Shaw-Han Liem
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Shaw-Han Liem, better known by the alias I Am Robot and Proud, is a Canadian IDM/
indie electronic Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
musician and
video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...
from
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. He has released albums under the labels Catmobile, Darla and & Records. He co-created the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita game '' Sound Shapes''.


History

Liem was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Classically trained as a pianist, Liem taught himself how to play guitar and began creating electronic music under the name I Am Robot and Proud in 2000 while completing a degree in computer science. He has also been a member of
Sea Snakes Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are elapid snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes Australasian terrestrial snakes, w ...
and Tusks, and has worked with Jim Guthrie and Nathan Lawr. While Liem generally writes and records on his own, 2015's ''Lights and Waves'' is the first album conceived and recorded with Liem's live band. The recording was prompted by the composing of band-focused arrangements of his previous work. The I am Robot and Proud live band consists of Toronto musicians Robin Buckley, Mike Smith and Jordan Howard. Previous members have included Jim Guthrie,
Samir Khan Samir ibn Zafar Khan (, ; December 25, 1985 – September 30, 2011) was a Saudi Arabian naturalized U.S. citizen, jihadist militant, and the editor and publisher of '' Inspire'' magazine, an English-language online magazine reported to be publi ...
, Gus Weinkauf, Simon Osbourne and Jeremy Strachan. In 2007, he participated in the global launch events for
Tenori-On The Yamaha Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument designed and created by the Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group at the Yamaha (manufacturer), Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. ...
, an instrument designed by
Toshio Iwai is a Japanese interactive media and Installation art, installation artist who has also created a number of commercial video games. In addition he has worked in television, music performance, museum design and digital musical instrument design. ...
. In 2009, Liem collaborated on a performance with media artist Daito Manabe, combining Manabe's physical music visualizations with improvised composition. In 2010 he also performed a live collaboration set with
Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan's noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...
drummer Senju Muneomi and Tokyo computer-composer Yuri Miyauchi. Liem collaborated with game designer Jessica Mak on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita game Sound Shapes, serving as a co-designer and composer. He participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic of independent videogame music at the 2009
Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...
together with the composers of independent game titles PixelJunk Eden,
Flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
and Night Game. Sound Shapes won the 2012
Game Critics Awards The Game Critics Awards were a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards were given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The 21st Annual Game Critics Awards was showca ...
for best mobile/handheld game, and was declared E3 Game of Show by
1UP.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conte ...
. It also won Best Song and Best Mobile game at the
Spike Video Game Awards The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by '' GameT ...
.


Discography


Albums

*''The Catch'' (Catmobile Records, 2001) *''You Make Me This Happy'' (Piehead Monthly Series Contribution, 2002) *''Grace Days'' (Catmobile Records, 2003) *''The Electricity in Your House Wants to Sing'' (
Darla Records Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren in October 1993 while he was in New York (state), New York. Darla's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters (band), Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi music, lo-fi band from Memphis. ...
, 2006) *''Catch/Spring Summer Autumn Winter'' (Darla Records, 2007) *''Uphill City'' (Darla Records (US) / & Records (JP), 2008) *''Uphill City Remixes & Collaborations'' (Darla Records (US) / & Records (JP), 2010) * Touch/Tone (Darla (US) / 7e.p. (JP), 2013) * People Music (7e.p. Japan, 2015) * ''Light and Waves'' (Darla Records, 2015) * ''Lucky Static'' (Darla Records, 2018) * ''Bird at Sunrise'' (self-released, 2025)


Singles & EPs

*''Spring Summer Autumn Winter'' (Mira, 2002) *''Electric Avenue 6'' (Duotone, 2003) *''My Sky Your Sky'' (Duotone, 2005) *''Logika / Paññā'' (7e.p., 2018)


Compilation appearances

*''One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven'' on ''Songs of Seven Colors'' (p*dis/inpartmaint, 2008) *''Jean Meance'' on ''Habitat'' (
Asthmatic Kitty Asthmatic Kitty Records is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend lo ...
, 2008) *''Little Keys'' on ''Anything For Progress'' (& Records, 2011)


Remixes and collaborations

*De De Mouse ''Sundown River'' on ''Sunset Girls'' (
Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...
, 2008) *
Gentleman Reg Reginald Vermue is a Canadian indie rock singer from Guelph, Ontario. Born in Trenton, Ontario, he has recorded music under the stage names Gentleman Reg and Regina Gently. His musical style has been compared to Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, The Sm ...
''We're in a Thunderstorm'' on ''Jet Black'' (
Arts & Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
, 2009) *
Mitsuki Aira is a Japanese singer. She debuted on August 8, 2007 with "Colorful Tokyo Sounds No. 9" and released her debut album, '' Copy'' on September 3, 2008. Musical background and releases Aira was chosen as the winner of Mega Trance 2007 from 6,325 ...
''Happiness Land'' on ''Barbie Barbie'' ( D-topia, 2009) *no.9 ''Princess'' on ''Usual Revolution & Nine'' (Liquid Note, 2009) *Deastro ''Green, Grays and Nordics'' on ''Tone Adventure #3'' (Ghostly International, 2009) *
Brian Alfred Brian Alfred (born 2 December 1974, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Education Alfred received his Bachelors of Fine Art degree from Penn State University and his Masters of Fine Art degree from Yale Universi ...
''It's Already The End of The World'' Installation/DVD Soundtrack (
Haunch of Venison Haunch of Venison was a contemporary art gallery operating from 2002 until 2013. It supported the work of contemporary leading artists, presented a broad and critically acclaimed program of exhibitions to a large public through international exh ...
, 2010) *Yuri Miyauchi ''_ael'' remix on ''Toparch'' (Rallye Japan, 2010) * Jim Guthrie ''All Gone'' alternate mix on ''Now More Than Ever LP'' (3 Syllables, 2010) *
Pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...
''Dreaming Pupa'' remix on ''Remix EP'' (EMI Japan, 2010) *Autumnleaf ''One Day'' remix on ''The Foot Remix EP'' (wood/water Japan, 2011) *Yomoya ''Kitaineiro'' remix on ''Yawn'' (& Records, 2011) *Minotaurs ''Pink Floyd'' remix on ''The Thing Remixed'' (Static Clang, 2011) * Baiyon collaboration track "Madder Red" on Vibes Against Vibes (Descanso, 2011) *Shintaro Aoki collaboration track "Two Pianos" on Mizukage Compilation 16 (Mizukage, 2011) *The Girl and The Robots remix track "單人探戈" on 平行宇宙 (Asia Muse / R2G Music, 2012) *Akira Kosemura remix track "虹の彼方" on 虹の彼方 single (Schole Records, 2013) *Lasah collaboration track "Give Up" on the album ''I Love You'' (2014) *Qrion remix track "Mizu" on the album ''Sink'' (Sense Label, 2014) *Lasah collaboration track "WELCOME TO THE MABOROSHI CLUB" on the album ''Mother'' (2018)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Am Robot and Proud Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian musicians of Asian descent Canadian electronic musicians Musicians from Toronto Intelligent dance musicians Darla Records artists