The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird. Our latest jam, post COVID pandemic and in the year where artificial intelligence became mainstream, is a collaboration with The Zink and resulted in A Degradação de Ser Humano - a concept session about how humanity feels strange and surreal these days. The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). The Zink is Ruben Mendes (synths) and Francisco Gaspar (other instruments). 

T4P + The Zink - A Degradação de Ser Humano

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird. After a 10 year hiatus, we got back together to jam, together with The Zink and the result is Planeta Combustão - a strange mix of sounds and rhythms. The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). The Zink is Ruben Mendes (synths) and Francisco Gaspar (other instruments). 

T4P + The Zink - Planeta Combustão

During my 8 month trip from Greece to Nepal, as I carried a small instrument with me (a Portuguese cavaquinho), I had the amazing chance of meeting many different people, some of which were musicians - and many times we ended up playing together, for fun. These are some recordings of those moments which for me are unforgettable. I also learned quite a lot about Greek, Turkish, Georgian, Armenian, Persian, Pakistani and Indian music, which are now part of my daily playlists ♥️ A big thank you to all the people who wanted to play together, providing such unforgettable experiences.

Silk Road Jam-Sessions

Project DOR is an improvised collaboration between Portuguese and Iranian musicians, recorded on a day of mutually fueled inspiration in Yerevan, Armenia. A product of chance encounter of burning souls. Anahita Ghasemi Nasab - piano, Ārash Āzādi - cavaquinho, Christian Marques - electric guitar, Marco Dias - field recordings

Project DOR

Inspired by a heavy emotional state, and the music of Simon & Garfunkle, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and more recently Sufjan Stevens, I was looking to create a singer/songwriter persona with smooth and pastoral folk songs that tell the self-biographic story of Wolfboy, a feral kid trying to understand his feelings and his place in the world. in this project I play guitar, melodica, anglo-concertina and several midi instruments. I also try to sing. In late 2012 I got together with other musicians and we formed the band Wolfboy & The Pack, an extension of the wolfboy project. We have performed live several times in the Nice (France) indie scene. Wolfboy & The Pack are Carlo Busa (ukulele), Christian Marques (acoustic guitar and voice), Guillaume Greene (bass), Javier Salcedo (electric guitar) and Olia Michou (keyboards).

Wolfboy & The Pack

My first composition for the anglo-concertina, “O Teu Nome Vem na Brisa” is supposed to be a danceable trad-folk <a href=“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazurka”>Mazurka</a>, inspired by European traditional ball dance music (Naragonia, ZEF, Dites 34, among many other brilliant bands that keep the tradition alive). All arrangements, lyrics and composition are mine. <div class=“lyrics”> “quando bailamos  o mundo pára por nós  levitamos sobre água  nunca mais estaremos sós entre os passos que se repetem  sinto o teu calor em mim  poderia bailar contigo  levitar até ao fim baila minha ilusão  há tanto entre nós  se eu grito o teu nome em coro  nem ouves a minha voz por cima do oceano  gaivotas me vêm contar  que viram o teu corpo nú  numa praia a bailar” </div>

O Teu Nome Vem na Brisa

In July 2013, I worked with guitarist Javier Salcedo in a collaboration meant to give sound to the short animation movie of artist/animator Sara Franco, JOE. This movie was her final project for the Vancouver Film School where she finished her animation major with honours. We composed this music based on Javier's composition for electric guitar, which was then re-arranged and harmonized with other instruments. The final song was called 'My Little Monster' and can be heard in the video on the right.

JOE - Original Soundtrack

The Beauty of not Breathing is my attempt at post-rock. As one of my favourite genres of music, I am obsessed with Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky and many others. I picked up my guitar and tried to create simple, absorbing environments, with emotional depth and oniric properties. apart from the musical references, i gathered inspiration in the ocean, as this has been a constant element in my life, and i reflected about its conceptual importance as a medium which is mildly unknown, mysterious, powerful and full of life. and still it soothes our anxiety, feeds our mind with beauty and poetry and induces respect.

The Beauty of Not Breathing

On the 25th of January of 2013, I prepared a little soirée at my house at the time, where I interpreted a selection of songs of Lusitanian influence - Portuguese / Brazilian and African. I chose songs from famous Portuguese language songwriters/poets/musicians like José Afonso, José Mário Branco, Sérgio Godinho, Vitorino, João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes, Chico Buarque, Cesária Évora, some fado, and others. I was accompanied by the lovely Ezgi Demren on the flute, and Cláudio Costa on the percussion - and although there isn’t much footage of the event, it was indeed a memorable night, where I got to explore my roots and traditions, and the beauty of sung Portuguese poetry. 

