Green House Music - Reviews: Steve Roach | Vir Unis

Steve Roach | Vir Unis - Blood Machine

GHM.01.01
Released 2001

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SoundVision - TJ Norris (c) 2002

Twin cities-based GreenHouse Music brings us further into the fantastic world of Steve Roach, collaborating once again with emerging sound sculptor Vir Unis. After releasing more than 50 recordings in 20 years, the prolific Roach shows no sign of stopping, collaborating with so many of the electronic world's finest names. Roach and Unis have shaped a work of continuous beauty and vision. Unis adds a unique edge to the mix, doing so with a fluid percussive groove sensibility. This compendium of eight lengthy tracks fuses glimpses of internal physicality with the outside world of uncertainty. The recording brings to mind flavors of Tangerine Dream, updated for the post-electronica age. If you follow its basic concepts you will be swept into the tidal flow of its Jules Verne-like odyssey. This conceptually meditative work will bring you to a state of semi-consciousness but leave you standing in place when you're done.

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Wind and Wire - Bill Binkelman (c) 2001

I've read the liner notes about four times for this album and I still don't know what the hell Steve and Vir are talking about when they describe the term "elegant futurism" or when they recount how this album was made. No matter. This album kicks serious ass and there's no two ways about it. One of the most exciting and ground-breaking CDs of recent years, Blood Machine is positively thrilling, exhilarating and breathtaking as it lays out its cyber-electro-organic psychodrama track after track after track. What a rush this album is!

Using the metaphor of blending the human anatomical/biological system with some sort of cyber-futurism as a starting point for the project (if I'm interpreting the liner notes correctly), Blood Machine is, speaking in my own metaphor-laden manner, a sonic version of a 21st century Fantastic Voyage. Beginning with the blistering pace of the rhythms and fractal grooves (a term that, I believe, is used to describe the hyper-speed beats that pepper most of the album) of "Dissolving the Code," the listener is transported into an ultra-fast-paced pulsing soundscape of hummingbird wing-beat-intensity, lush cyber washes of synthesizers, and kinetic electro-rhythms. Wow! This is as invigorating a piece of music as I've heard in a long time.

Yet, the organic/electronic nature of the underlying washes is what sets the hook for me. Mesmerizing is the best word to describe it, or maybe even hypnotic. The ambient bliss of the opening of "Evolution," with its beautiful drones and organ-like chords, is soon submerged under some exciting rhythms which are quite unlike the opening track's beats. Steve and Vir totally nailed infusing this music with a bio-organic quality while still keeping it rooted completely in 21st century cyber-music technology. I continue (even after my fifth or sixth listening) to be stunned by how cool this album is.

Steve Roach has always been a genius at evolving his long tracks, taking what seems like simple ambient music and shape-shifting it so slowly that only later does the listener realize that the ending point is light years removed from the beginning. On this recording, he and Vir demonstrate time and time again that slow movement through subtle changes can accomplish as much drama as rapid course corrections.

I could go on and on describing the other six tracks on Blood Machine. I could wax eloquently about the tribal qualities of "Impulse," (which in its early parts reminded me of the superlative Soma that Steve recorded with Robert Rich) or the cyber-cool "Neurotropic" which counterpoints exotic percussive effects against those hyper-kinetic fractal grooves while spacy washes float above it all. I could also rave about the way classic spacemusic washes caress the air underneath the cosmic funky beats of "Mindheart Infusion." I could write about how I marvel at the wonderful closing cut, "In the Marrow," wherein fractal grooves cruising at an almost light-speed pace are held in check by long washes of warm spacy ambience.

But, instead, I'll just say that Blood Machine is a truly amazing album. It manages to break new ground and stake out new territory where I didn't even know the landscape existed. While I know this recording is, at least partially, an evolution of Steve and Vir's earlier collaboration, Body Electric, I think this is a far better album. It's use of rhythms (and those fractal grooves) is jaw-dropping. It's engineered to literal perfection. And it's so much fun to become absorbed in that if I weren't such a motor-mouth, I'd be speechless. Obviously, it merits my highest recommendation!

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Ambient Visions - Hannah Shapero (c) 2001
The long-awaited follow-up to Steve Roach and Vir Unis' explosive Body Electric is finally here. Blood Machine is inspired by the futuristic neurobiology and biotechnology which breaks into the news with almost daily reports of new discoveries. Here, two futuristic masters of electronica combine to bring us discoveries in sound and synapse, rhythm and bio-interface. If you are expecting a slam-bang sequel to the noisy and boisterous Body Electric, you will be surprised, because though Blood Machine has plenty of driving rhythms, it has quite a different feel to it. This album is smoother, softer, and less obvious than its predecessor. Roach, in his liner notes, calls it "elegant futurism," which is a perfect description of its sound. And yet, like the machine of its title, when it revs up, it cranks along at an insistent, ticking pace, shooting off fascinating rays of sound as it goes. These steady rhythmic sequences, all produced electronically, are often highly abstract, moving quickly through their fractal variations while retaining their basic beat structure. In fact, this is a "cerebral" album which makes the listener think, rather than just move. Listen closely and you will find an almost mathematical quality to it, as rhythms are played against other rhythms, and their patterns are nested within yet other patterns.
But Roach and Unis, despite their powerful new cybernetic instrumentarium, haven't forgotten their musicianship. Though their collaboration is seamless, you can still identify the "musical gesture" of each artist. For instance, you will hear Roach's time- honored "floating chords" accompanying the rhythmic sequences, providing both melodic elements and aural perspective. And every so often there will be a moment which sounds a bit like Unis' "Aeonian Glow" transformed from Gnostic Gothic to cyber- light fantastic.

