Transmissions :: Steve Roach

Transmissions

Welcome to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, direct from his desert studio on the US/Mexico border south of Tucson: synth music pioneer Steve Roach.

As a kid in Costa Mesa, he became entranced with motorsports, prog rock, and kosmische musik by Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and other Berlin school fusionists. In 1984, he released his landmark third album, Structures from Silence. Record stores filed it in the new age section, where it sold like hotcakes. But as far as Roach was concerned, it was simply his take on the electronic music that fascinated him, with a humanistic touch: it's pace mimicked the pulse of human breath.

Roach has maintained a steady flow of music ever since. This year, Roach and his longtime label Projekt released a 40th anniversary version of Structures. It was quickly followed by Reflections in Repose, a live set performed, composed and recorded in Baja Arizona in late 2023. Add to that production on Serena Gabriel’s The Saffron Sky and a three-night stint at Hotel Congress in Tucson, May 29th, 30th, and 31st, where he’ll be joined by fellow synth lifers Robert Rich and Michael Stearns, and you can see why it's a miracle he time to join us for this episode, dedicated to discussing his creative process, learning to go with your own flow, and his lifelong sonic journey.

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Join us next week for a conversation with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, who joins to discuss the Solid Sound festival, his literary work, and his vast songbook.