We live and breathe music.
Steve Brand's Discussions
Steve Brand
Gifts Received
Steve Brand has not received any gifts yet
Music
Latest Activity
I looked at this when you posted some time back and I had to think about this. If you've read my page here on .ning, you know that I am committed to the idea that music/sound has healing properties. Interestingly, there are individuals like Byron ...
I've got to add: the cover and interior art for "The First Day Unnamed," besides being photos that I really enjoyed taking, were aligned purposefully with this release. Robert Bly speaks often of the symbolic nature of ashes in his book, "Iron Joh...
Congratulations Joe! I'm an HoS alumnus also. Matter of fact, one of the two shows I was on was also on a Halloween show. I love Halloween and this time of year in North America, so for me, it was a fun distinction. Anyway, I think that's really s...
Love the clip - great work lads! I can sure relate to what you said about shadow content - the theme's a bit related to my thoughts about my piece Rebuild From Memory, I should blog that a bit. Great work once again Steve, always glad to hear from...
Profile Information
- About Me:
- | | | | PLEASE NOTE: I have NOT turned off the email function on my AtmoWorks.ning page!!! For some reason, this function just doesn't show up on my page. If we're already "friends," just compose an email, and look for me in the list of contacts. If we're NOT friends yet, just send me a friend invitation, and once I accept, I SHOULD BE available in the list of contacts. | | | |
I have been making music in the experimental realm since the early 90's under the name, "Augur," with more than 20 limited edition releases on various independent labels. In 2003, I began creating in the "ambient" genre under my own name. I describe this change in moniker and musical expression as, part of the process of moving out of my head and more into my heart. Since then, I have issued a number of self-released disks, as well as releases on the esteemed U.S. labels, Hypnos and AtmoWorks, and the Italian label, Afe.
Selected tracks have been featured on Stephen Hill's nationally syndicated radio show "Hearts of Space" on two occasions (October 2007 "Darkwater" edition and August 2008 "Reading the Bones" edition), and continues in rotation on SomaFM's DroneZone and StillStream.com. I was priviledged to be invited, along with 4 other artists, to take part in one of the few "Into The SoundCurrent" Masters' Classes with Steve Roach in September of 2007. In early 2008, Philadelphia's experimental dance troupe, SCRAP Performance Group, used selections of my music as a backdrop for a recent composition.
My music has been described as “ambient,” “tribal,” “ritualistic,” “a direct link to our ancient, and arcane ancestry” and “...not mere music, but an almost shamanic attempt at deconstructing our interpretation of reality, by connecting us to an anti-technological, primal psyche.”
In addition to my sound work, I am a Reiki Master, trained energy healer and visual artist. I am committed to the idea that art/music, more than being just an object for sale, is actually a fluid and transformative process that opens us up to new possibilities, creates the potential for healing, connects us via it's roots in our common ancient past, and it's wellspring in the depths of our larger selves. The results of this process are sounds that are maps of/to lost and uncharted realms of Being. Unfortunately, it's very easy these days to reach for the cynical, hyper-rational, reductivist yes/no answers of the past. Instead, I choose to reach into the gray areas of feeling, intuition, the unknown. In doing so, I make music that is intended to expand, move and heal.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
"To you it may seem that sound and light are two separate things, because from your point of view you perceive light with your eyes and sound with your ears. Because you use two separate areas of perception on your body, it seems that sound and light are separated as well. In actuality, they are very connected. They wind themselves around one another because they both carry information.
"Many of the structures built on this planet, particularly ancient sacred sites, have information stored within stone. In the same way, you have information stored within the bones of your skeletal form. When you allow sounds to move through you, it unlocks a doorway and allows information to flood into your body. It also penetrates the ground, affecting the vibrations of Earth and allowing a rearrangement of a molecular alignment of information to take place. Those of you who use sound when you are working on others' bodies bring about a rearrangement of the molecular structure and create an opening for information to flood in. This kind of work will become more and more profound.
"Sound is a tool for transformation. Keepers of Frequency, which is what we are encouraging you to become, learn how to modulate the frequency they hold through sound. Sound can penetrate any substance, move molecules, and rearrange realities."
- Barbara Marciniak "Bringers of the Dawn"
- Best album(s) of all time?
