitchell (aka philosopher’s stone) : august; snow; pieces;

#28 – tetuzi akiyama/richard francis/campbell kneale/clinton watkins/stefan
neville

#29 – sam dellaria/adam sonderberg : fold your arms and the world will stop

#30 sonic catering band : live from the canteens of atlantis 2CD. lim.
477 copies.

#31 pop : work hard play harder

#32 cremaster : 32,41 n/m2

#33 emil beaulieau/jason lescalleet : rock ‘n’ roll/toys in the attic 7”
(coming sometime in ‘05)

#34 faktura (mark wastell – amplified textures, graham halliwell – sax
feedback)

#35 nikos veliotis / nicolas malevitsis “murder melody” maxi cdr

#36 boca raton : mansdoof

#37 dylan nyoukis & caren constance : here comes blood stereo

#38 nixilx.nijilx cdr

#39 joel stern / margarida garcia / anthony guerra “hey ya” 3”cdr

#40 PD ‘inweglos’ CD

#41 postblue 3”cdr co-produced w/ phase records!

#42 ashtray navigations CD

#43 dan warburton/reynols : i am not sitting in a room with reynols

#44 sindre bjerga : gettin‘ jiggy with it

utan titel (sweden) #1 / #45 looper : squarehorse CD

utan titel #3/ #46 negative entropy ms stubnitz ’98 CD

#47 matt davis/graham halliwell

#48 if,bwana : gruntle CD

utan titel (sweden) #2 / #49 howlin’ ghost proletarians : dead roads

# 50 klimperei : la tordeuse a bandes obliques CD

#51 lionel marchetti/emanuele petite/christophe cardoen :

mere feu 40 tetes

#52 alfredo costa monteiro : stylt

#53 tomas korber/erikm/dieb 13 maxi cdr

also under absurd’s allied collective “editions_zero”

#2 stelzer/talbot/rawlings vs grivas/zioutos/malevitsis : split cdr

#4 ghost cdr release to come free w/ the fanzine “all noises swell together
by themselves in landscape”

#5 sindre bjerga/anders gjerde : stavanger

#6 rlw : eaRLy W 4 cd

#7 amk : playground #1 cdr & antirecord issue of the zine.

phase records/ #8 old fashioned donkeys cdr

on editions_zero’s scandinavian branch ‘utan titel’

#4 sindre bjerga/jm iversen : play the oslo groove machine

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:51 pm

bobuffs wrote: FWIW, we often pick up about 10% of every Absurd limited edition release and it takes anywhere from 3 months to 1.5 years for us to sell out of any given title. Also, I’ve seen older releases in other distro catalogs kicking around for years so Nicolas seems to have the edition number pretty much correct (in other words, nothing sells out instantly). His releases come a little more frequently than most labels but it's pretty under control given his more-than-fair prices and excellent ear (total quality control).

Thanks Chris.
Maybe this is just my perception and imagination then. Possible I've just been unlucky on the occasions I've struggled to find things, but to be honest I haven't looked at your list for Absurd before, I will do next time.

nirav · Post by **nirav** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:20 pm

Franz Bieberkopf wrote:distro is also a bit sketchy. at least for me to get them through rekkid stores as opposed to mail ordering (which is something i can't afford to do all the time).

really diggin' the new Colley. made darn sure i got my hands on that one.

The new Colley is on Antifrost, not Absurd. Also Greek, but the editions are generally not limited, or are at least larger. Ilios, who is the head of Antifrost did a disc for Absurd called "18102002", which I like a lot.

stelzer · Post by **stelzer** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:24 pm

I've got a few in my distro, too. Not too many, but some older ones and some that I just like.

But wow, check out that list of artists! Really insane and prolific. I listened back to Looper "Squarehorse" CD today, and Murmur "Definition". Looper isn't so exciting (if it were edited from an hour down to 40 minutes, maybe I would have liked it more), but Murmur totally is.

I have a lot of respect for his support of lesser-known but quality folks... Adam Sonderberg, Will Guthrie, Alfredo Costa Monteiro... and the way he traverses so many styles, methods, and artistic intentions... the guy's excitement about music is palpable. Not a jaded dude at all. I love that!

fearandpanic · Post by **fearandpanic** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:58 pm

a number of absurd releases (including some harder to find earlier titles) are available from staalplaat:

http://www.staalplaat.com/search/label/absurd

i only own one, mnortham's "from within the solar cave", but it's a fantastic cd, beautifully designed.

user_265 · Post by **user_265** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:35 pm

yes, ABSURD, great label. send the man your cash, it's gonna be in good hands.

letchhausen · Post by **letchhausen** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:57 pm

I have ordered direct from the label and been very pleased with what I've got. I've had to pick up others from various distros to fill things out. There's a lot of good music there and that latest round that Richard wrote about was all pretty swell. And I agree that that "Mere feu 40 Tetes" is a nice recording. That disc"Faktura" rules! Very interesting packaging as well......

franz bieberkopf · Post by **franz bieberkopf** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:18 pm

icefactory wrote:
The new Colley is on Antifrost, not Absurd. Also Greek, but the editions are generally not limited, or are at least larger. Ilios, who is the head of Antifrost did a disc for Absurd called "18102002", which I like a lot.

right right... well in my defence they are both from Greece, and both start with the letter "a"

guh...

Tanner · Post by **Tanner** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:04 pm

I really dug the Cremaster Live cdr (totally badass situationist inspired sandpaper packaging! Although maybe they just like that Feederz album) until I spilled beer all over it and ruined it. Well, actually, it skips randomly now, adding a different component to it and somehow makes me feel more punk for listening to it... but I digress. Uh... yeah... good label. I dig the Looper disc, too. But i think it should have been edited down as well. . . Didn't M. Behrens have a disc in that same series? Hmmm. . .

user_350 · Post by **user_350** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:03 am

bobuffs wrote:
Richard Pinnell wrote: Don't get me wrong, I love Absurd and I pick up whatever I can lay my hands on ( a mini review of mine of the most recent batch sits somewhere amongst the Otomo, Sachiko et al thread somewhere...) I just wish they would make 250 copies of half as many discs so that keeping up isn't quite the task it is at present!
FWIW, we often pick up about 10% of every Absurd limited edition release and it takes anywhere from 3 months to 1.5 years for us to sell out of any given title. Also, I’ve seen older releases in other distro catalogs kicking around for years so Nicolas seems to have the edition number pretty much correct (in other words, nothing sells out instantly). His releases come a little more frequently than most labels but it's pretty under control given his more-than-fair prices and excellent ear (total quality control).

One label I can't keep up with is Audiobot! AMAZING releases and so many of them!!! But I’m not complaining…maybe just a little jealous/intimidated by how productive that label is. Carlo...I'm sorry for further delays!!!

thanks a lot for your kind words ... more in the pipeline !

stelzer · Post by **stelzer** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:08 am

You're right, M. Behrens did have a CDr in that series "Selected Minimalist Concerns". Totally pretentious title, but... eh, that's what it is. It's a collection of short pieces from compilations, really nice actually. Marc does well with short pieces, real focused ideas.... I dig it. Not sure if it's actually 'minimalist' though...