Steve Roach -- the endlessly meditative thread

Part of me thinks, "Gee, I really love SfS, I wish he recorded more stuff like it" – which it course makes me think I should buy the set as well...

New tracks not really like SfS at all, instantly spotable as recent output.

I got a copy of 'Dynamic Stillness' last year at the Hearts of Space festival in San Rafael and it's solid recent Roach, same textures as the Immersions but with much more in the way of slow harmonic changes & melodies.

Been listening to a lot of Jorge Reyes recently and have just gotten around to the two Suspended Memories collaborations with Roach. Maybe a little less deep than Reyes on his own but still pretty great.

I have his iPhone app

I got that triple CD a couple years ago or was it a quadruple

fuck yes to Steve Roach

That Hearts and Space festival was called Ambicon 2013. Rad.

looks like Ambicon 2014's in Helsinski :(

Your (free to download, or send him a few bucks for it) Blood Moon soundtrack:

http://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/bloodmoon-rising

Future Flows from a few years back was available for free until a few days ago:

https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/future-flows

I usually grab them when I get an email about the free ones. This one was quite good I thought – pure electronic spaciness.

Steve Roach is just plugged in. Following him for a few years, it's pretty astounding how much music he creates. He's not just doing 45 minutes and out in a club either, the guy is like let's do a three day getaway and play the entire time.

There are descriptions that the guy will setup sequences in a room and just keep them running over and over. Every now and then he wanders in and changes the sequence and then moves on to working on something else while the sequence just keeps moving.

He's like an old jazz guy in that he does alot of jam records with other artists. They get into a room, hit record and out of the session comes a record.

Yeah in terms of consistency as well as range within the form I'd place him among my favorite musicians now.

Been listening to lots of the deep void stuff -- Mystic Chords, BLOODMOON RISING 1+3, Future Flows. Another Bandcamp freebie he released a few years ago, Sigh of Ages, is a bit more along the lines of Structures from Silence -- less black hole emptiness and more cascading analog textures using ARP String Ensemble. I like it.

Feel like seeing this guy live would be a pretty great (three day) experience. How often does he venture out of his desert fortress?

In the early 1980s, KSPC in Claremont used to have a late-Sunday night electronic music show. Listened to it all the time - I remember hearing Traveller on it when it first came out and to me it just obvious that Roach was resolutely looking outward and not turning around. His recent work has just been outstanding. Would love to go to one of these desert shows.

ILM road trip!

Sigh of Ages is pretty amazing - a lot more movement than Structures but a pretty incredible vibe

I mentioned this over on the Frippertronics thread ... but it's actually maybe a bit more relevant to this one. I've been listening to a ton of Fripp's "Soundscapes" recordings the last several days -- less charitably, they could be described as the digital descendent of Frippertronics. But they actually share a lot in common with Roach's space void music (one reason I suspect the two collaborated) -- big, swelling things that go on for a long, long time and put you in a really different listening space. And the more I listen to them, the more I really like the textures Fripp creates.

Like Roach, Fripp has recorded far more of this stuff than he could ever hope to release in a physical package, so he's taken advantage of putting this music online -- in his case on DGM Live. There are some good freebies (some of which sound a little like Fripp's ode to Eno's Neroli album) but one of the better (and more Roach-y) ones to pay for is his concert at the World Trade Center in November, 2000 -- there are several really long pieces that just build and build. Can be found here: http://www.dgmlive.com/archive.htm?artist=14&show=925

New releases on Bandcamp, and he's making this one name-your-price for the next couple of days:

https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/fade-to-gray

Grabbed it, haven't listened yet.

For those who are interested, Roach did a nice Q&A with the gear sluts over at Gearslutz in September. Covers lots of technical questions as well as some philosophical ones:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/q-steve-roach/

Hey, new interview with the man on Bandcamp:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/02/08/steve-roach-interview/

Great to see -- a little jealous I didn't think to pitch one earlier!

And as it turns out -- did a really great interview with the man for RBMA. It'll be running soon, will post here when it does!

His surprise birthday release earlier this month, The Passing, is yet another fantastic effort. The man's quality control in combination with his rate of releases is just astonishing.

Oh nice! I will keep an eye out for it.

Still think we need an ILM Desert Road Trip to see this guy...

looking forward to your interview ned. amazing you were able to keep your composure. i would've been like "uh, so.... do you like voids *twirls phone cord around finger*"

Hahah. One of the easiest interviews I've ever done -- gave very long, thoughtful answers on some big questions about his work. And if I had more time I could have asked a lot more (really wanted to get into his collaborative process, since he's worked with so many people).

shh i'm trying to keep up the illusion that when steve roach opens his mouth a pure and endless sound issues from it

And having promised, here's my interview with the man. Easily one of my favorite pieces I've ever done.

