There may be life out there!

[edit 06/02/2023] NOW WITH VIDEO! - https://vimeo.com/793448249

Uncle Sam's Robot On Mars - Hawkwind (SteamAbacus remix) 6'24"

Samples taken from ...

UNCLE SAM'S ON MARS
           (HAWKWIND - TAKE ME TO YOUR FUTURE. 2006)
UNCLE SAM'S ON MARS (EARLY VERSION)
           (HAWKWIND - QUARK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM, ATOMHENGE REISSUE 2009)
ROBOT (FIRST VERSION)
           (HAWKWIND - PXR5, ATOMHENGE REISSUE 2009)
ROBOT (LIVE)
           (HAWKWIND - ASTORIA LONDON, 19/12/2007)
THE FIRST LANDING ON MEDUSA, SNOWFALL, CATERPILLAR
           (ROBERT CALVERT - CENTIGRADE 232, 1986)
PERSEVERANCE MISSION LIVESTREAM
           (NASA-JPL MISSION CONTROL, 18/03/2021)

Uncle Sam's Robot On Mars

This is a way too fast version of my song, with me singing. It was, as a result, a bit of a nightmare for me, especially when Dave Brock 'broke a string' and had to leave the stage, therefore not being able to do the high octaves and harmonies, as we'd rehearsed. Strangely enough, it was also the very first time that I'd ever sung lead vocals to a live audience - in this case 4.5K people! 

That's Alan Davey on bass (not difficult to tell) and Huw Lloyd Langton on lead guitar, perhaps Jerry Richards on rhythm guitar. Who played the weird tambourine  - why didn't he just play on the offbeat instead of shaking it around in a meaningless fashion?  The harmonies were by Ron Tree, in the absence of Dave Brock.  The keyboards are way too low in this monitor mix. But the multitrack recordings are safe.  One day...

Words and music by Steve Swindells © Warner Chappell Music.

Shot Down In The Night.  Hawkestra. Brixton Academy. 2000.

A while back, I went through a collection of old cassette tapes and discovered a selection of interesting ideas and demos dating from around 1992 to 1998. Over the last year or so i have been digitising these crusty old cassettes, cleaning up and remastering selected tracks into a coherent album.

This is one track from that album which seems as apt in the present day as it was when I wrote and demo'd it thirty-odd years ago.

<>

CHRONOFLOW

WHAT CAN YOU SAY WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW?
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT DON'T SHOW?
WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN THEY DON'T SEE
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU IS HAPPENING TO ME?
IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU
IT'S HAPPENING TO ME
IT'S HAPPENING
 
WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU CAN'T HIDE?
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO STEM THIS TIDE?
HOW CAN WE RIDE CURRENT HISTORY?
WHEN IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU, IT'S HAPPENING TO ME
IT'S HAPPENING
IT'S REALLY HAPPENING
IT'S HAPPENING
IT'S REALLY HAPPENING
 
DIG IT!

<>

from The Endless Path To The Way Of Tea (Cassette Demos 1992 - 1998)
https://steamabacusproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-endless-path-to-the-way-of-tea

<>

Album credits ...

The Endless Path To The Way Of Tea

Cassette demos 1992 - 1998


Steve Baker - Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, balalaika,
bass, drum machine, wow and flutter


Demos recorded on 2- and 4-track cassette between 1992 - 1998
Compiled and remastered 2024 - 2025


© Steve Baker 2025



A SteamAbacus Production

Chronoflow  (Cassette demos 1992 - 1998)

texte Luciole Langevine
guitare:deep man

texte:

Miss Anthrope est vraiment très malade
Un 10 sur l’échelle des douleurs
Les humains lui font mal au cœur
Malgré les pilules les pommades
Miss Anthrope est vraiment très malade
Miss Anthrope veut fermer les yeux
Sur une terre à sang et à feu
Elle s’invente de très jolis rêves
Dans sa tête vivent Adam et Eve
Jamais leur amour ne s’achève
Au paradis un chant s’élève
Et l’harmonie est si profonde
Miss Anthrope veut quitter le monde

Miss Anthrope se rêve en garçon
Un genre de chevalier du bien
Plein d’amour pour le genre humain
Phil Anthrope ce serait son nom
Miss Anthrope se rêve garçon

Miss anthrope,,,Luciole Langevine and deep man

Throbulus Prime ...

