Roach, Steve

Artist: Steve Roach 
P: 2024
After a year of non stop concert engagements, and a 12 month artist in residence invitation to create his Ambient Lounge series on a monthly basis at downtown Tucson's intimate Century Room performance space, The Desert Winds of Change emerged at the summit of this time. This piece is a sea change in the evolution Steve Roach's music that dramatically dissolves the lines between live and studio recordings.
The visceral energy present on this release is the culmination of the momentum that evolved over the 45 year of Roach's devotion to his vision of emotion infused electronic based music. Through the course of 2023 this monthly live testing ground Steve would feature artists from the US and Canada. Along with the featured artist solo sets each month Steve would present works in development and other new and current evolving pieces created only for or born that night.
"As the series evolved over the year it felt more like a home away from home in the live setting. For this concert I was relaxed and excited about performing and recording this new long form sequencer based piece that grew out of a new portable system I just built up for this direction in my music. The live in a studio like space is about riding the emotional waves of the soundcurrent with a great audience on board in a way only this setting can provide and inspire.
"This was one those nights were I could the feel flow motion taking over in full effect. The other big piece here is Klaus Schulze. I was feeling his spirit all week before this night. I was tuning into all that his music brought to me in the early phase of self discovery and my emergence into creating electronic-synth based music. Those who know his early music will no doubt feel the inspiration. It's impossible to where know where I would be having not heard Timewind in the mid 70s. For this reason this piece is dedicated to the memory and the legacy of Klaus Schulze"
The Desert Winds of Change rides the thermal waves of hyper focused - in the moment spontaneous creation infused unbounded emotion, symmetry and grace.

Artist: Steve Roach 
P: 2009    
Blending the two core aspects of his work, Steve ramps up for the fall of 2009 with the stunningly expansive DESTINATION BEYOND. This all-new release combines immersive atmospheric harmonic zones (like those recently experienced on DYNAMIC STILLNESS) into the setting of spiraling patterns and hypnotic rhythms (similar to those found on ARC OF PASSION). Perfectly blending these two sonic qualities over the course of the continuous 71-minute piece, the flowing soundscapes on DESTINATION BEYOND propel the mood to a mesmerizing state which is unique from any of Steve's pure rhythmless immersive work while achieving a similar sensation that works perfectly in repeat playback mode.
DESTINATION BEYOND pushes electronic music to its highest level, living and breathing in the immediacy in which it was created. The album flows along an organic continuum. Clocked, synced and performed in unison within Steve's desert studio, it showcases his mastery of a life-long devotion to hands-on performance. Utilizing real analog synthesizers with knobs and sliders, a mixing console and real-time processing as an additional instrument results in soundscapes infused with a pure natural flow. It is an artisan approach to sound that is quite rare in today's cut and paste approach to electronic music.
Within an impressive body of work that spans nearly 30 years, certain stylistic forms evolve and reappear as significant signposts, as touchstones for both the listener and the artist. This release clearly draws from the heart and soul of Steve's sonic vision.

DESTINATION BEYOND is infused with breaths of life and forward momentum which draws the listener into a serene sense of physical and mental travel. The sound ebbs and flows in constant movement; the meditation of emotion in the music is a yearning for what is over the next rise. As Steve explains in the liner notes, "When the DESTINATION BEYOND calls the heart must go... The magnetic pull and drive towards the point on the horizon, towards the DESTINATION BEYOND. Never reaching this point -- but always seeing it just ahead -- remains a constant theme and impetus in my life."

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 1999
This double CD presents selected pieces from Steve Roach's large body of work on the Fortuna Records label. Carefully selected and sequenced by the artist himself, and remasterd by Roger King, Disc 1 presents the rhythmic-electro-tribal-trance side of his work in nearly chronological order, starting with "The Ritual Continues" from 1982 and winding down with a previously unreleased live montage from 1997.
Disc 2 presents an overview from the vast atmospheric soundworlds that only Steve can brew up. A stirring, spiraling, unreleased archive piece closes the second disk in a subtle yet profound way, illustrating why this influential artist continues to inspire listeners worldwide.
The majority of Steve Roach's formative work in the 80's was on the Fortuna label, part of Celestial Harmonies. Towards the latter end of the Fortuna period, 1982-94, Roach began discographies privately and on the Fathom and Projekt labels. However, the successes of this particular retrospective are largely because of the connectivity of the Fortuna label output itself, even into the early 90's, a development that is particularly vivid on this compilation's first disc entitled "The Ritual Continues." Every track here is well chosen, from the very early days of  NOW and TRAVELER, through the surging sequencer lines of EMPETUS and his two early collaborations (WESTERN SPACES and DESERT SOLITAIRE), and into the modern electronic / indigenous acoustic fusions of DREAMTIME RETURN, WORLD'S EDGE, ORIGINS, and ARTIFACTS. The tracking is excellent and largely chronological, reflecting an evolution of Roach's more rhythmic music. There are also two previously-unreleased tracks added as bonuses (one per disc), the compilation's 7 1/2 minute title track, a retreatment on the piece from ORIGINS, and disc two's "The Passing Time" clocking in at over 12 minutes. From 1997, three years since the last Fortuna album ARTIFACTS they help to create connections to his more recent music. Roach's more ambient side is reflected on disc 2, "Looking for Safety". Not chronologically ordered like the first disc, Roach displays his relatively shorter atmospheric pieces like DREAMTIME RETURN's "Magnificent Gallery," or "Quiet Friend" from STRUCTURES FROM SILENCE, and the vibrant "Temple of the Frog" from ARTIFACTS. The tracking is not chronological on this disc, giving Roach an opportunity to create a new flow from piece to piece, one that succeeds as much on the merits of the new order as it does on the music. Overall, it's proof that you can make such a medium be as interesting to the long-time listener as the newcomer.
The CD contains two new tracks.