- My "desert island" playlist: Vidna Obmana - Crossing The Trail | Temps Perdu? - Earth Story | Temps Perdu? - The Day the Earth Melted | Eno and Budd - Plateau of Mirror | Steve Roach - Mystic Chords and Sacred Spaces box | Steve Roach - Artifacts & Origins | Vir Unis - The Drift Inside | Vir Unis - A Flame that Leaves No Ashes | Solar Fields - Extended | Ishq - Magik Square Of The Sun | Jim Cole - Innertones | Suspended Memories - Earth Island | Cheb i Sabbah - Sri Durga | Alio Die - Password For Ethnogenic Experience | Alio Die - Khen Introduce Silence | Max Corbacho - Breathstream | Aglaia - 3 Organic Experiences | Robert Rich - Echo Of Small Things | Robert Rich & Alio Die - Fissures | Robert Rich & Lustmord - Stalker | David Sylvian - Gone to Earth (second disk) | David Sylvian - Plight and Premonition | David Sylvian - Approaching Silence | Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans | Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow | Dead Can Dance - Spleen & Ideal | Amorphous Androgynous - Tales of Ephidrina | Future Sound of London - Lifeforms | Various - Baraka Soundtrack (as it is in the movie, not the chopped-up CD release) | Michael Stearns, Ron Sunsinger, Roach - Kiva | Michael Stearns, Ron Sunsinger - Singing Stones | Michael Stearns - MIddle of Time | Michael Stearns - A Light in the Trees | Thom Brennan - Vibrant Water | Thom Brennan - Formations of Storms | Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question (Leonard Bernstein & Philharmonic Orchestra) | Arvo Pärt - Miserere... | Arvo Pärt - Arbos | Claude Debussy - La Mere | Maurice Ravel - Afternoon of a Faun
- Favorite artist(s)?
- (In no particular order) Alio Die | Robert Rich | Vidna Obmana | Steve Roach | Suspended Memories | Jorge Reyes | Brian Eno | Harold Budd | Vir Unis | James Johnson | Föy | Disturbed Earth | Jim Cole | Michael Stearns | Thom Brennan | Temps Perdu? | Max Corbacho | Aglaia | Coyote Oldman | David Hykes | Ishq | Aes Dana | I Awake | Solar Fields | Carbon Based Lifeforms | Asura | HUVA Network | Circular | Monolake | Cheb i Sabbah | Arvo Pärt | Lisa Gerrard | Brendan Perry | Steve Tibbetts | Björk | Radiohead | David Sylvian | Off The Sky | Isamu Noguchi | Andy Goldsworthy | Kryon | Tobias/St. Germaine/Kuthumi | New ones are added every day...
- Are you a musician? What instrument do you play? Type of music?
- Yes. I am largely self-trained. Music for me is primarily an intuitive and emotional experience/process. My goal is to simply be as clear a channel for sound/music/light as possible. I use anything that I can extract a sound from...mics, keyboards, various flutes, udu, medicine and shaman's drum, bells, cymbals, gongs, rattles, whirly tubes, kalimba, kora, zither, field recordings, and voice.
Steve Brand's Photos
Steve Brand's Blog
“The First Day Unnamed” (w/ Disturbed Earth) on AtmoWorks.com, Friday, Oct. 30
This album (a long form piece timing in at just over 71 minutes) literally grew out of the parts and pieces of my trilogy collaboration with Dean/Disturbed Earth that came out in 2008 ("Broken Gold," "Busy with Dreams," "The Rest of Time"). That said, this is not a continuation or regurgitation of those works. It is an entirely new piece that has it's own unique character and feeling tone. In the previous trilogy, Dean took my sounds and twisted, bent, re-sculpted them with his own sensibilities… Continue
Posted on October 27, 2009 at 5:00pm — 3 Comments
"She Covers The Sky" on AtmoWorks.com, September 25
Early in 2009, I had a recurring idea to make music that was dedicated to honoring the return to Earth of the divine feminine, or goddess energy. Female energy. When I have ideas that keep coming up over and over, as this one did, I never over-analyze them, as they find a way to come to life one way or another.
Central to the idea of the return of the divine feminine, is the idea that about 10,000 years ago (of course, this date varies, some say 5,000), there was a shift from matriarchal societ… Continue
Central to the idea of the return of the divine feminine, is the idea that about 10,000 years ago (of course, this date varies, some say 5,000), there was a shift from matriarchal societ… Continue
Posted on September 16, 2009 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment
The Power of Uncertainty
The quest for certainly blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainly is the very condition to impel man to unfold his power.
- Erich Fromm
- Erich Fromm
Posted on August 7, 2009 at 11:20am —
“Because We Were Once..." Featured Album on StillStream.com
I'm very pleased to announce that my AtmoWorks.com release, "Because We Were Once Covered In Gold," is a featured album on StillStream.com for the next month.
