There are many layers to this track, when I was digging through my archives I found a primitive version of it from around 1997 and I wanted to perform it live so I rebuilt it on my live performance rig. I played that version in Berlin and several other places but it was a bit more experimental, fun but not totally danceable. Over the years I’ve added and taken away from this depending on where I was playing it, its had different names and riffs – and yet the theme of identity has stayed the same. Who are you?
The EP is available on all streaming and major sales platforms, so check out Steve Angstrom – Who Are You
It began on a plane journey, coming back from a gig in Berlin I was inspired by my experiences at the parties and gigs I’d been at, and it reflects a certain feeling I had during my time there. Hanging out with old friends and new, absorbing the changes. The title comes from the feeling I had, that my expectations could never be trusted and fate often deals cards we dont expect. For good, and for bad.
It doesn’t have a “Berlin Sound” and its not minimal hard techno ! It’s how I felt after a week in Berlin, which cant be put into words but I can make it into sounds. And here it is. New release available everywhere.
From my residency at Paradise AIR in Matsudo, Japan a mixture of modular eurorack synthesiser performances recorded in the unique decommissioned Love Hotel above a Pachinko parlour
The EP is available on all streaming and major sales platforms, so check out Steve Angstrom – Matsudo
I spent countless hours riding the trains in and around Tokyo, especially when travelling in from Matsudo which is a city in Chiba prefecture just on the outskirts of Tokyo.
These trains connect the metropolis, bringing people together in a collective solitude. Each person was absorbed in their own world—earphones in, eyes fixed on their phone, game or manga. It struck me how, from early morning until late at night, the only interruptions to this shared silence were the occasional station jingles and the clear, precise announcements: “The next station is Akihabara, the doors on the left side will open.”
As these trains journeyed out beyond Tokyo’s bustling core to the quieter cities where most workers live, I noticed something almost dreamlike about the passengers. It was as if they were no longer present, having drifted into the pages of their manga or the screens of their virtual games. The long ride through such a vast metropolis took on a trancelike quality. This piece captures that experience.
The video above is of me recording the piece, overlaid with some videos I took on those journeys.
Still in the Game [6:27]
I stayed and worked at Paradise AIR, located above a Pachinko parlour that filled the air with constant noise—roaring, tinkling, screaming—day and night. From the stairwell, I recorded the ambient sounds as they echoed through the concrete stairs. One night, as the place was closing, the noise softened more than usual. The rush of tokens and the chimes of overlapping melodies carried a melancholic tone. I grabbed my synth and recorded both the sounds of the parlour through the steel fire door and my own interpretations.
Alone Together [7:00]
We walked through the streets of Matsudo during the Obon festival, commemorating the death of my mother-in-law from the week before. After creating a small paper lantern decorated with commemorative images, we brought it to the river, where the residents released their lanterns to float downstream. At the end of Obon, people set lanterns afloat in the nearest body of water, allowing the spirits to return to the other world.
At the end of the stream, a cultural festival gave us the chance to celebrate and reflect on what has passed and what lies ahead.
Something Lost [13:27]
In Japan, I struggled with my Parkinson’s, having started new medication just before the trip and then facing the intense, humid summer heat. I had been warned, but during the first week, I found myself wondering, “Can I handle this?” The overwhelming sensations came not only from the unfamiliar Japanese psycho-geography but also from within. I no longer felt like the man I expected myself to be. Old certainties slipped away. My emotional state grew turbulent as the effects of the medication fluctuated. And in the heat of the Japanese summer, I felt like I lost something.
I hope you enjoy this small collection of work from an inspirational stay in Japan. Many doors opened (and a few closed). I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
I’ll be in Japan at Paradise AIR (Artist in residency) from July 1st to September 1st 2023, alongside my creative collaborator Beau Beaumont.