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 1988
This is the original 1.edition.
Since its release in 1988, DREAMTIME RETURN has earned its reputation as a genuine classic. The two-CD Magnum Opus is perhaps the most important, widely known and highly respected release in Steve Roach's vast body of work. it serves as an essential benchmark within the Ambient-Ethno-Atmospheric genre. DREAMTIME RETURN still sounds like a transmission from the near future and the very distant past. Roach's travels in the Australian outback, along with studies of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, and his desert walkabouts in California were the lifeblood for this recording which still defies the boundaries of genre classification many years after its release...
 

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 1988 / 2018
The Return of a Masterpiece!
30th Anniversary High-Definition Remastered Edition
Since its release in 1988, DREAMTIME RETURN has earned its reputation as a genuine classic. The two-CD magnum opus is one of the most important, widely known and highly respected release in Steve Roach's vast body of work. It serves as an essential benchmark within the Electronic-Ethno-Atmospheric genre.
Roach's travels in the Australian outback, along with studies of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, and his desert walkabouts in California were the lifeblood for this recording which even today sounds like a transmission from the near future and the very distant past.
"Musically DREAMTIME RETURN richly deserves its classic status, but Roach also deserves credit for leading electronic musicians out of their sheltered studios and into an active relationship with the landscape, the wider world, and deep cultural history. The whole genre is stronger and more relevant for his example." -- Stephen Hill, Hearts of Space Radio
Three decades after its release, the true expansive depth of this iconic masterpiece has been meticulously unveiled, revealing an entirely new listening experience. With this 30th Anniversary High-Definition remastered edition, mastering engineer Howard Givens utilizes his years of technical knowledge with electronic music, an extensive array of analog and digital tools, and his passion for this seminal work, to restore the original sonic nature and visionary intention, taking the listener deeper into the dreamtime.
"Steve Roach demonstrates that electronic music's greatest potential may lie in bringing our most elusive dreams and ancient memories into focus through potent, highly imaginative soundscapes. In addition to the atmospheric harmonies and rhythms that literally engulf you for two hours the artist's compelling style is his uncanny ability to create the illusion of suspended time. Altered chords that breathe ever so slowly, floating textures, digitally sampled aboriginal timbres, and arresting special effects lead you through a gently unfolding maze of sonic dimensions that depict a sense of mystery and confrontation with the unknown. The effect is mesmerizing, increasingly introspective, yet curiously comforting as if the primitive wisdom and renewed connection to nature this music conveys is something you were craving all along. This is without question Steve Roach's masterpiece." -- Linda Kohanov, (excerpt from) CD Review, August 1989
"Surrounding every masterpiece there is an arcane and indecipherable energy, a divine breath that blows. Works like DREAMTIME RETURN change the course of history and accomplish a prodigious jump forward. It is a recording that has inspired a whole generation of musicians and that contains within its two hours astounding artistic intuitions, the starting point for all of the esoteric and tribal music that is produced today. The drones of the didgeridoo, the ceremonial drums, the alien ambiences, the voices from the past, the eternal silences, the tribal atmospheres, the dilation of time, and the sculpture of space have created the tribal-ambient genre, of which Roach was the first techno-shaman. The record can be considered a soundtrack for an adventure at the edge of time, an experience that has deeply and indelibly marked Roach, whose life from that moment will no longer be the same. The channel is open." -- Gianluigi Gasparetti, Deep Listenings, August 2005

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 1988 / 2005
Dreamtime Return 24-bit digital remaster with additional artwork.
Since its release in 1988, DREAMTIME RETURN has earned its reputation as a genuine classic. The two-CD Magnum Opus is perhaps the most important, widely known and highly respected release in Steve Roach's vast body of work. it serves as an essential benchmark within the Ambient-Ethno-Atmospheric genre. DREAMTIME RETURN still sounds like a transmission from the near future and the very distant past. Roach's travels in the Australian outback, along with studies of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, and his desert walkabouts in California were the lifeblood for this recording which still defies the boundaries of genre classification 17 years after its release...
This 2005 edition has been lovingly remastered using a 24-bit process, and sounds better than ever. It also features never-before seen photos from Steve's Australian adventure during the making of this recording.

