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STEVE FREEMAN / HISTORY
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Steve Freeman |
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Always
a sound explorer, much more an enterprising dabbler than musician, my brother
Steve has only occasionally worked solo. To quote "I prefer to work with
others..." he's often said. Yet he has made a few solos that are quite
original, engaging and groundbreaking in their own way. Besides
working in Alto Stratus & ZBB, Steve also made
a number of cassette albums in the early/mid-1980's, largely exploring weird
electroacoustic and industrial musics. Steve's focus was often conceptual,
and he attacked his subject matter with zeal. The "Scorpio"
anthology has lots of buzzing electronics, crashing percussives and weird
collage. Steve is also particularly fond of the post apocalyptic genre of
sci-fi, and the finest of his solo sonic fables was "Cataclysm" a
bleak concept work, based on the apocalyptic TV drama "Threads" and
sonically relates to the spooky realms of Throbbing Gristle or The Residents'
"Eskimo". During
the early days of Endgame Steve went on to develop a whole new
style of sonic exploration, which resulted in his 2001 solo
"Conundrum" a unique mixture of adventurous recycled/systemic
electroacoustic creations, often using techniques in the realms of Steve
Reich's "Come Out" phasing experiments, but done in an altogether
weirder/dense fashion, and further on to Faustian tonalities, with nods to Nurse
With Wound, Organum, and such-like. The resultant concoction is unique, and
extremely bizarre. Numerous
other projects have run in parallel, alongside Alto Stratus and Endgame, like
the occasional The Newt Hounds studio project and live with Escape Route, with Steve's unique tape-loop and CD recycling
work a key factor in the innovative and prolific Triax and the
hybrid project Extremities. Sonic contortions of the bowed
"acoustic CD" and a battered broken cymbal, screeching and wailing
through bizarre effects, are yet more of his trademarks, especially live. Not
only does it look good, the sounds created are quite unearthly. Like
myself Steve has been a regular at nearly all the Improv Electronic and
Quadelectronic events to date, and is constantly an uncompromising foil for
others to play against, helping keep the weird edge alive and inspire others
to take up the challenge! |
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Discography... SF: XENOPHILE - MC Musiques Nouvelles MN 011 (1983) unique Steve Freeman tracks on various artists releases... Steve Freeman also features on the following Endgame live discs... Also,
lots of duo/trio, etc. collaboration work at Quadelectronic, including one
solo piece. |
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Steve Freeman in Audion - see: Alto Stratus,
Endgame entries |
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