The pacing of this long (73 minutes) album alternates between extended rhythm sequences and passages of ambient drift. It has a large dynamic range, moving from a fanfare-like loudness at the beginning to long, low-volume, almost muttering passages in the middle, and then back into bright loud waves of sound in the later tracks. Like Roach's 1999 Light Fantastic, Blood Machine fits together into one symphonic composition, in which the tracks are more like "movements" than separate pieces. The centerpieces of this album are track 4, "Neurotropic," (which is my favorite section) and track 5, "Mindheart Infusion," another outstanding track. But throughout the whole composition, there are moments of stark beauty, mystical insight, and near-silent contemplation. Blood Machine sustains the sense of wonder all the way through its pulsing course.

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Ambient Visions - Jim Brenholts (c) 2001

"Blood Machine" is the next logical step from "Body Electric" and "Light Fantastic." Steve Roach and Vir Unis, nee John Strate-Hootman, worked on this "elegant futurism" (the term is Steve's) for two years. That would place the start of this project right around the release of "Body Electric," on which John and Steve collaborated. ("Light Fantastic is a solo CD by Steve.) Amazingly, John has released three solo studio CD's and one live CD in that time span. Steve has released 10 solo and collaborative projects, only one of which was a live CD. It boggles the mind that these craftsmen were able to concentrate on that many projects at once and maintain such a high standard of excellence!

"Blood Machine" is the perfect combination of tribal grooves, high tech rhythms and expansive atmospheres. While there are recognizable elements of many styles of ambience, "elegant futurism" encompasses the sound and the vision. Steve and John take listeners on another journey to the perpendicular universe. (That term is mine.)

Indeed, deep listeners will feel the steady rhythms in their own "Blood Machines" as they become one with the soundworlds of Steve and John. Once the DNA codes are broken, the soundworlds enter the physiology and the neuropathy becomes "Neurotropic." This music lives in the biochemistry of the brain, heart, body and soul!

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Sequences Music Magazine - Gary Andrews (c) 2001

Collaborations in music can be a mixed blessing. Sometimes they can triumph and sometimes they can be a disaster. Steve Roach has collaborated on many musical projects and has always triumphed. His early collaborations included working with such innovators of the US electronic scene as Michael Stearns, Robert Rich and more recently with the “new” influx of musicians such as Vidna Obmana, Jim Cole and Vir Unis.

BLOOD MACHINE is the latest collaboration with Vir Unis whose previous work with Steve Roach was BODY ELECTRIC, which was a tantalizing blend of lush soundworlds combined with dynamic fractal grooves that represented the modern day equivalent of such rapid fire sequencer based albums such as Empetus and Stormwarning.

Although similar in style to BODY ELECTRIC and Steve’s 1999 award winning LIGHT FANTASTIC, BLOOD MACHINE comes across as a fresh and newly invigorating recording. The music infuses within the listener a feeling of being among the “future tribal” in other words the fractal grooves although are at their most up to date and state of the art still contain the raw power and feeling of primitive earthbound music, most notably in the percussion portions of the music of which there happens to be a plethora. For instance the start of “Dissolving the Code” features slowly opening chords and the anticipation of something dynamic waiting to burst on to the soundstage becomes reality very soon into the composition. A groove going at a breakneck speed comes out of nowhere and a steady beat is laid over the top.

As with a lot of Steve’s albums with a lot of tracks the music segues into the next tack seamlessly and the following track “Evolution” calms down the initial sonic onslaught with a slightly toned down of fractal groove bliss. If listening with headphones the music becomes very much almost an exercise in 3D aural imaging and becomes the proverbial head-trip! Again this album in some ways like its predecessor could be made fashionable with the techno-rave crowd. The sounds are awesome in design and style and most cases outclasses its more trendy and fashionable street-cred musical brothers hands down.

It has taken a period of nearly two years for Steve and Vir Unis to hone and polish this release and it surely shows in the finished product. This is definitely a substantial release and maybe even a defining moment in Steve and Vir’s musical evolution.

