Customer Reviews

Mantram

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Steve Roach, along with Byron Metcalf and Mark Seelig, has created an exquisite album with middle eastern nuances, much in part due to Metcalf's percussion and Seelig's flute. In some respects, this album -- with its world music textures -- harkens back to Steve's 90's works with Robert Rich and his Suspended Memories project. This album has a pan-global devotional, monastic quality that is very hypnotic and soothing -- a pleasant aside from Roach's recent, more frenetic fractal grooves, while still showcasing his mastery of the sonic void.

MANTRAM was among the first releases that I heard from Steve Roach and it has remained one of my favorites.

It's a long piece - about 73 minutes - and to get the full experience it seems necessary to listen from start to finish uninterruptedly.

The middle of the piece is where the real magic happens - it lures the listener in by a steady beat, ensnaring him/her in a world that seems timeless. This is where the mind will simply give itself over to the sound, not caring for where it has been or where it is going, simply enjoying the eternal now as it masterfully and effortlessly glides on.

This is a REAL listening experience. Worth every penny. Worth every minute spent in uninterrupted listening-awareness. You WILL love this album.

This is powerful stuff; this music will just take you away. This is probably one of the best collaborations between Steve Roach and Metcalf and Seelig. Mantram is a superb atmospheric soundscape that will take you back on a journey through deep time.

This is music of complete tranquility that will relax you and conjure up visions of deserts and the American Southwest. It is a wonderful CD to fall asleep listening to and also makes great background music for reading a book.

One of my favorite things to do while listening to this album is to look at high resolution images from NASA of things like nebulae, galaxies and pictures of our own solar system. It really is an incredible experience. If you're a fan of Steve Roche and this type of music you really can't go wrong with Mantram.

This cd takes me to a place of inner peace. It brings about a state of deep relaxation. Smooth flowing with heart beat like drumming. Great for meditation.

Steve Roach's albums never fail to impress me every time. Though I have only five of his albums as of this writing, each of them are absolutely astounding treasures in their own way. However "Mantram" is a highlight release in his catalog. I originally first heard this in late 2004 shortly after it's release when I was tempted by it's entrancing album cover art and was entranced by it the moment I first heard it. The whole album is beautiful with a very strange droning melody that makes it hard to tell if it's major or minor-note music. Separated into eight pieces, the album's power is most felt with the lights low or even turned off and the stereo turned up loud. Amongst his many albums, I consider "Mantram" to be among the most highly recommended albums.

Steve Roach has made some amazing recordings. His Suspended Memories trio is one of the coolest things to happen to music in a loooooooong time. I feel like their "Forgotten Gods" is the "Kind of Blue" of the world of contemporary instrumental (even if it came twenty years too late to save us from decades of New Age dreck). His work with Vidna Obarak Obama (or whatever his name is!) is awesome. This recording, "Mantram," has to be the dullest piece he's ever released. This is saying a lot for him too, as there are a few other pieces he has released that are good competition for "fewest significant changes in ten minutes of sounding," but this is almost completely without novel content. The regularly morphing, floating poly-chordal washes sound like they would on any other generic Steve Roach recording. The flute sounds like it was sampled from a Robert Rich recording. The drumming sounds schizophonic, completely devoid of context and strange misplaced. Finally, the "overtone singing" aspects sound suspiciously like the classic recording of Harmonic Chant, "Hearing Solar Winds" by David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir. I'm not saying that the musicians plagiarized this recording, but it the similarities between the two are quite notable. It sound as though Roach took Hykes' recording, amped it up with a bit more echo, then overlaid the drums, flutes and synthesizers.

Overall, a very disappointing, boring addition to Roach's catalog. I hope that he does more work with Suso Saiz and Jorge Reyes! They bring out the Roach's inner Primordial Ooze Lizard-God. The two stars are for generally excellent production values (as always). If you're looking for excellent percussive, flute-laden techno-tribal, and pieces that differ from one another (why does "Mantram" even bother with track numbers!?), Robert Rich's "Propagation" is a sure bet.