Ste Roberts is not an artist who chases visibility. Over more than two decades embedded in underground electronic music, the Leeds-based producer and selector has built a body of work shaped by record shops, hardware obsession, and a creative process that answers only to instinct. A new interview with When We Dip traces that journey from his arrival in Leeds in 2003 through to his latest release on Cyphon Recordings.
Roberts credits his move to Leeds at eighteen as the single most formative decision of his life. Landing in the city during what he describes as a particularly vital era for its underground scene, he took a position at Tribe Records working alongside owner Simon Scott, whom Roberts calls “a true unsung hero of our scene.” The access to records and the daily immersion in music culture left a mark that still informs how he works today.
His path through Hypercolour and Glass Table — labels he co-ran with two others whose tastes diverged from his own — did not directly shape his sound, but Roberts acknowledges they laid groundwork for what followed. A decade broadcasting on Rinse FM gave him a consistent platform to document his record buying in mix form, though he eventually stepped away to redirect that time toward developing a live show.
In the studio, Roberts operates without a fixed methodology. Mood dictates direction on any given session, meaning a track might begin as an electro piece or a driving tech roller depending on the day. He draws on over twenty years of accumulated influence and describes his approach to hardware as an obsession — specifically seeking out obscure machines rather than established classics, then recording whatever emerges from the learning process. That openness to malfunction and instability feeds directly into his productions.
The Cyphon Recordings EP, titled Ey Aye, came together after an initial demo submission that did not align with the label’s direction at the time. A follow-up conversation roughly a year later produced a better fit. The EP includes “There Is a Schizophrenic In Our Park,” a track built around a chance encounter on a train with a homeless man who described living in Alexandra Palace park. Roberts sourced spoken word recordings from someone describing a looping conversation in the Garden of Eden, processed the audio through a vocoder, and constructed the track from there. It is, by his own account, the piece with the most unusual origin story in his catalogue.
Also featured is a reworked version of “Queen Bee,” a track Roberts considers a turning point in his production history. Dissatisfied with the original drums, he rebuilt them entirely for his live show, resulting in what he describes as a full rebirth of the record. The EP closes with “Lemon Top,” an older unreleased piece that underwent reworking before finding its place as the final track — a deeper, more melodic cut that Roberts says represents another side of his output he is keen to put forward.
Throughout the interview, Roberts is consistent on one point: operating in the underground is not a strategic position but simply where he belongs. He does not pursue mainstream recognition, and frames his entire output around the dual ambition of moving a dancefloor and moving a listener.
Source: When We Dip
