Search - Steve Roach, Robert Rich :: Soma

Soma
Steve Roach, Robert Rich
Soma
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Alternative Rock, International Music, New Age, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #1

Like the wild mushrooms that fungus enthusiast Robert Rich turns into gourmet dishes, the pieces on Soma seem to emanate directly from the ground, without belonging to any species hitherto defined. New Age? Nah. Ambient? N...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Steve Roach, Robert Rich
Title: Soma
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hearts of Space
Release Date: 12/1/1993
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Alternative Rock, International Music, New Age, Pop, Rock
Styles: Ambient, World Dance, Indie & Lo-Fi, American Alternative, Meditation, Progressive, Electronic
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 025041103329, 025041103343

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
Like the wild mushrooms that fungus enthusiast Robert Rich turns into gourmet dishes, the pieces on Soma seem to emanate directly from the ground, without belonging to any species hitherto defined. New Age? Nah. Ambient? Not exactly. Fungoid tribal trance? Maybe. Rich, the drone provocateur who invented the "sleep concert" in the early '80s, and Roach, proto-ambient pioneer whose Dreamtime Return remains a classic of organic New Age, distill a potent nectar of heartbeat-paced percussion--including rain sticks, clay water pots, kalimbas, and sequenced drums--and reverberant flutes, didgeridoos, and canyon-sized synthesizers. More rhythmically active than either the Roach-Vidna Obmana duet Well of Souls or early Roach electronica like Traveller, Soma--named for the Vedic potion said to deliver the drinker to God--is a Southwest vision quest that suggests Terence McKenna's psilocybin-mushroom theories: a connection to the very soul of the earth through ethno-botanical ingestion. Bottoms up... --James Rotondi

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CD Reviews

Wonderful...
funktion | The Synaptic Gap | 12/31/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"While STRATA, the first collaboration between Steve Roach and Robert Rich, sought to peel away the substratum layers of the inner consciousness, SOMA attempts to reconcile those emotions with the outer world through a wondrous, gripping corpus of sound. Here, Roach and Rich perform a stunning series of lively, aural mosaics that are like musical puzzle boxes with hundreds of oddly colored pieces. It is as if they tore up the veneer of the desert itself and constructed these sounds out of the earth's very natural fiber. Like the best free jazz improvisers, Roach and Rich intuitively communicate their separate identities into one collective whole. Another brilliant collaboration from two higly prolific and accomplished artists."
Great sounds
mwmitch@ibm.net | Sacramento, CA | 06/27/1998
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Robert Rich and Steve Roach serve as an excellent choice for a collaboration. Each other's distinctive rythyms and sounds blend together into a cd of much intrigue and excellence. The two use, extensively, drums and other percussion instruments to give it a kind of Indian/jungle feeling to it, as well as rich and sweeping themes that are powerful and distinct. On a positive note, none of the songs are harsh or abrupt, just smooth and flowing. I fully reccomend this title for fans of the composers as well as people looking for that special cd to spice up their ears."
Better Than a Happy Pill!
Lie^n | 03/26/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Steve Roach is one of my favorite ambient artists and for good reason. His sounds make me happy and relaxed and at peace all at the same time. Yet I find my artistic side stronger than ever and have to start producing that which my imagination is pouring forth."