Recently, German multi-instrumentalist Aussteiger delivered his Cosmic Casa LP, a voyage through obscure feel-good energy, and intergalactic funk. The dynamic producer proved his versatility once more, curating a wholesome journey from start to finish on his own imprint, Dub Disco. With such a unique and diverse soundscape, we invited him to break it down for another installment of our Director's Cut series.
How to listen: There are a couple of ways to proceed. First, you can listen to the whole album, which you will find below, and then read the notes. Or, read the notes as you listen to each track. This will completely change your perspective on the whole release itself and bring you closer to the artist and their work.
Words by Aussteiger
Rebel
I had a studio session with my friend Clemens and we wanted to write an 80s song with some guitars. We played around with guitars and came up with some cool riffs. We recorded the riffs and played more melodies on top. I made the drumbeat and played some synth chords on it, whilst Clemens played the bassline to it.
Later I took the best parts, arranged them, and wrote some lyrics to them. I am in love with the “I am a rebel” lyrics and in the end, it is a great song, something unexpected. I had never done something like this before so it feels rewarding. I can’t really sing, that’s why I usually use the Vocoder, but on this tune, it sounds nice. I showed it to some people and they said a mix of David Bowie, Falco, and The Clash vocalist Joe Strummer. Wow, what an honour.
The Feeling
I made this great instrumental on several evenings within a week and thought some vocals would fit on it nicely. I spontaneously invited my music bro, Nico Leivo to a session. I showed him the beat and he was instantly hooked. He came about with some great melodies while freestyling on the beat and then we wrote the lyrics together. This was super fun. Later, Nico was too busy to make the second verse so I invited my friend Stephen SPT who lived close to me in NK, and we wrote the second verse together. Altogether a huge song with some retro vibes and an amazing collaborative project.
IWBYL (I wanna be your Lover)
I created this smooth beat and later decided to put the Vocoder vocals on it. A sweet French girl gave me the inspiration for these lyrics and ultimately the idea of the song. I met her at Kitkat Club and we spent some nice times together. After some weeks she disappeared, and she stopped responding to my messages. I really liked that woman and maybe we could have created something wonderful. But to be honest, that is typical for Berlin, it is called ghosting.
Boogie Down
I made this song with my friend, Thorsten Broda. He lived two floors below my flat in Neukölln so we jammed together sometimes. Meanwhile, he moved with his wife to Chile. Thorsten is a master of the Juno106 and he played most of the synths on his Juno106. When you are in love you write the best songs, so I came up with the vocals because I was in love and in a relationship with a wonderful woman from Morocco. After one year she left Berlin and moved to the South of Germany. Two weeks later she broke up with me on the phone because she wanted to start a new life. I was sad and heart-broken from this.
Pacific Dream
This chilled deep house song I made with my good friend Thomas from S&W. We had a session at my studio and he started playing some cool chords. I immediately hit the record button and layered some drums on the chords. Thomas played the bassline and some more melodies and I jammed with my guitar to it and recorded it. Later we arranged the song and we took the best parts from the session. I showed the song to my friend Maro from Athens, and he made this nice 90s pixel video for it.
Leonardo Breaks
This song is an old one that I finally managed to finish. The name of the song Leonardo comes from the Birth of the son of my sister. He is now 5 years old. The word Breaks comes from the breakbeat style of the groove. Leanardo Breaks here we go.
Freeman
Freeman is a little slower than the first 5 songs of the album. As I also love Downtempo I created this nice song. Later my friend Clemens joined me and played this nice simple Bassline with his Bass Guitar to it.
Unchained
This song is also a slow one and has a nice laid-back vibe. I had just started with some drums and then my friend Max, the co-founder of Dub Disco visited me and we finished this song together. He gave me some cool feedback and had great ideas, that’s why the track is so dope. Thx Max <3
Floating
The last song of the album is very slow and a great outro. Actually, it is so slow because my friend Thomas and I created this track late at night in my studio. We drank whiskey and smoked some blunts, meaning we were in this super relaxed slow-mo mode. Thomas started playing on my bongos/congas and I jammed on my midi synthesizer. The sounds from the synthesizers are from the plugin Diva. An amazing plugin from the enterprise U-he based in Berlin. Later I finished the song and here we go.
Conclusion
I am very happy with the result of my 2nd Album. It took me a long time which songs to choose and for coming up with a journey for the listeners. As I am quite creative and not limited to one style it is not easy to create something that still fits great together. But with Cosmic Casa I made it and I hope the people will feel it and you still can listen and love it in 100 years when I chill in heaven.
Grab your copy here.
