Metcalf, Byron

Artist: Steve Roach & Byron Metcalf
P: 2010
After two years pushing the creative edges, TALES FROM THE ULTRA TRIBE emerges as a fire-breathing life form. The deep trance-shamanic-atmospheric collaboration between Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf evokes the primordial caverns and aeon-blasted landscapes of their groundbreaking THE SERPENT'S LAIR.
And yet on TALES FROM THE ULTRA TRIBE, a new sound emerges.
It's a lucid trance-groove experience, a searing combination of acoustic percussion and hyper-dimensional electronic rhythms. The Ultra Tribe are the future primitives: the future-tech foundation wrapped by the organic. It's no longer clear where the human ends and the machine begins.
The elements of this sound are Steve's complex hybrid-grooves overlaid by Byron's primal, fluid and organic -- yet precise -- frame drums and percussion. It's an atmosphere of shifting soundworlds in which the forms of the Ultra Tribe exist. An alchemy of electronic sequencers, drum machines and percussion locks in the groove, while the human element jumps in and out of the steady pulse, giving the music a passionate intensity. The elements are deftly shaped to a point of complete integration where the final result is transformed into a living breathing body with an electro-organic soul.
As one of the original architects of the tribal-ambient genre, Steve Roach's innovations are mapped out on the landmark albums ORIGINS, ARTIFACTS, AND DREAMTIME RETURN, along with releases from the Suspended Memories trio and the more recent Fever Dreams series. Similarly, Byron Metcalf's tribal-shamanic albums Helpers, Guides & Allies, Not Without Risk, The Shaman's Heart, and A Warning From the Elders, serve as a benchmark for deep journey exploration. In the late 90's, Steve teamed up with Byron, and over the span of a dozen years they've created an array of releases that explore and push the outer edges of shamanic-electronic tribalism.
The eight pieces on TALES FROM THE ULTRA TRIBE are built into a seamless 74-minute deep-journey experience. Adding to the overall impact is a high resolution sound achieved through masterful recording and mixing techniques. With a multi-dimensional trance-groove trajectory, the sound is a tribal-electronic well of experience. A continuous kaleidoscope of visionary power, mystery and visceral awe envelops the listener. The synergistic alchemy of Steve's and Byron's work fuses to new levels of audio-induced, mind-expanding music.

Artist: Steve Roach & Byron Metcalf
P: 2000   
Ambient explorer Roach and percussionist Metcalf originally began this as an experiment into the effects of breathwork and the use of sound on a person "as a shamanic strategy for healing, personal growth, and transformation." The successful effects their music had in group settings were extended into these compositions. While billed as a collaboration between the two men, The Serpent's Lair also features contributions by (deep breath) violinist Vicki Richards, overtone vocalist Jim Cole, pre-Hispanic sound sorcerer Jorge Reyes, singer Lena Stevens, synthesist Vidna Obmana, "groove alchemist" Vir Unis, and djembe players Jeffrey Fayman and Momodu "Mohammad" Kah. The two discs in this package act as yin and yang--the eight parts of the first disc, "The Serpent's Lair," highlight intoxicatingly hypnotic drum rhythms slicing through churning ambient spaces, while the seven cuts that make up the second disc, "Offerings from the Underworld," travel down darker, spacier streams with subtle rhythms, reverberant vocals, and exotic aerophones caressing and riding the ethereal aural waves. This invigorating combination of musicians invents a dynamic new perspective on Roach's trademark deep-listening forays. It would be wonderful to hear more collaborations like this.
All music arranged, mixed, melted and recorded by Steve Roach at the Timeroom Studio, Tucson AZ. 1999 - 2000
Music produced by Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf.

With musical help from:
Vicki Richards - serpentine violin in The Lair
Lena Stevens - processed voice
Vidna Obmana - harmonic wave in pt. I in Rite Of Passage.
Jeffery Faymanand Momodu "Mohammad" Kah - djembe in Rite Of Passage, Big Medicine and Future Tribe
Jorge Reyes - voice, flutes, ocarinas, whistles, shamanic percussion and voice in Birthright and Cave Dwellers
Vir Unis - groove alchemy in Beating Hearth Of The Dragon Mother and Lena - voice in Ochua

Artist: Steve Roach & Metcalf & Seelig
P: 2003    
"WACHUMA'S WAVE" is sacred music in the truest sense. It is a portal of travel, a soul retrieval, a ritual of deep time dreaming. Veteran trance percussionist Byron Metcalf teams up with German-based musician and shamanic practitioner Mark Seelig to bring forth a multi-textural blend of Bonsuri flutes, sacred chants and overtone singing, simmering percussion and other hybrid grooves, augmented by rich offerings of deep drift ambient synthesizer and didgeridoo from special guest, soundscape maestro Steve Roach.
Fans of THE SERPENT'S LAIR will be thrilled by this innovative and heart-stirring alchemy.
This project was built around Byron's evolving style of acoustic and processed percussion pieces pulsing in the spirit of THE SERPENT'S LAIR with Steve Roach. The spiritually rich overtone voice and flute of Mark Seelig creates a unique stirring blend that is organinc at the core. Although Steve was consumed with the creation of MYSTIC CHORDS & SACRED SPACES, he joined in on the project later on, adding soundworlds and processing throughout. This release sets the stage for a second project in production now, a full collaboration between Byron, Mark and Steve that was mapped out during a recent week this summer at the Timeroom.
Produced, recorded and moxed by Byron Metcalf at The Lair, Prescott, AZ, USA
Steve Roach parts recorded at The Timeroom, Tucson, AZ, USA
Tracks 1-5 composed by Byron Metcalf and Mark Seelig
Track 6 composed by Mark Seelig and Steve Roach With Steve Roach.

Artist: Steve Roach, Patrick O'Hearn & Byron Metcalf
P: 2004    
Within the opening moments of FEVER DREAMS' first track, "Wicked Dream" featuring Patrick O'Hearn on bass, it is clear that a new chapter is opening on Steve Roach's long and winding pursuit of potent soundworlds far off the traveled path.
The music's foundation is built upon long mid-tempo hybrid grooves with strong bass elements created from a combination of acoustic and electronic means.
Steve Roach's atmospheric and loop-spun melodic guitar textures rise and fall, intermix with his synth and computer alchemy to create an aura of complex emotional import. The overall feeling of FEVER DREAMS is one shrouded in an exotic amber-colored light filtering through an overgrown mental landscape of last night's lingering FEVER DREAMS; the sensual atmosphere is especially present on the 30 minute track "Tantra Mantra" featuring percussionist Byron Metcalf.
This release of floating, hypnotic groove meditations sets the course on a new direction presented over the three interconnected "Fever releases" planned throughout 2004.
Steve Roach - synthesizers
Patrick O'Hearn - bass
Byron Metcalf - percussion