Lenovo laptop with Akai LPK-25 keyboard
> Surrealistic MG-1 Plus softsynth
> Voltage Modular softsynth
> Disco DSP OB-Xd softsynth
Stylophone CPM DS-2 dronesynth
Eventide Ultratap delay
Alesis Nanoverb reverb
Micro FX Compressor
Yamaha REX-50 multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine delay/reverb/looper
Yamaha Pocketrak PR7 digital recorder/player
Sony MZ-R37 portable minidisc
Audio-Technica ATM-31a microphone
Digitech JamMan Vocal XT looper
Behringer UB802 mixer


Recorded on Throbulus Prime
Produced on the Steam Abacus

© Steve Baker 2025

Drone [full album segue] (2025)

kjbvafsivuregfrei

Live in one take out of ProTools; Omnisphere II "Inside Grandfather Clock"
Typical of music inspired by the timbre of the patch.

I want a Gamelan Hat, and a Gamelan Bopper.

Collected Journies

Gamelanesque

After hearing my Plutobot track ( https://soundcloud.com/steam-abacus/plutobot-06052017 ) Paul (aka DeeplyDazzled in these here parts)sent me a message about an idea he was working on - "I like this vibe, I have a Conservative Dalek vocal track waiting for your lead guitar". So he sent over a link and I had a creative afternoon splashing somewhat more than just 'lead guitar' over the rudimentary idea Paul had sent. There were a couple of bass phrases floating around at the end of the vocal snippet - I extracted and looped these and added a drum loop in order for me to have something to play lead guitar along to. I also put down some semi-random rhythm guitar chords and then sprayed whole-tone scale angular guitar over the top.

I sent these back to Paul with the usual message of 'use as little or as much of this material as you see fit'. He generously suggested I should carry on and do the final mix myself with the parts I had come up with. So I did a lot more work on the arrangement (mostly drum programming) and produced this final mix.

Paul - original concept, vocal treatment, bass loop
Steve - arrangement, guitars, drum sequencing

DEEPLY DAZZLED/STEAM ABACUS - Dalek Confusion (2017)

A curiosity that I discovered in the Steamy Vaults.

Back in 2011, DeeplyDazzled had begun to relate the epic saga of The Donkeys. He asked me to contribute some guitar to a track and sent over a rough, unfinished backing track over which I layered various guitar parts. I sent the separate parts for DD to 'fold, spindle and mutilate'* however he saw fit in the final piece but I also included a rough mix of all the parts I'd recorded and how they lined up with each other just in case there were any synchronisation issues.

This is that rough mix with all the stinky** guitars to the fore.

Original idea, drums, synths and programming - DeeplyDazzled
Guitars - SteamAbacus

*© FZ

** "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar: now that's my idea of a good time" - Frank Zappa

(The finalised track may still be on SC although DeeplyDazzled's original page is no more and he can now be found as DeeplyDazzled2. I'm not sure if this track survived the transition)

[edit] The finalised track is still available here ...

https://soundcloud.com/deeplydazzled1/the-non-sacrificial-ritual-tap

Look at all those comments! Those were the days. :)

eMissions

DeeplyDazzled/SteamAbacus - The Ritual Tap Dance of the Two Missing Donkeys (Stink mix) (2011)

Quality is a bit dodgy, but it's the real deal.

It was recorded onto cassette, I think!

Brock, Bainbridge, King and me.

The pic is of me in the porch of Rockfield studio's  Mill House, where we recorded this first demo, in the beautiful adjoining, linked ex-chapel, where we rehearsed.

Words and music by Steve Swindells (c).

Shot Down In The Night. Original demo. 1979.

Hey, folks--Hanklebury here. I have, at last, assembled a first volume of the works of my musical alter ego, Uncle Hassell, for your downloading and listening pleasure. I won't say much about it--just listen to this short message from the man himself!

Find the album here: https://hanklebury.bandcamp.com/album/uncle-hassell-delta-drone

"Delta Drone" album by Uncle Hassell now available at Bandcamp.com

Steve Baker, Producer/Guitarist, London, UK

Guitars, guitars, guitars.....and some more guitars! With a few other devices thrown in (notably, a Line 6 DL4 looping pedal).

All the tracks here are emissions from the venerable 'Steam Abacus' - once a wheezing old pentium-powered antique (Windows 98SE!, mainly utilising Cubase VST 3.7, Cool Edit Pro and T-Racks), now resurrected as an only-slightly-antiquated younger specimen (Windows XP, Cubase SX, et al).

Much is initially recorded direct to minidisc before being edited/compiled on the Steam Abacus.

Some older tracks even started life on Compact Cassette. 

State-of-the-art this ain't!