A Lusitanian Evening

Motivated by my fascination about experimental music and sound, the Altered States project arises from the curiosity and will to experiment. These are purely electro-acoustic experiments with noise, texture and moods, created with guitars, trumpet, percussion and software. for the first time, I use Pure Data to create some of the sounds and specially a PD patch called VirtualDroneLab for the drone. altered states takes its name from scientist John C.Lily who experimented with hallucinogenic drugs in sensory deprivation tanks, and subsequently from the movie about him, with the same name. the science-fiction movie explores the consequence of physical de-evolution and regression from these sensorial deprivation experiments, and the concept for my project also explores the idea of regression, letting the improvisation transport me to primitive states of mind and ultimately discover a 'beast within'. the songs are named after genetic disorders.

Altered States

I started playing the anglo-concertina (a beautiful <a href=“https://www.concertinaconnection.com/jackie-jack.htm”>Jackie</a> model) in 2011, when I purchased one at the Andanças festival in Portugal. I’m a great fan of trad-ball music (traditional European dancing music), and I follow the scene very closely (which unfortunately there is not a lot of). I love the music of Naragonia, ZEF, Dites 34, and similar projects and the beauty they create when people are dancing in their live performances. As such I try to cover some of them on my anglo-concertina, with a lot of mistakes, but hopefully with a little bit of feeling. Here are some of my covers.

English Concertina

This project started as a consequence of Italo Calvino's 'The Invisible Cities', as I became fascinated with Calvino's description of these imaginary cities. the focus of the project was to create an"imaginary soundtrack" to Calvino's cities. inspired by modern classical composers as phillip glass, ärvo paart, max richter or johan johanesson, i tried to create ambient soundscapes for each of Calvino's cities. I was later joined by artist Sara Franco, who reading the description of each city and listening to my music, created her graphical interpretations of each city.

Monolith Landscapes

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Cagar em Palco É Arte is a collaboration with other musicians, namely: Pedro Silva, João Figueiredo and Ruben Mendes (The Zink). Cagar em Palco É Arte was the first venture of The Four Psicadelics with other musicians other than The Zink, and we really tried to get rid of all the rules and do somewhat of a tribute to the great free-jazz / improv musicians from musical history such as Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Ornette Coleman, etc. It’s definitely a bit noisy, but we really had loads of fun playing this! 

T4P & Friends - Cagar em Palco é Arte

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Veio Do Outro Mundo is a collaboration with Ruben Mendes (The Zink). Veio do Outro Mundo was the first venture of The Four Psicadelics with other musicians, and we tried to use a different range of new instruments such as the didgeridoo, percussion and melodica to try and explore more organic sounds and move away from the classic guitar/bass/drums/synths structure. We had loads of fun playing this, and that can be felt when hearing!

T4P + The Zink - Veio do Outro Mundo

Recycle! was a ska-rock band from Lisbon, founded by Rui Figueiredo (composition, voice and guitar) and João Wang (drums) who played original songs (written by Rui Figueiredo) as well as covers. I was invited to perform live with them and play the trumpet at the Incógnito Bar in Lisbon, Portugal. We performed some originals as well as some Mad Caddies / Sublime covers. My trumpet skills were / are very limited, so apologies for all the mistakes. Nonetheless it was a super enriching experience to share the stage with such talented musicians and overall an unforgettable night. 

Recycle!

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Um Natal Bombástico was our fourth jam-session, played during Christmas time and filled with recognisable festive melodies and a bit of a punk attitude. 

T4P - Um Natal Bombástico

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Camelo ao Quadrado is T4P’s third jam-session, where we explored more Arabian/Locrian sounds in accordance with the “desert” theme we chose to follow. 

T4P - Camelo ao Quadrado

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Baba Nam Kevalam was T4P’s second jam-session and is probably the most mellow/melodic jam we’ve done. It was inspired by the mantra “Baba Nam Kevalam”, singing in name of the divine.

T4P - Baba Nam Kevalam

Photophobic Gnome was my first adventure in composing/producing music at a young age. I tried to play around with a lot of synthesisers, drone sounds, and ambiance. The sounds were created using a very amateur keyboard and some VSTs, as I was exploring some ideas and the whole journey of creating sound. Everything is very amateur and lo-fi, but this was definitely a very important step in the journey of being able to think about music composition and sound, and absolutely set the foundations for all the subsequent projects that arose.

Photophobic Gnome

The Four Psicadelics is an instrumental jam-band project that started in 2003, with four friends trying to explore some unbounded grooves, sometimes melodic, sometimes noisy, always weird.  The Four Psicadelics are Christian Marques (guitar) / Francisco Gaspar (bass) / João Wang (drums) and Ricardo Rodrigues (guitar). Uma Nova Odisseia was our first ever jam-session back in 2003, where we found out the pleasure of playing together and experimented with a lot of different sounds. This jam-session set the motivation we needed to continue playing together, which has happened multiple times until this day. Uma Nova Odisseia is amateur, weird and groovy stuff. 