Holy crap, I hadn't run across Dust To Dust before!
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 12 March 2017 07:58 (seven years ago) link
Ha, really? Yeah if any album is absolutely you, it's that one.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 12 March 2017 14:22 (seven years ago) link
Currently enjoying Dust to Dust very much. Great interview, too.
I want a recommendation engine for 'wide open desert' music - stuff like Dust to Dust, the Hired Hand soundtrack, any Scott Tuma, Eyvind Kang's Live Low to the Ground...
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 18 March 2017 19:39 (seven years ago) link
Thank ya!
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 18 March 2017 19:51 (seven years ago) link
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, March 18, 2017 3:39 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Those last three are the biggies, imo, assuming you probably already know the Paris, Texas soundtrack. Do you know a band called Padang Food Tigers? They definitely hit on this vibe quite a bit, despite being about as far from the desert landscape as you can get (UK, iirc). Also, there are a lot of people working this angle from a dronier / noisier angle, like pedal steel guitarist Chas Smith (not to be confused with drummer Ches Smith), William Fowler Collins, and probably a few others.
There are probably people who can direct you to the "right" Calexico records, too (there are instrumental albums that definitely touch on this style) but I'm not really well-versed enough to say
― Wimmels, Saturday, 18 March 2017 20:03 (seven years ago) link
Yes - love the Food Tigers! And, aye, definitely uk based. Paris, Texas is all-time. I'd forgotten Chas Smith. Santa Fe is a hell of a thing. Will check William Fowler Collins, for sure. Cheers.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 18 March 2017 20:10 (seven years ago) link
Calexico pals Friends of Dean Martinez, their discography is all wide open sounds, the album "Atardecer" is my personal favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94CI1uLVl64
― nomar, Saturday, 18 March 2017 20:30 (seven years ago) link
Try Marco beltrami's film score for tommy lee jones' The Homesman. Actually his other scores for Jones kind of fit too.
― chip n dale recuse rangers (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 18 March 2017 20:38 (seven years ago) link
Seconding William Fowler Collins. Great live, too.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 18 March 2017 21:23 (seven years ago) link
I want a recommendation engine for 'wide open desert' music
See also:
Susan Alcorn - And i await the Resurrection (maybe not her best, but its what I have)Barn Owl - any Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas of course, also look for Trespass, Last Man Standing OSTsDead Texan - eponymous debutBruce Kaphan - Slider: Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel GuitarLong Desert Cowboy - anyRainer (Ptacek) - Nocturnes
― Sanpaku, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:14 (seven years ago) link
if Live Low To The Earth In The Iron Age is part of this genre, I'm starting a thread
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:19 (seven years ago) link
"wide open desert music" S/D
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:23 (seven years ago) link
Light Fantastic is one of my favorites by Steve Roach. That one has sections of meditations but then breaks into the big trancy Berlin like sequences.
― earlnash, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:32 (seven years ago) link
regarding Mystic Chords, is it important for me to get the 3CD 'complete version' or am I fine with the still huge but less so editions? I have some emusic credits to burn.
― chip n dale recuse rangers (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:06 (seven years ago) link
I personally think the more Roach the better but some is better than none. And I can't remember if the complete edition has extra tracks or not on top of the original releases.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:24 (seven years ago) link
i recently learned that roach did a record with michael shrieve in 1988, the leaving time. it is on youtube and is just as fucking awesome as one might hope. transfer station blue vibes.
― adam, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:32 (seven years ago) link
>regarding Mystic Chords, is it important for me to get the 3CD 'complete version' or am I fine with the still huge but less so editions? I have some emusic credits to burn.
I thought Mystic Chords was 4 CDs. At any rate, if you're at all interested, you're gonna want all of it eventually.
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:42 (seven years ago) link
oh wait, haha... I have 17.00 emusic credits left this month and the mystic chords 4CD is 17.20 so maybe next month.
― chip n dale recuse rangers (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 15:32 (seven years ago) link
Mystic Chords is two 2-CD sets. The box set is literally just an outer box that holds both the sets. No extra tracks. I like discs 2 and 4 the best... Labyrinth and Piece of Infinity.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 15:32 (seven years ago) link
I wish he'd release a box set of the Immersion discs! Those are great if you favor the meditative/drone stuff. But I guess it would be, what... an 8-disc set?
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 15:35 (seven years ago) link
I'd largely avoided Roach up until now - mainly because I think I'd misread him as gimmicky or new age* (in the pejorative sense). What with Ned's interview and various bits on here and the wide open space thread, I am happy to say I was horribly, gloriously wrong. I'm now frantically(so to speak) trying to navigate his discography trying to work out where to go next.
*this is within the bounds of fairness, right? See a man with a mullet holding a didgeridoo and I tend to wander the other way...
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 1 April 2017 17:05 (seven years ago) link
Well I am now on a Steve Roach kick.
Listening mostly to the earliest stuff, when he still sounds a lot like Tangerine Dream. And actually, I kind of like it better than TD -- shorter songs, not as much cheese. Actually, one of the best things I've heard is an epic track called "Harmonia Mundi" that was a bonus on the reissue of Empetus. 45-minutes of immaculate Berlin school patterns, and sounds like it could be the soundtrack for an entire season of Stranger Things by itself.
― Dominique, Monday, 22 May 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
thanks! what other early years highlights have you got?
― twink peas it is happening again (Jon not Jon), Monday, 22 May 2017 17:45 (seven years ago) link
I would say Now, Traveler and Empetus are all strong Berlin school styled records, with scattered floaty ambient that you would expect from Roach. Traveler & Empetus (with the bonus track) are particularly strong
― Dominique, Monday, 22 May 2017 17:48 (seven years ago) link
As Traveler was mentioned by Dominique there, worth noting that it's now available on Bandcamp as a name-your-price
https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/traveler
He also put up this one from 2001 as well
https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/core-legacy-edition
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 14:05 (six years ago) link
So what the hell is "e-music" supposed to have been? I've been reading AMG reviews, and it keeps being mentioned. Is it music along the lines of New Age but with electronics?