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/03/steve-roach-interview?linkId=35319969

Nice interview! I was hoping he was a relaxed sort of guy.

Yeah, no airs at all, just happily talking away.

i'm shuffling steve roach on spotify now, don't think this guy's ever released a genuine dud. i only have Structures From Silence and Quiet Music. The former is the original CD release...how's the remastered special edition?

i'm always tempted to buy more whenever I'm at Amoeba but his section takes up about 2% of the store, it's a little overwhelming.

Hey that's one reason why the Bandcamp sites are handy, you can at least sample away. But I don't blame you for being overwhelmed! Both on this thread and in the article I mentioned a few faves so if I had to do a starter five beyond those two:

Dreamtime Return
Dynamic Stillness
Sigh of Ages
Immersion
Dust To Dust (with Roger King)

PLENTY of others but I think that gives a real sense of strengths.

And having mentioned said sites:

http://steveroach.bandcamp.com/

https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/

Plus plenty of sampling via his own site:

http://steveroach.com/store/

http://steveroach.com/store/store.php?query=timeroom&details=y

thanks! looks like i picked the wrong week to keep to my music budget.

somewhat curiously (to me at least) on his spotify page his most "popular" tracks are five tracks from The Magnificent Void.

only bc he's released however many albums and that's the one the listening public on spotify is gravitating towards.

Oh and re: remastered Structures From Silence, I had this to say a while back:

http://www.wonderingsound.com/review/steve-roach-structures-silence-30th-anniversary-deluxe-remastered-edition/

The Delicate Forever is my current favorite.

You can get really lost in visual with the screen tracking everything. Then I find that you start to stop listening or hearing in the same way when you take away that element and you just are working through the sound field, meditating, staring, focusing intently on the space between the speakers with no screen. That’s a powerful place.

Best interview with the man I have read. Kudos, Ned!

Thanks!

And yes I was really taken by that section as he spoke it -- a very vivid way to describe the experience, with as much concrete detail as conceptual.

cold, grim sequencer voyages through blackest space

I'm totally unfamiliar with this guy's work. Could you recommend a few titles that best fit this description/would sit comfortably alongside Zeit-era Tangerine Dream?

The Magnificent Void is a keeper along those lines, referenced upthread a number of times. Dynamic Stillness is a personal fave of mine as mentioned.

This would likely also suit, given that it's a Lustmord collaboration:

https://steveroach.com/Music/discography.php?albumID=348

Thanks! Darkest Before Dawn also seems like it might fit the bill.

That's one I've not heard but the title alone makes me think almost certainly.

great interview Ned

been hanging out a bit more often in Tuscon and Bisbee recently. this music sure makes a lot more sense after long road trips to Chiricahua and back.

Thanks indeed -- and yeah, his description of where he lives (didn't make the cut) was quite vivid.

Roach contains multitudes! Ned's piece made me curious about Dust To Dust, with Roger King. I own about 15 Steve Roach albums and I'd estimate that I've heard about double that number, but I've never heard him do anything like this, parts of which sound like what The Hired Hand soundtrack might have sounded like if it was released by Kranky in the 90s, or if Labradford had taken their ambient spaghetti western-isms to their logical conclusion. OK, some of it is that good, some of it isn't, but it's still a side of Roach I've never heard (harmonicas!) and I'm really enjoying it.

It's a treat, and holds a special place for me since it's the first thing I ever heard from Roach that I can recall. He told me himself that it was a bit of a unique one-off!

I'm hot and cold with Roach, with my favorite period being the 1998-1994 tribal ambient of Dreamtime Return, Origins, Artifacts and the collaborations with Robert Rich and Jorge Reyes (who got there first). However Dust to Dust is off his map, and I file it with Ry Cooder soundtracks, A Small Good Thing, Long Desert Cowboy, and similar artists, rather than Roach proper.

Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces weirdly not on the Bandcamp but I consider that one indispensible

yeah that one's my fav

That's one of the ones over on Projekt's site:

https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mystic-chords-sacred-spaces-complete-edition

And agreed, it's stellar.

Holy crap, I hadn't run across Dust To Dust before!

Ha, really? Yeah if any album is absolutely you, it's that one.

Truly! Had some thoughts:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-111-102230898

Hah, I was listening for the "gentle fanfare" too.