The Grotto of Time Lost

The inspirational title for this blog:

Artist: Steve Roach/Robert Rich
Song: The Grotto of Time Lost
Genre: New Age
Label: Hearts Of Space
Release Date: 1990-08-20

Album Notes
Master synthesists Roach and Rich excavate evolutionary layers of sound from their machines on STRATA, their first collaboration. The musicians are kindred spirits in both substance and style, and their probing, questing sonic architecture seeks not only to unearth the tangible from the unknown, but also to alight the unknown with a spectral quality. Instead of seismometers and pickaxes, Roach and Rich use their battery of analog and digital synthesizers to seize the geologic moment, embedding it in the amber of the studio.

Like the translucent layers of the mineral bearing its name, "Mica" reveals a quartz-like refraction of images and movements, constructed with Rich's interlocking vibe grooves, percussive gemstones, and Roach's dense synthesizer shadings. "The Grotto of Time Lost" pushes one back even further into the pre-dawn era. Roach and Rich's electronics and sundry noisemakers (called "glurp") peel back the undergrowth to reveal tectonic plates convulsing with the breath of newly hatched organisms and moist jungle growth. STRATA is one of the best stylistic collaborations of the '80s, and the formidable, fertile teaming of Roach and Rich also yielded the equally synergistic SOMA.