Steve Roach's appearance at NEARfest 2005 was a landmark event. Any live performance by Roach is a rarity, but to be exposed to such a large audience — one largely unfamiliar with his work — is truly a career highlight. Fortunately the good folks at NEARfest expertly recorded the entire performance and are making it available for purchase. Even though broken into 10 tracks, the CD is really one contiguous musical journey (with one pause halfway through), albeit with myriad phases and thematic explorations. It eschews Roach's more ambient side (as seen in his new Immersion release below) for a more rhythmic approach reminiscent of his earlier work. This was a wise decision for an audience more in tune with prog rock than Roach's brand of spacey ambience. Aided by a computer-generated projection (sadly missing from the audio experience), Roach takes the audience through a mesmerizing vista of drones, rolling waves of synths, dijideridoo harmonics, and blankets of ethereal white noise. At times, as on "Wings of Icarus," Roach sets up tribal percussion for something more primal and heated. The performance peaks with the mesmerizing "NEARstorm" that's the coolest thing I've ever heard from Roach. It may be that I'm more inclined toward his more traditional EM side, but I can't imagine any Exposé reader not digging this. Perhaps in honor of the setting, Roach even flirts with Mellotron strings and e-bowed guitar, and the results are simply delicious. Kudos to the NEARfest folks and to Steve Roach for a magical recording.

No doubt many who were in the audience that have looked into Roach's immense catalog of past and current releases. One of these is the first in a new series of ambient recordings titled Immersion. Those hoping to find the same kind of percussive energy present in the NF performance may be disappointed with this CD. Rather, this is another in Roach's continuing explorations of ambient sounds, most recently seen in the Timeroom series. The scant liner notes reveal little, though the CD print tells the tale: "Created for continuous low level playback." For 73 minutes, the listener will be immersed in a rolling and slowly flowing blanket of synth drones. Roach occasionally blends in harmonics and overtones that create eddies and currents within the larger stream, though this is essentially one vast and unbroken ambient stream, no doubt the perfect accompaniment for relaxing or therapeutic activity. Taken with the live NF disk, this pair of CDs will give the listener a complete picture of Steve Roach circa 2006. -— Paul Hightower

This release from 2006 offers 46 unedited minutes of Roach's live performance at NEARfest at the Zoellner Arts Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on July 9, 2005. Roach's skills at producing an intensely lush live performance are well-known, and this recording perpetuates his capabilities with astounding scope. Ethereal textures coalesce like gathering stormclouds, but the rainfall from these thunderheads is sparkling and vivacious, each droplet of sound infecting the audience with a dreamy clarity certain to expand consciousness. Fragile effects mix with synthetic rhythms to achieve a vibrant environment of thrilling depth. The tonalities waft with luxurious expansion, while soothing embellishments swell with pulsating resonance. Rhythms come and go, punctuating the heavenly tapestry with remote propulsion, never overt but still contagious in their subtle and complex motivation. The presence of liquid sounds only serves to give the tempos an earthy quality. Let us not forget the periodic presence of didjeridoo, whose soulful breathing injects an arid heritage to the seething mass of modern tuneage. This instrument's contributions are integral in establishing a pensive moodiness for the concert's dark finale. While steeped in a celestial demeanor, this music exhibits a certain terrestrial quality, grounding the audience while lifting them to dizzying altitudes. The overall tone is a dreamy one, although these ambient voyages exude a stern power that often commands more than it sedates. Blending classic compositions with new pieces, Roach seamlessly conjures a lavish soundscape of breathtaking mien.