Steve Branson

b. Los Angeles, CA.
a.k.a saru / spooky monkey / apollo / ultranaut

Los Angeles Producer / DJ / Volunteer Monkey Ranger SARU spends one month each year trekking through the mountains of Nepal searching for rare herbs. Are they in between a baboon's brow, under a long forgotten trading card, or possibly in the folds of a sequined prayer robe? Who knows. He seeks these rare and mystical plants for a magic elixir that will one day wash away the woes of the world. Someday he'll find the elusive ingredients. In the meantime he settles for twisting vinyl discs into eighty-minute mandalas and brewing his special tincture of throat-soothing beats.

Currently signed with Bastard Jazz (as Spooky Monkey) and Shadow Records (as SARU).

Downtempo Dojo Kit list (1998-2000): Roland JX-3P, JX-305, AlphaJuno 1, Casio SK-1, Yamaha FB-01, TG-33, RY-10, Takamine G330 6-string acoustic guitar, Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro Mixer, Alesis M1 Active mkII Monitors, Apple Macintosh G4/533 DP w/ DA-2496, Studio Vision Pro.

Machine Kit list (2006-07): Roland JX-305, Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro Mixer, Alesis M1 Active mkII Monitors, Apple MacBook Pro with FW-410, Logic Pro 8, Reaktor, Battery, Kontakt, Peak.

Pearl Kit list (2008-09)t: Edirol PCR-300, Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro Mixer, Alesis M1 Active mkII Monitors, Apple MacBook Pro with FW-410, Logic Studio Pro, Peak.

contact: saru@downtempodojo.com