Also, this was just released as pay-what-you-want, and it sounds promising: https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/eclipse-mix.
― Pataphysician, Thursday, 17 August 2017 19:49 (six years ago) link
I think it was an MP3-for-sale service?
― sleeve, Thursday, 17 August 2017 21:18 (six years ago) link
tsk get outta here
― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 17 August 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link
I meant the "genre" that is alluded to in several reviews. Because of the mp3 service, I can't really google any other references to the genre. It's used in a lot of reviews on AMG by Jim Brenholts, e.g.,
"This CD is destined to be a classic. It will appeal to all e-music fans."
"There have been some dynamic collaborations in the e-music community."
"Stalker, by Robert Rich and B. Lustmord, is one of the darkest e-music CDs ever."
Also, I need to put a plug in for a Steve Roach album that isn't mentioned above: Spiral Revelation from 2016. Back to more Berlin-style synths sort of. Not nearly as frenetic as his earlier stuff in that vein. Much more akin to the recent albums by Steve Hauschildt, but naturally much more atmospheric than Hauschildt. Really good stuff!
― Pataphysician, Friday, 18 August 2017 17:39 (six years ago) link
I believe it's just an abbreviation of "electronic music", but favoured in the late 80s/90s by artists working in that field of spacey, ambient, Berlin-school, trad electronica (when "synth music" was a genre, rather than a description of most things). You'd hear it used all the time on the Jean Michel Jarre email discussion list I was on in the 90s, which probably puts it in context.
― bamboohouses, Monday, 21 August 2017 09:26 (six years ago) link
Thanks!
― Pataphysician, Monday, 21 August 2017 12:28 (six years ago) link
Playing three nights in a row in Tucson starting tonight, live stream via soma.fm, and he's about to start for tonight, so listen in
https://somafm.com/live/
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 10 February 2018 03:03 (six years ago) link
Laying back quite a bit on the front half of this set. It's definitely a space track so far.
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 February 2018 03:30 (six years ago) link
90 minutes inn...'oh yes, there are the drums'....
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 February 2018 03:47 (six years ago) link
Dreamtime Return reissued:
https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/dreamtime-return-2018-high-resolution-remaster
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 March 2018 06:21 (six years ago) link
There's an expanded version of Dreamtime Returns on the way apparently, with new tracks in the same style (as with the deluxe version of Structures From Silence a few years back). Plus a vinyl reissue too.
― bamboohouses, Friday, 9 March 2018 09:40 (six years ago) link
i recently found 2cd edition of 'quiet music' in a charity shop for £1.that was a very good day.had only heard the deep rich sonics of 'ritual ground'by steve roach and elmar schulte before.
― mark e, Friday, 9 March 2018 11:35 (six years ago) link
I just discovered the album "Invisible", one of his long drone tracks. It stands out because it has some interesting percussion and textures that other works of his like this lack. Similar to that is the last track on "World's Edge". Both are worth checking out!
― Pataphysician, Monday, 26 March 2018 03:57 (six years ago) link
A fun bit of history
Steve Roach found the mock up of the Structures From Silence cover. This was the first cassette edition he self-released. Quickly it found its way to Stephen Hill @drSpace Hearts of Space @hearts_of_space and then to Ethan Edgecomb at Fortuna Records and the rest is history. pic.twitter.com/QKTIgfNKLR— Projekt Records (@ProjektRecords) April 9, 2018
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 April 2018 19:05 (six years ago) link
i put his new one on while i was writing something and there's almost too much going on for it to function as writing music lol
it's really great too i think https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/molecules-of-motion
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 20:33 (five years ago) link
i get very overwhelmed by his discography so i've just been going through chronologically lately. structures from silence is incredible, all the 80s stuff is imo
― marcos, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 20:53 (five years ago) link
Skeleton Keys, one of his modular records, is available for free with name-your-price today for Halloween:
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/skeleton-keys-name-your-price?from=fanpub_nfnb_merch
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 1 November 2018 01:40 (five years ago) link
reallly loving mercurius today https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/mercurius
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 16:03 (five years ago) link
So many good releases this year, and now this news!https://steveroachexclusive.bandcamp.com/subscribe
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
So excited about this. Subscribed!
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 17:05 (four years ago) link
All three of these initial ones in the service are really quite good, even (or especially) for two of them being outtakes or early/alternate versions of later albums.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 17:43 (four years ago) link
a timely revive. one of his tracks is on the Cherry Red box set Third Noise Principle, which I was listening to last week, looks like it's from the Traveler LP, and was one of the tracks that stood out to me so I was going to look into his other stuff. although I think I did initially confuse him with Steve Reich like the first response here
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 18:27 (four years ago) link
I kinda wonder what the electric bill is at the Timeroom, as it seems the soundworld never stops there? I kinda want to hope he has some type of scifi artisanal solar/geothermal setup getting the 'electricity' from the source Gaia. In this I picture Steve having rolling sequences going all the time in the timeroom and just wandering through while doing laundry, folding towels and every so often going over and twisting a knob or dropping a lever changing the gurgling mood.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 23:03 (four years ago) link
Out of the dozens of releases on Spotify with "tacked to the wall of the coffeeshop" level naming/artwork, picked out "Etheric Imprints" to listen to and it is awesome.
― lukas, Friday, 10 January 2020 00:42 (four years ago) link
Wisdom.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 10 January 2020 00:44 (four years ago) link