‘No plan, no budget, no promotion’: how a genre-mashing masterpiece by a forgotten New York beatnik blew gen Z away

How did an album that began life in 1984 – fusing disco, folk, synth-pop and Chinese opera – end up as ‘one of 2026’s most thrilling releases’? And why does its creator call himself Nirosta Steel?‘It’s kind of mind-bending,” says 69-year old Steven Hall.