Steve Roach (musician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steve Roach
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| Background information | |
| Born | February 16, 1955 La Mesa, California, United States |
| Genres | Ambient, electronic |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, musician |
| Instruments | Synthesizers, didgeridoo |
Steve Roach (born February 16, 1955) is an American composer and musician. He is famous for his ambient and electronic music. His music often sounds like the natural world, focusing on feelings of environment, how we see things, and wide-open spaces. His work has also influenced trance and new-age styles.
Steve Roach has been nominated for two Grammy Awards in the New Age Album of the Year category. His album Spiral Revelation was nominated in 2017, and Molecules of Motion was nominated in 2018. His music has also been listed among "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die," showing how important his work is.
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About Steve Roach
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Steve Roach grew up in La Mesa, California, close to San Diego. When he was a teenager in the early 1970s, he loved Motocross racing. He later said that the focus and presence needed for racing helped him with his music. He grew up near deserts, mountains, and the ocean, and these natural places became a big part of his musical style.
As a teenager, Steve was very inspired by electronic music. He especially liked albums like Timewind by Klaus Schulze and music by Tangerine Dream and Brian Eno. He also enjoyed progressive rock bands such as Yes and Pink Floyd.
How He Started Making Music
Steve Roach taught himself to play the synthesizer when he was 20 years old. He bought several synthesizers at once, including a Micromoog and an ARP 2600. For a short time, he lived in Hollywood, California, and worked at a record store. He became part of the electronic music scene in Los Angeles. Later, he moved to a small house in Culver City and built his own recording studio, which he called the Timeroom. He worked odd jobs while creating his music.
His Famous Albums
Steve Roach released his first album, Now, in 1982. Two years later, he released one of his most well-known albums, Structures from Silence (1984). He made cassette tapes of this album, and a radio host named Stephen Hill played it on his radio show, Hearts of Space. This helped many more people discover Steve's music. In 1986, he released his popular Quiet Music series. In 1988, he released what many critics call his best work, the double-album Dreamtime Return.
Since 1995, Steve Roach has mostly released his music through Projekt Records.
His Musical Style
As Steve Roach's music has grown, his ambient music often became beatless, meaning it doesn't have a strong, steady rhythm. However, he also creates rhythmic, trance-based, and tribal-ambient music. Some of his recordings are made only with synthesizers, while others include ambient guitar sounds.
Steve also blends his music with sounds from different cultures. He learned to play the digeridoo during his trips to Australia in the 1980s. He was one of the first musicians to use the didgeridoo in ambient music. He also worked with Mexican musician Jorge Reyes, which led him to include ancient Mexican musical elements in his work. These mixes helped Steve Roach become a founder of the "tribal-ambient" sound.
Personal Life
Steve Roach is married to Linda Kohanov, who is an author and teaches about horses. She has also sung on some of his albums. In the early 1990s, Steve Roach moved to the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, Arizona, which has continued to inspire his music.
Selected Discography
Steve Roach has released many albums throughout his career. Here are some of his notable works:
Studio Albums
- Now (1982)
- Structures from Silence (1984)
- Quiet Music 1, 2, 3 (1986)
- Dreamtime Return (1988)
- World's Edge (1992)
- The Magnificent Void (1996)
- Midnight Moon (2000)
- Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces (2003)
- Molecules of Motion (2018)
- Bloom Ascension (2019)
- A Soul Ascends (2020)
- What Remains (2022)
Collaboration Albums
Steve Roach has also worked with many other musicians:
- Western Spaces (1987) – with Kevin Braheny
- Desert Solitaire (1989) – with Michael Stearns and Kevin Braheny
- Strata (1990) – with Robert Rich
- Soma (1992) – with Robert Rich
- Forgotten Gods (1993) – with Jorge Reyes & Suso Saiz
- Kiva (1995) – with Michael Stearns and Ron Sunsinger
- Well of Souls (1995) – with Vidna Obmana
- The Serpent's Lair (2000) – with Byron Metcalf
- Trance Spirits (2002) – with Jeffrey Fayman, Robert Fripp & Momodou Kah
- Terraform (2006) – with Loren Nerell
- Stream of Thought (2009) – with Erik Wøllo
- The Road Eternal (2011) – with Erik Wøllo
- Nectar Meditation (2020) - with Serena Gabriel
See also
In Spanish: Steve Roach para niños