This album was made when I was fresh from my experience at Steve Roach's "Soundcurrent" masters' class in late 2007. Matter of fact, the track for “Womb of Stars," chosen by Steve himself, was used as a bed for an evening of improv by the group. Heady stuff. For me, this disk is a sentimental favorite, as one of my albums where I found a… Continue
This album was made when I was fresh from my experience at Steve Roach's "Soundcurrent" masters' class in late 2007. Matter of fact, the track for “Womb of Stars," chosen by Steve himself, was used as a bed for an evening of improv by the group. Heady stuff. For me, this disk is a sentimental favorite, as one of my albums where I found a… Continue
Posted on July 31, 2009 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment
Steve Brand & Ishq Collaboration on AtmoWorks July 17
July 17 on AtmoWorks.com: Ishq/Steve Brand double disk collaboration: "Spiritual Science" and "The Voice From Home."
I've been an Ishq (Matt Hiller) fan for about 3-4 years. I found his work as part of my complete immersion in Ultimae material. Ishq kept showing up in the "If you like this, you'll like this" area of iTunes. I bought "Orchid" and was hooked. I love his atmospheres and beats, the delicacy and expressiveness of feeling, and his intuitive and spiritual approach to music. Really fee… Continue
I've been an Ishq (Matt Hiller) fan for about 3-4 years. I found his work as part of my complete immersion in Ultimae material. Ishq kept showing up in the "If you like this, you'll like this" area of iTunes. I bought "Orchid" and was hooked. I love his atmospheres and beats, the delicacy and expressiveness of feeling, and his intuitive and spiritual approach to music. Really fee… Continue
Posted on July 16, 2009 at 9:29am —
Comment Wall (49 comments)
- At 2:14pm on October 28, 2009,
Ensueno said… - Good work,Steve
especially love Lit From The Original Flame
all the best,
rudy
- At 12:15am on October 8, 2009,
pishrogabiano said… - Hello Steve,,,many thanks for welcoming me,,great site to be,,
peace,,,
- At 12:09am on October 8, 2009,
pishrogabiano said…
- Hello Steve,,i just want to tell you many thanks for welcoming me,,great site to be,
peace.
- At 3:11pm on September 25, 2009,
Dan Pound said… - Steve,
Congrats on your new release.
Will definitely check it out.
Dan
- At 7:03pm on August 7, 2009,
zerofish9 said… - They left Earth that day.....hydro-torrents of blue ether streaming from the billions of neostatic hyperpods! Flying past pulsars and tri-phase galaxies at neutrino speed--back through the Omnivoidial Time Current, back to their previous future existence of enhanced energy of iOstasis, washed clean of all unprocessed, magnetic resonance.
Acknowledged, they float luminously back onto the super massive, white energy planet "HO`ona"(Home), re-integrating back into communion of Being inside the Star Kiva: and hear the voice= "And we say to you, that this is so.....Welcome back brothers and sisters, welcome home!"
..(so this was my vision thru the headphones the other nite ;)
Masterful piece of work Steve,-Luv The Voice from Home!
peace~
todd
- At 4:16am on July 31, 2009,
Igneous Flame said… - Thanks very much Steve for your comments on 'Electra'.
Such feedback means a lot to me.
cheers
Pete
- At 10:59am on July 23, 2009,
Boris Lelong said… - Hello Steve,
Thank you for your kind comment. This Atmoworks circle definitely is a very welcoming place...
I am discovering "Nature is sung" : powerful texture with a hypnotic quality...It reminds me of one of my works, "Hypnostasis" :
http://borislelong.com/hypnostasis
Take care.
Boris
- At 9:23am on July 22, 2009,
Mike Radice said… - Hey, thanks for the kind words. My music can be heard in the myspace page that I listed in the website section. I'm trying to get the songs on this site, but I'm having a little trouble with that. You make some great music yourself.
- At 1:11pm on June 27, 2009,
Orb Gettarr said… - I've been enjoying your music today, it also helped me to focus my thought-processes when contemplating a response to your latest blog. Many of the points resonated with what has already been in my awareness for a while, and I found them validating. Thanks for posting it.
- At 8:55pm on May 29, 2009,
Orb Gettarr said…
- Listening to 'Pale Blue Orb' and it's mesmerizing. This is ultimately a meditational head-space type piece for me. Very well done, it definitely makes the 'connection'..
About
Recent Releases...
Hover over album cover for Artist / Title. Click to view in our store.
© 2009 Created by John Koch-Northrup on Ning. Create Your Own Social Network
