Steve Jansen

sakamoto's commmons label 'music baton'

a series of artists select albums that have had an influence upon them. each month the 'music baton' is passed onto a new artist. this months sees steve's selection which can be viewed here

kinoapparatom available as download

the original recording 'kinoapparatom' by jansen & chianura is now out of print and has subsequently become exclusively available from the samadhi download store and includes all new artwork desgined by chris bigg.

The Occurrence Of Slope reviewed in The Wire

The Occurrence Of Slope DVD is reviewed in the July 09 issue of The Wire. Read it here

Purchase the 'slope' live concert postcard set here

The postcard set that was on sale at Steve's performance of Slope at Tokyo's Meguro Persimmon Hall is available for purchase.

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The eight cards are presented in a printed white envelope, and are available in a strictly limited edition. Each set costs £6.00, plus £3.00 postage & packing - flat rate to anywhere in the world. They will be shipped to you directly from Japan. Portrait drawings are by Japanese artist / designer Ed Tsuwaki. Other images are by Shoko Ise and photos of The Nest (Steve Jansen's personal studio space) are taken by steve.

Purchase with PayPal

Click the link to buy the Slope Japanese Postcard Set: £9.00 (price includes worldwide shipping)

Postcard images

imageshop update

new prints are available in steve's imageshop. More portraits as well as various selections.

Slope Live available on iTunes

'The Occurrence Of Slope' live audio soundtrack from the DVD release of the same name is now available on iTunes as well as the samadhi sound download store.

Lungo La Strada

a live performance recorded in december 2006, when steve joined alice for a brief selection of dates held in italian basilicas. released on alice's own record label 'ARECIBO EDIZIONI MUSICALI' the performance was recorded at milan's Basilica di San Marco and is titled 'llungo la strada'. The music features Alice (vocals), Steve Jansen (percussion & keyboards), Marco Pancaldi (guitars) and Alberto Tafuri (piano & keyboards).

distributed by EMI MUSIC ITALY and in shops now the album is also available via alice's own website from april 09.

sleepyard on compilation cd

in august '08 steve was asked to compose a commissioned piece based upon the track 'sleepyard' from 'slope' as part of a nissan advertising campaign in japan. noted for their alternative choices nissan have released a series of music compilation cds of tracks featured in their tv campaigns. the latest in the series, Shift 3, includes the original recording of 'sleepyard'. nissan.co.jp

]]> SHIFT III - NISSAN CM TRACKS
Release date: 25 March, 2009
DFCP-16
2,520 yen

The Occurrence of Slope

the occurrence of slope live audio download

the soundtrack for steve jansen's live dvd 'the occurrence of slope' is now available from the samadhi sound download store in both mp3 and flac formats.

]]> recorded in tokyo in february 2008 this release features performances from jansen, (drums & keyboards), keigo oyamada - aka cornelius (gtrs), masakatsu takagi (piano & keyboards) and a string quartet led by seigen tokuzawa, and includes the entire music from 'slope' plus a live rendition of the 24 minute ambient piece 'ascent' (part of a series of works entitled 'swimming in qualia'). also included is the opening and closing music composed by jansen, as well as track segues only available previously on the dvd.

the download is also bundled with credit sheets designed by chris bigg.

£7.99 Mp3 album
£9.99 FLAC album

A Secret Life - reviewed in The Wire magazine

The Wire magazine April Issue 302 includes a review of A Secret Life.

]]> A Secret Life is a work of exquisite poise, in the spirit of the Ambient albums that early Ultravox member John Foxx recorded with Harold Budd, Translucence and Drift Music. This album has a Budd connection, as it happens - it was after performing with him in 2005 that Foxx and former Japan drummer Steve Jansen began collaborating together, but the tracks they worked on remained unfinished until producer Steve D'Agostino completed them last year.

Foxx's take on Ambient has always explored the uncanny space between quiet and disquiet, between vague unease and alien tranquillity. Jansen's tam-tams fit into this aesthetic extremely well. They have the curious quality of at once dominating the music - their ominous shimmer is the basis for all the tracks here - and of receding from attention, withdrawing into a background hum. Foxx's piano is the lead instrument, but it is used exceptionally sparingly, so that the delayed notes linger in the memory long after they are actually heard. Sometimes the piano makes you think of the (impossible) sound of a submerged church bell; elsewhere it has a piercing, crystalline iciness; at other times it resembles Satie figures being wistfully played in a Drowned World hotel suite.

Using only the sparsest of means - effects, glistening electronics and wind chime percussion in addition to the piano and tam-tams - the six tracks traverse a range of moods. Part 2 begins with a gently insistent piano refrain and ends in a landscape that is as harsh and windswept as 1990s Isolationism. Ultimately, though, this is an album which excels at the art of going nowhere. Like all the best Ambient, it suspends the agitations and urgencies of the everyday, drawing the listener into a state of near stillness where the most minimal perturbation is intensely felt.

International Film Festival Breda

two of the four short movies that are featured as extra contents on steve jansen's 'the occurrence of slope' dvd are to be included in the international film festival breda in holland, held during march 25-29 2009. both 'noema' and 'resistentialism' are directed by shoko ise with music composed and performed specifically for the films by steve jansen.

A Secret Life - D'AGOSTINO/FOXX/JANSEN

Release date: March 23, 2009
Label: Metamatic Records
learn more and pre-order here:
www.thequietman.co.ukr

a secret life

having met during their live performance in Brighton with Harold Budd, John Foxx invited steve to record tam-tams (gongs) for a potential collaborative release. the dark tones of the tam-tams created a bed for atmospherics and acoustic piano work to be added. due to various other commitments the release seemed to be shelved until steve d'agostino (SingleCycle ReOrder) took it upon himself to complete the work. release date is set for March through Metamatic/distributed by Universal and will be under the artist names D'Agostino/Foxx/Jansen.

yukihiro takahashi album 'page by page'

Yukihiro Takahashi's new album 'Page By Page' features two co-writes by steve.
Catalogue Number TOCT-26798 EMI Music Japan
Price 3,000 yen
Release date: 11th March, 2009

Track Listing:

1.Out There (Featuring Lali Puna)
2.The Words (Featuring amiina)
3.My Favorite Hat　
4.Out of Here
5.Perfect Wound (Featuring Steve Jansen)
6.The Muse
7.Emerger (Featuring Keigo Oyamada a.k.a. Cornelius)
8.Atomic Chicken Dog (Featuring Atom)
9.You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
10.Indefinable Point (Featuring Steve Jansen)
11.Meteor Rain -Leonids on the morning of November 17th- (Featuring Lali Puna & amiina)
12.Valerie