On This Planet
Opening with a violent clap of thunder, Roach's first live album lives up to its creator's exhortation that you "turn it up, feel it in your bones!" Though it's built from the same glassy, ghostly synthesizer drones, didgeridoo howls, and clay-pot ethnic rhythms as much of his other work,On This Planetis a more visceral, less trancelike experience. Aided by mysterious voices murmuring about being "haunted by visions that have been painted from the inside out," the music suggests a very intense, Castanedan peyote journey through an otherworldly desert landscape (tripping over the odd beer can). Swirling noise clusters, shuddering rain sticks, shamanic chanting, rhythms that sprint across the spectrum like organic drum & bass beats--this isn't your father's New Age. A maxed-out 72 minutes on one CD,On This Planetmakes an ideal, if quicker-paced, introduction to Roach's aesthetic, a potent distillation of his more mind-bending materials.--James Rotondi