Hailing from Wales but a resident of Japan for the past 25 years, Steve Good has, in various forms, been involved with music for his entire life. From classical violin through just about every genre imaginable, he finally found himself sucked into the vortex of London’s rave scene in the 90s. After moving to Tokyo in ’95, he started work at a recording studio, producing, mixing, mastering, remixing and programming music for artists, bands, games, and TV commercials, while simultaneously DJing for clubs and parties and producing via his own downtempo project, Puff Dragon. Involved in Labyrinth since its beginnings, Steve takes responsibility for that festival’s legendary sound quality.

After moving to the wild northern-Japanese island of Hokkaido in 2012 with his family, he found natural inspiration for what is now recognised as the Labyrinth sound. The epic beauty and remoteness of this icy, rock-covered isle on the north-west corner of the Pacific Ocean became the inspiration for Steve’s musical explorations of the interplay between the human and the natural, creating a huge and lasting effect on both his own musical output and the indelible artistic mark of Labyrinth Festival.

This present live set grew out of a phase of sadness and listlessness Steve experienced as the upheavals of 2020 ricocheted across the globe. In the absence of those usually unnoticed markers of the passage of time, anchor points drift and the moorings that ground opportunities for perspective and insight flit and vanish. Yet in this sea of disorientation, the plants continue to grow, rivers flow, waves crash, and the seasons keep on turning. In place of what appeared to be missing arises the possibility of experiencing each moment in its sublime evanescence. Steve Good’s Patterns of Perception 67 is forest music, mountain music, lake music. It holds chaos and beauty within it, transporting the listener to places both on the edge, and at the core, of the fleeting beauty of existence.

After witnessing his ethereal, truly moving opening set on day two of last year’s Labyrinth festival, this mix is a uniquely personal one for our collective. We’re delighted to welcome Steve onto our platform to share his inimitable musical vision.

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/stevegoodambient/
https://stevegood.bandcamp.com

https://soundcloud.com/mindgameslaby

Patterns of Perception 67 - Steve Good

O hai!

Born and bred in Poland, where the Sun rarely shines and stolen German cars are most often found, I have been into and around drum & bass for quite a while, though my record collection expands into many different directions and genres. Yet, as the English language allows for the pun to follow, I like to emphasize that it all started from scratch :P Indeed, turntablism was the thing that drew me behind the decks and after all these years I still like to make use of what I've learned so far. However, as far as drum & bass is concerned, there are virtually no limits to what I play (with the small exclusion of the style embodied by McDonald’s most representative figure :P ). Also, I'm 1/2 of atmoteka - a series of atmospheric drum & bass mixes recorded by some of the most prominent producers and DJs who have made - and continue to make - significant contributions to the atmospheric side of drum & bass.

A fierce ole artist grandma called Joan Jonas (no relation to Joe Jonas) famed for having transmuted consciousness-evolving performance art into bourgeois video entertainment so good that she subsequently found herself accused of killing the radio star*…

(“Jip! It was her, we found the culprit!”)

…Tried to atone for her sins by leading us all back into a love of listening via a surprise introduction to an obscure anthropology professor who doesn’t take himself seriously enough for anyone (beyond academia) to have ever been able to find his work had it not been for her help. 

What a disservice to the grand collective, and nevermind everyone else, to my own enjoyment of life, this would have been: deep, deep, deep down into the depths of the ocean he went - travelling inside a submarine called Elven studying intently the difference between hearing and listening as he went. 

Redefining the notion of a mediascape, reimagining the concept of sound as received by human placed in the belly of a cyborg. 

Stefan Helmreich having, thus, reorganised noise into melody with utmost humility: Joan Jonas, by mere association, consider yourself atoned. 

Meanwhile, a guy called David Troop had written a book called ‘Ocean of Sound’ to help him survive the double-blow grief of losing his father and wife to death in the same week. 

The result was me picking the book up, on the other side of the world, on quite a random day and consequently falling - like Alice in Wonderland - into a world of infinite magic on all the other days since: gamelan dance, Debussy cured of white supremacy, Sun Ra’s hymn to the setting sun, a history of ambient music - starting from the 1990’s - something called ‘amniotic fluids’ (a genre unto its own) and a renewed obsession with an overly romanticised pre-Edison Japan: a place with an affinity for and love of Shadows. 

Enter: an escape from your current life into the next without first having to traverse purgatory. Life and death devoid of suffering. Some would call it Enlightenment. Others would call it Love. 

Here, I was also to discover the first ever Japanese satellite station constructed as a peaceful rebellion against those that claimed Time to be linear. “No” they said, pioneering twenty-four-hours of continuous radio transmission programmed to synchronise with tidal patterns, sunrise, sunset and changing phases of the moon - “Dream Tides…” 

Everything you hear me play on this little account is somewhat inspired by the awakening I’ve enjoyed thanks to all these wonderful little accidents and serendipities. 

Let the music play on. 🤍🎶

Embrace the rhythm of change ≈ ryantheweatherman@proton.me
∆
07.12.12 - TBA 🇸🇬
22.11.25 - Sento Sensations 🇯🇵
08.11.25 - TBA 🇸🇬
02.11.25 - TBA 🇸🇬
27.07.25 - Sivilian Affairs' Friendly Waters 3rd Anniversary 🇸🇬
28.06.25 - Immersion by Wild Pearl 🇸🇬
30 & 31.05.25 - Immersion by Wild Pearl 🇸🇬
06.07.24 - Yes You's 2nd Anniversary 🇸🇬
07.06.24 - Conscious Festival 🇸🇬
11.05.24 - Weich Sleepover at 90mil 🇩🇪
09.05.24 - Refuge Worldwide Radio 🇩🇪
03.05.24 - Kwia 🇩🇪
05.04.24 - Equation Festival 🇻🇳
20.10.23 - Peels Records & Bar 🇮🇩
18.10.23 - Headstream Radio 🇮🇩
15.10.23 - Savage Snug Night 🇻🇳
14.10.23 - Hanoi Community Radio 🇻🇳
01.10.23 - Sunda Festival 🇸🇬
09.07.23 - Sivilian Affairs' Friendly Waters 1st Anniversary 🇸🇬
03.05.23 - Debris Daikanyama, Deep & Dark Night 🇯🇵
06.10.22 - Tropic City 🇹🇭
25.10.19 - Tuff Club Anniversary 🇸🇬

djing ambient/drone/deep house/techno for your chillout zones + verdant foundry - project and artist management for dance music creatives
bookings: hi@verdant.garden

6/28/24 - Meridian @ Jupiter Disco
7/26/23 - Scribbles @ Trans Pecos
5/11/23 - dream/self @ Mansions