Steve Roach (musician)
Steve Roach | |
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Background information | |
Born |
La Mesa, California | February 16, 1955
Genres | Ambient |
Occupation(s) | Composer |
Website | steveroach.com |
Steve Roach (born February 16, 1955)[1] is an American composer and performer of ambient electronic music, whose recordings are also classified in the genres of space, drone, and new-age.
Overview
Originally a Motocross racer, at the age of 20 Roach taught himself to play the synthesizer[2] after being inspired by such influential synthesizer artists and groups as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and Vangelis. His debut album Now appeared in 1982, followed by Structures from Silence in 1984. In 1988 he released his acclaimed Quiet Music series, along with what has been described by critics as his masterpiece, the double-album Dreamtime Return.[2]
As Roach's approach to ambient music matured, he has typically[3] been beatless, although his rhythmic and trance-based groove and tribal-ambient releases are nearly as numerous[3] as his more atmospheric releases. Some recordings are strictly synthesizer based, whereas some recordings include ambient guitar experiments, and other releases cross over with more ethnic influences.
He was an early proponent[4] of the didgeridoo's use in ambient music and learned to play it during his extended trips to Australia during the 1980s. He later worked with Mexican musician Jorge Reyes who would introduce a Prehispanic element, and these fusions would further establish Roach as one of the founders[3] of the tribal-ambient sound.
Roach is married to author and equine teacher Linda Kohanov[5] (who provided vocals on some of his albums). They live in Tucson, Arizona.[6]
Discography
Solo albums
- Now (1982)
- Traveler (1983 Domino)
- Structures from Silence (1984 Fortuna) – remastered 2001
- Empetus (1986 Fortuna)
- Dreamtime Return (1988 Fortuna) – 2 discs, (remastered 2005 Projekt)
- Atmospheric Conditions (1999 Timeroom Editions)
- Light Fantastic (1999)
- Early Man (2000) – 2 discs
- Midnight Moon (2000 Projekt)
- Time of the Earth (2001)
- Core (2001 Timeroom Editions)
- Streams & Currents (2001)
- Darkest Before Dawn (2002)
- Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces (2003 Projekt) – 4 discs
- Life Sequence (2003)
- Fever Dreams (2004)
- Holding the Space: Fever Dreams II (2004)
- Possible Planet (2005)
- New Life Dreaming (2005)
- Immersion: One (2006 Projekt)
- Proof Positive (2006)
- Kairos: The Meeting of Time and Destiny (2006) – CD + DVD
- Immersion: Two (2006 Projekt)
- Fever Dreams III (2007) – 2 discs
- Immersion : Three (2007) – 3 discs
- A Deeper Silence (2008)
- Landmass (2008 Timeroom Editions)
- Dynamic Stillness (2009) – 2 discs
- Destination Beyond (2009)
- Afterlight (2009)
- Immersion : Four (2009 Timeroom Editions)
- Sigh of Ages (2010)
- Immersion Five – Circadian Rhythms (2011)
- Groove Immersion (2012)
- Back to Life (2012)
- Soul Tones (2012)
- Future Flows (2013)[7]
- Spiral Meditations (2013)
- Bloodmoon Rising (2014)
- The Delicate Beyond (2014)
- The Delicate Forever (2014)
- The Desert Collection - Volume 1 (2014)
- Invisible (2015)
- Skeleton Keys (2015 Projekt)
- The Skeleton Collection 2005 - 2015 (2015 Timeroom Editions)
- Etheric Imprints (2015 Projekt)
- Bloodmoon Rising - The Complete 5 hour collection (2015 Timeroom Editions)
- Vortex Immersion Zone (2015 Timeroom Editions)
- This Place to Be (2016)
- Shadow of Time (2016)
- Spiral Revelation (2016)
- Fade to Gray (2016)
- Painting in the Dark (2016)
- The Passing (2017)
Collaboration albums
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