Artist: Steve Roach 
P: 2009    
DYNAMIC STILLNESS is a vast new work that has progressed over the past three years, evolving in its own time alongside the many other releases that were created and released during this period. The opening for these pieces was accessed through long periods of solitude at Steve's high desert studio and beyond. This environment was essential for informing the inner breath of this work and revealing a mastery within the art of original sound creation, bold harmonic structures, silence and sonic space. DYNAMIC STILLNESS reaches into a realm of amorphous soundworlds filled with a sense of unresolved expansion and mystery, blooming into cloudlike form.
"A moving meditation on the quiet power inherent in vast spaces. Roach has come back around to the slow-motion terraforming of soundworlds that seem to go on forever, pulling skeins of light through layers of cloud to describe gorgeous imaginary landscapes. Reminiscent of the sighing, beatless drifts of THE DREAM CIRCLE and THE MAGNIFICENT VOID in its blend of soul-surrounding calm edged with dramatic tension, DYNAMIC STILLNESS is Roach at his contemplative best, a sure and silent guide coaxing us to follow him into the endless realms inside ourselves."
"Mysteriously beautiful, ambient electronic waveforms bridging panorama and parsec. The singularities guiding Roach's hand are now unquestionable -- this is breathtaking stuff."
"DYNAMIC STILLNESS presents ambient-electronic pioneer Steve Roach in the deep end of the pure atmospheric, rhythmless soundscape genre. Across the 2-CD release, amorphous shifting sonics glide in a phenomenal flow, highly cohesive and yet ever-changing. Dynamic stillness indeed! These eight long-form tracks (140 minutes in all) undulate softly and slowly, radiating light even as darkness hovers along the edges. It's an album of subtle pieces, more often than not with emphasis on the stillness as opposed to the dynamics. Disc two's closing 'Canyon Stillness' plays like a dark inversion of STRUCTURES FROM SILENCE. A cold breeze blows through it all like a black mist. After so much softness it makes for a surprisingly chilling, engaging finish."

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 2001
Masterful work of sublime ambience excavates memories of ancient earth. Listening to Early Man -- released first as a stone limited-edition single disc and now expanded to two discs -- is like putting your ear to the wall of a prehistoric cave. Roach peels away layers of sound as an archeologist peels away layers of history. He's excavated, sifted and removed certain frequencies, compelling the listener to press his ear ever tighter against the stone, until finally physics surrender to the realm of dreams and memory and the listener passes through. Floating layers of synths marked by intermittent passages of percussion reveal a sonic resonance rife with ancient wonders and primordial mysteries. Soon, full immersion replaces passive listening and one is allowed to luxuriate in a truly sublime exploration.
Disk 2 offers a fascinating and deeper dream world with a perfect flow that feels as if disk one was melted into a new form with some elements disappearing, and reappearing in a different space-time relationship and also some new audio artifacts that were recorded for the original disk one but never used have find there way into the decomposed version.

Artist: Steve Roach 
P: 2017    
ECLIPSE MIX was created for the August 21, 2017, solar eclipse. Over a few nights this piece was brought into being, drawing from a pool of related elements found within the BLOODMOON RISING 4-CD set. It was intended as a soundtrack for the fortunate souls who watched the solar eclipse as it happened. For those who were not in the path of totality, this recording serves as an offering in support of our own internal experience of the event. ECLIPSE MIX is a living ongoing reminder of the larger episodes of life on this planet: episodes which take us out of the day-to-day routines and earthbound concerns and into our personal relationship within the realms of expanded time and place.

Artist: Steve Roach
P: 2018
This mesmerizing masterwork of multi-dimensional analog sequencer spun music connects directly to Steve’s passion for the interweaving of pure emotion, energy, delicate grace and driving flow. Interconnected melodic-rhythmic forms bloom into a constant morphing state of kaleidoscopic change. Over several months before this piece was recorded, many directions were explored, motifs developed and structures were revealed evolving up to the moment when “Electron Birth” was realized in its final creation. This stellar performance was recorded with a live audience in the studio-like environment of Tucson’s Galactic Center, Feb 11, 2018. The DNA of Molecules of Motion, Spiral Revelation and Skeleton Keys along with the tradition of great German EM School masters is woven into this vibrant long-form journey. The album concludes with “Cloud Currents,” a deep drift zone created in the Timeroom. Post production fine-tuning by Steve and mastering by Howard Givens brings out even more detail and sonic impact from this peak experience. Experience Return To The Dreamtime – all new expanded and evolved pieces from Dreamtime Return, created live at the Galactic Center, Tucson AZ, February 10, 2018, and broadcast live worldwide on SomaFM.