From: glennd@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Glenn Deardorff)
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1993 21:36:11 GMT

Steve Roach

[This is from rec.music.newage, 30 Aug 1993]
|>
|> Can anyone give me a recommendation for a good
|> Steve Roach "starter" CD?  I haven't heard any
|> of his stuff yet, but he's been recommended to
|> me several times, as a fan of late 70s Tangerine
|> Dream and all of Djam Karet's output (Roach is
|> thanked on many of DK's releases and supposedly
|> he has worked with the band on some upcoming
|> material).

I think there may have been a discography posted recently in this
newsgroup, although if so, I missed it.  Steve's been around awhile, he
was first influenced by Klaus Shultze and decided to get into electronic
music himself, when he decided to rethink his "career" in motocross
racing after two of his close friends died in racing accidents.  He has
said that at the time, the electronic music of the time was the closest
thing he had experienced to the adrenalin rush of the dirt bike.  He is
arguably the most prolific electronic music composer in America, and 
for my tastes, undeniably the best in the world.  I should
also say that he is incredibly accessible (when he's not off performing in
Europe or South America or Mexico), and has helped more than a few
artists get their music produced.  Here's my version of his discography
(in roughly chronological order as best as I can remember):

Now:      Earliest whole album release, a somewhat mixed bag with
          some real gems of the Eurosynth (Tangerine Dream, etc.) 
          influence.

Traveler: More of his energetic style, with some real classics.

(The best of both of the above can be had in a recently issued CD
"Now/Traveler").

Structures From Silence:

          A seminal, critically-acclaimed release composed of
          emotional ambience.  3 long, meditative pieces "that
          breathe, rest, and breathe again".

Empetus:  More of his high energy self.

Western Spaces: Collaboration with Kevin Braheny (and Richard Burmer, on
          the first release) and Thom Brennan, exploring desert
          atmospheres.

Quiet Music:   Very introspective and ambient spaces, dedicated to "the
          experience of watching particles in sunlight". 3 parts
          on 3 cassettes, or Quiet Music #2 on CD (with a bit of #3
          thrown in).

Dreamtime Return: A 2-CD release partially motivated by the Australian
            Aborigines and their Dreamtime basis.  Runs the gamut
            from adventuresome, to reflective, to mystical.  The
            use of ethnic percussion and other instruments is
            first heard here.  Probably my own favorite.

Stormwarning:  A very high energy live recording of two concerts he did
          in the mid-80s (if memory serves; does it?  - I forget).

Desert Solitaire: Western Spaces, part 2 (kind of).  Collaboration with
            Michael Stearns and Kevin Braheny.  A deeper and
            quieter desert ambience than Western Spaces, dedicated
            to the memory of Edward Abbey.

Australia (something Land? something something):

          A cool, memorable subtitle which I can't remember right
          now.  Collaboration with David Hudson and Sarah Hopkins.
          Lots of primoridal didgeradoo, and Sarah's unearthly
          processed cello.  Dark, subterranian, ancient.

Strata:        Collaboration with Robert Rich.  A very symbiotic
          collaboration.  Sifts through the buried,
          half-forgotten primordial layers of the mind at
          a sonic archeological dig.

World's Edge:  A 2 CD release where his shamanist self comes to the
          fore.  Full of dark persussion and subterranian
          ambience. CD #2 is one long atmospheric requiem, "To the
          Threshold of Silence".

Soma:          Another Rich collaboration, very percussive and
          shamanistic.  Soma in this guise, refers to the nectar
          of the ancients, used for inducing altered states.

Suspended Memories, Forgotten Gods: 

             Collaboration with Suzo Saiz and Jorge Raiz, with their
          pre-Colombian intruments, ethereal chanting, and
          atmosheric guitar, layered with Steve's ethereal
          electronics (etc.).  As in most of his recent work, the
          symbiotic juxtaposition of atmospheric electronics and
          primordial, indigenous motifs.

The Lost Pieces:  An artist-sponsored "underground" release (released in
            Canada, for now) showcasing pieces that "fell through
            the cracks" as well as pieces that were only released
            on other multi-artist releases (including the stunning
            "Full Moon Prophecy").  Liner notes on each of the
            pieces.

Origins:   His just-released solo (mostly) effort that puts the
           listening participant squarely inside a shaman ritual.
           Dark, subterranian and positively spine-tingling.

These last 4 were all released in the past year!  Expect more in the
near-future!!

For the original poster's expressed tastes, I would probably recommend
Stormwarning, Empetus, or Now/Traveler for the more whirling-dervish,
sequencer-on-steroids early-synth-pioneers type of music.  In general, I
would heartily recommend all of his music, in all its remarkable
diversity.

Oh, it was quite an experience seeing Steve play live with (one of?) the
percussionist from Djam Karet about a year and a half ago, down in LA.