I've been a fan of Steve Roach from around the time his Dreamtime Return release came out in 1988. My friend Hans Stoeve played a lot of his music on The Quiet Space on 2SER radio in Sydney.
Steve Roach's music was often lumped in with 'New Age' but it was so much better than nearly all the music put into that category. The synth textures he uses are never cloying or syrupy, but have a drier and darker feel that evoke timeless moods of wide landscapes and the night sky.
He started out strongly influenced by the likes of Tangerine Dream but in 1988 he took an extended trip to outback Australia, meeting didgeridoo player David Hudson which resulted in the Dreamtime Return album.
According to Roach, his interest in Australian aboriginal culture was sparked by the Peter Weir film The Last Wave.
Through the early 90's his music became increasingly tribal sounding, inspired by the desert landscapes of his home in Arizona, and incorporating traditional instruments.
Significant collaborators during this period include Kevin Braheny, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana and Jorge Reyes.
Although Roach was from a completely different and earlier scene to later electronic dance, he found a new audience on that fringe through being picked up by dark ambient / gothic label Projekt in the late 90's.
He has continued to release music on Projekt and on his own label to the present.
I made this playlist covering his best tracks from the start of his career until 2000. Tracks ordered chronologically:
cloud motion
structures from silence
the memory
towards the dream
the continent
the other side
magnificent gallery
specter
desert solitaire
origin
closer
fearless
the grotto of time lost
la luna
touch
glimpse
the face in the fire
your own eyes
begin where i end
flow stone
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