We’ll be living and working in Paradise Air, a wonderful creative space in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture (just outside Tokyo), and we will be exploring creative ideas related to the environment and people there. It’s a very exciting opportunity and one which we are both very excited and pleased to have been given. Paradise Air has a rich history of supporting creative artists from all fields to develop innovative work.
We will be developing our practice as experimental composers and sound artists – recording and performing in the local area, galleries and outdoor spaces. We intend to travel and explore the many wonders of Japan’s culture and use them to inform our work. Then when we return to the UK in September we look forward to a series of releases and performances which draw from the field recordings, compositions and spoken word elements we have collected and created there.
The bad news first, straight to the point: I have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Those who have seen me in person may have noticed, because I’ve had symptoms for a long time. It’s been 6 years since I first was impacted, though I’ve hidden it masterfully! I’ve had a provisional diagnosis for a while which was confirmed by brain scans etc last year (2022). So, this is why I’ve not been gigging or releasing so much the past 12 months as I needed to take stock of the change.
I’m making this post because I wanted people to hear it from me first rather than it coming out of left-field. My upcoming works (and any press) will likely reference Parkinson’s, so it seemed right to be open about it now.
As for how it affects me; I have an uncontrollable tremor which affects my dexterity and movement speed, especially in my right hand. I’ve always enjoyed playing electronic music live and playing high tempo music requires fast dexterous hands. So, there’s a problem to solve.
So now some good news.
For the past 6 months I’ve been focusing on lower tempo music, more ambient, as it’s now more my speed! I’ve developed a new performance style and I played my first gig a month ago and it went great. Random hand movements are part of my sound now 😉
Also, I have my fantastic ambient music collaboration with Beau Beaumont, a very experienced and talented ambient artist with a background of impressive works. Together we are working on an EP, Album, tour and a residency in Japan are all in the works.
So, that’s my update and remember that these hard changes which are forced upon all of us can (sometimes) result in great outcomes.
They said it was impossible to go back in time, to recapture the past – they said I was crazy to try, but what do those voices in my head know!?
On May 29th I’ll be performing at Bearded Theory Festival with a bunch of tunes from the Archives, at least half of them will be TimeShard songs – some of which we rarely performed. So this is a crazy experiment because if we couldn’t do them with three people it’s going to be amusing to see one guy try and recreate them – live on stage with unreliable analogue synthesisers https://beardedtheory.co.uk/2022-line-up/
Here’s a track off my retrospective EP Recovered Artifacts 93′- 97′ available on Vinyl via all good record stockists, etc. Though they are sold out most places, so if you want one you might need to try a few places. Anyway…
This track is Holographic Fool, I made a video and ran it through some trickery to make it look like you dropped your spectacles in LSD.
To celebrate the upcoming release of my EP (Recovered Artefacts) on Sleepers Records I’m exploring each song in a live jam. This is song number #4 on that EP, titled StarBilliard.
This version is very different from the one which appears on the EP … which was recorded in the early 90s but using a lot of the same equipment.
As you are here there’s a good chance you are a synth nerd, so I’ll explain exactly where the noises come from. At the very start there’s a swooshing synth pad noise coming from an SY85 just out of the bottom of the shot, it’s not getting used much.
The first notes I play are on an Arturia MicroFreak.
The Drums are programmed on that white thing with all the buttons, that’s called a BeatStep Pro, the bassline is partly MIDI in Ableton live which is synced to the Beatstep, then it’s sent to that Synth just above the white slab. That’s where the bass noise comes from.
The Drum noises are samples, the sound and shape of which are modifed by the stack of boxes up to the top left. There are effect sends to sent the echoes, synths, drums and bass, as I decide it – to the Eurorack, and also to the MS20 synth. That’s all being sent the being sent out of a patchbay and routed to the stack of boxes up there.
Those boxes are also playing the dit-dit-dit- distorted echoey beep noises.
There’s a foot pedal on the floor which helps me switch sounds when my hands are full.
I play the same riff as I play at the start on my Korg MonoPoly, which is a bif old Analog synth.
