George Mastrokostas: guitar, bass, drum machine, keyboards, looper, glockenspiel, bells, music boxes, samples and programming
with assistance from friends:
Charalambos Theocharis (egsun): guitar, looper, glockenspiel and bells (live), bass and cello (postcards from nowhere)
Maria Vitsa: lyrics and voice (bon voyage)
Discography
inland (album, self-released, 2003)
semper e.p. (e.p., self-released, 2003)
lost shadow (single, self-released, 2005)
affiliate program vol.3 (compilation, bsbta, 2005)
bon voyage (album, unlabel, 2006)
lope / yellow6 / absent without leave / kimonophonic (4-way split, bsbta, 2006)
reborn e.p. (3" e.p., duotone records, 2006)
these waves... (compilation, sound in silence, 2006)
a small frame of reference (compilation, october man recordings, 2006)
absent without leave / cono norte 3 (3" split, sound in silence, 2007)
bon voyage (2nd edition) (album, sound in silence, 2007)
the silent ballet vol.3 : unfolding a broken heart (compilation, the silent ballet / lost children, 2007)
absent without leave / doogie - among friends (split album, fuzzy panda recording co., 2007)
yuria 2006 (compilation, vm recordings, 2007)
drifting skywards 3 (compilation, cold room, 2007)
fugues (compilation, fugues, 2007)
resound e.p. (3" e.p., chat blanc records, 2008)
postcards from nowhere (album, distant noise records, 2008)
somehow ecstatic compilation (compilation, somehow ecstatic records, 2008)
port-royal / absent without leave - magnitogorsk (split album, sound in silence, 2008)
the silence was warm vol.2 (compilation, symbolic interaction, 2008)
friend of mine compilation [unknown music] (compilation, friend of mine records, 2008)
series one remixes (compilation, distant noise records, 2008)
Influences
some bands i like in no particular order:
piano magic, hood, labradford, boards of canada, bowery electric, slowdive, sigur ros, mogwai, godspeed you black emperor!, my bloody valentine, future sound of london, the sundays, flying saucer attack, ganger, stereolab, sierpinski, yellow6, portal, isan, gnac, pan american, 2 by bukowski, arab strap, mazzy star, colleen, the cure, this mortal coil, new order, depeche mode, joy division, the album leaf, ride, pixies, radiohead, the field mice, sonic youth, low, flowchart, kimonophonic, july skies, epic45, amp, silver mt. zion, textile ranch, the chap, windy and carl, rothko, seefeel, port-royal, landing, do make say think, stars of the lid, dissolve, kraftwerk, cocteau twins, dead can dance, arbol, tortoise, pansonic, efterklang, fridge, amina, disco inferno, bark psychosis, yann tiersen, 100 pets, the delgados, mum, air, novak, quickspace, broadcast, cranes, belle and sebastian, trembling blue stars, nick drake, saint etienne, blueboy
absent without leave is the solo project of the 27 year-old George Mastrokostas, based in Athens, Greece. Recording everything himself in his home-studio, he creates a melancholic sound that covers a multitude of styles such as shoegaze, post-rock, ambient and electronica. To date, he has released his music on labels such as distant noise (uk), unlabel (uk), chat blanc (canada), duotone (japan), bsbta (denmark), fuzzy panda (usa), symbolic interaction (japan), october man (uk), friend of mine (japan) and also on his own label sound in silence (greece) and has collaborated for split releases with artists like port-royal, yellow6, kimonophonic, lope, doogie and cono norte 3.
He has played several gigs in Greece at various venues, including synch festival 2007 (among other artists like mum, !!!, front 242, fischerspooner, alexander hacke and many others), double-bill concerts with port-royal and millimetrik, support gigs for 65daysofstatic and section 25 (from legendary factory records) and has been personally invited by artists like piano magic, god is an astronaut, manyfingers and sigmatropic to open their concerts.
He has composed the soundtrack of the short film the crossroads (directed by Petros Sofikitis) and his music has been played on some of the best radio stations worldwide like BBC 6 Music, Resonance FM and others too.
forthcoming: participation in some compilations coming out soon on labels such as enraptured (uk), 9.12 (canada), happy end music (finland) and also remixes for port-royal, yellow6, televise, millimetrik, carta, epic45 and jatun.
absent without leave - resound e.p. - 8€ including worldwide shipping! port-royal / absent without leave - magnitogorsk - 10€ including worldwide shipping! magnitogorsk is also distributed by:
sound in silence (www.myspace.com/soundinsilencerecords) (greece)
vinyl microstore (didotou 34, athens) (greece)
darla (www.darla.com) (usa)
p*dis (www.inpartmaint.com/pdis) (japan)
norman records (www.normanrecords.com) (uk)
n5md (www.n5md.com) (usa)
linus records (www.linusrecords.jp) (japan)
smallfish records (www.smallfish.co.uk) (uk)
tonevendor (www.tonevendor.com) (usa)
friend of mine records (www.fomr-d.com) (japan)
catch the soap (www.catchthesoap.com) (greece)
white noise records (www.whitenoiserecords.org) (hong kong)
zoo records (www.zoo-records.com) (hong kong)
warszawa (www.warszawa.jp) (japan)
ear/rational (www.ear-rational.com) (usa)
play our music (www.playourmusic.net) (greece)
file under records (www.fileunderrecords.com) (japan)
lykkelig (www.lykkelig.jp) (japan)
pastel records (www.pastelrecords.com) (japan)
thirty-three (www.thirty-three.org) (japan)
GIGOGRAPHY
04.04.09 - gagarin 205
w/ 65daysofstatic
26.03.09 - music hall diavlos
w/ millimetrik
12.03.09 - stavros tou notou
w/ modrec & saint catherine's british school's choir
22.01.09 - texas/necropolis club (dark days festival)
w/ common sense, dilemma, slow motion, split image, tilbury on cloves, mavro kokkino
29.11.08 - 8 dytika (playhouse gotique festival 4)
w/ split image, new zero god, midnight toys, herouvim & christabel etheriel
01.11.08 - an club
w/ god is an astronaut
05.10.08 - kinky kong
w/ port-royal
19.09.08 - akis davis (ex-alkmini) theatre (mir festival)
21.06.08 - european music day (old port - neoria, chania, crete)
w/ dr. walker, palo, linny berret & lee fraged, nikolas valsamakis, giorgos stefanou, omni4m & stau55