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Electronic Shadows - Glenn Folkvord (c) 2001

This is probably one of the best albums I've heard this year. First of all it's a real electronic album - not just music performed with electronic gear but it has that other-worldly atmosphere you can only get with "science fiction instruments". The songs are mostly upbeat rhythm structures with carefully placed special sound effects backed by space chord movements - and even though it sounds like a classic Berlin School album from this description, it's not - it is in fact as innovative as you can get nowadays if you want to produce something that appeals to both the classic EM crowd and the contemporary trance crowd at the same time. In spite of the dominating beats and rhythms, it's not a dance album, however. The sound effects - actually, they are not "effects" as such, they are integral parts of each track - seem to have been created with great attention and they sound as if they took weeks to make. I am impressed by the sounds and almost caught myself saying that Jean-Michel Jarre could have learned something from these guys.... There are no melodies though. You may find the album repetitive and monotonous if you require Vangelis-ish smooth leads and celestial theme breaks. I am sure Roach and Unis could have cooked us something from that department too, if they wanted. I highly recommend this album to any serious electronic music listener.

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Iulian Scutaru (c) 2001

"Blood Machine release, is a pertinent chance to be explored through musicical journey our perfect blood mechanism. Once again this cult space-electronic duo revealed its unique style giving to the music world a master piece concept. On the other hand, Steve Roach and Vir Unis, have set up a pioneering path for the younger-unexperienced artists, touching both the audience and the specialists. It is indeed a proof that space-electronic-experimental music must be treasured as an art form. In these days of sub-art in all its forms of expresions, these two artists comfort out hearts and minds. Blood Machine masters piece has opened another door to the infinite; it is progressive-ambient, it is majestic electronic, it is a music picture of what keeps us alive: BLOOD....blood which runs through our veins, blood which keeps our brains connected....blood which... You mustn't lose this release, you might not have another brilliant blood reflection like this one".

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SMD Magazine - Phil Derby (c) 2001

Steve Roach and Vir Unis have again combined slow, floating ambience with their fast, hard hitting "fractal grooves" as they call them. The style here is very similar to their prior collaboration, 'Body Electric,' but I like 'Blood Machine' better. This really seems to bring Steve full circle, linking his early, high-energy works such as 'Stormwarning' and 'Empetus' to his current music. 'Dissolving the Code' starts with soft, drifting ambience, but this is quickly superceded by a barrage of very rapid, very energetic rhythms. The title of the disc seems appropriate, as the music seems both very organic and very much the product of machines. The liner notes mention the importance of the technology itself in the creative process between Steve and Vir. 'Evolution' has a captivating, hypnotic rhythm. It builds in slowly evolving, trance-inducing layers, striking a perfect balance between repetition and gradual change. Each track is structured very similarly, building from a base of ambient atmospheres, over which a series of rhythm loops is laid. Despite the similarity, each is unique. 'Impulse,' while still having a lot of churning, driving rhythms, does so in a much more reflective manner than the tracks preceding it. 'Neurotropic' slows down even further, with tribal-flavoured rhythms that remind me of 'Steel and Bone' from Steve's 'World's Edge' CD. Still, this too picks up some speed as it goes. This is music on the move, with a sense of restlessness at times. Perhaps it is reflective of the two musicians themselves, who are not content to sit in one place - which ends up being an awfully good thing for us.

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Twilight Zone webzine (c) 2001

Steve Roach and Vir Unis produce an album centred on a meticulous and deep research of sounds. Their studio obtains as result a dense plan of synthetic vegetations, which lightly fluctuates under the influences of transparent moons. The patterns of this Cd change continuously in ascendant spirals, which manipulate hearing's visions, then giving form to bio-electronic progressive and dynamic figures. Eight neurotic digital codes which reach the viscera ( earth ) of senses, accompanying biological rhythms with whirling evolutions of their rhythmic. Every real long theme de-codifies the secrets of virtual organisms, creating shady atmospheres by metallic alive colour. A continuous flourishing of forms, a continuous changing of the environment conditions. The two authors of the elegant futurism in a masterly manner dictate the strategies and the raffinate rules of bio-cybernetic music which inherits the best experiences by Tangerine Dream's school. In the laboratories of genial Steve Roach and Vis Unis, the oxygen transported by machines blood offers the same feeding of human one.

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Infinity Press Magazine - Brian Firth (c) 2001

Blood Machine is a psychedelic Sunday drive over the sun and through the ether.

"Symbiotic blood machines dream of electric bodies while immersed in a light fantastic" This is the statement on the back of the CD that gives a perfect description of the musical journey the listener has just bought a round trip ticket for. Anyone familiar with the ambient work of either Steve Roach or Vir Unis already knows what to expect with the music of Blood Machine. The second in a series of rhythmic ambient excursions by this collaboration, Blood Machine journeys deeper through the territory first explored on the first release Body Electric. Steve Roach is famous for his new age atmospheric ambient recordings with recent works like the 2 CD set Early Man, a musical exploration of man’s prehistoric roots, as well as his pioneering ambient work in the ’80's. Vir Unis is a newcomer to the scene, already with a few stellar ambient works released on the Green House Music label. Together on Blood Machine these two musicians have created vast streaming environments of sound and rhythm that soothe the soul and take the mind to vast pastures of gently swaying grass dotted with strange wild flowers and these little purple mushrooms that seem to wink and smile at you. The first track, "Dissolving the Code", slowly builds with gentle synth washes provided by Roach and is soon joined by the "Fractal Grooves" of Vir Unis. "Fractal grooves" is term used by Vir Unis to describe his electronic percussion programming based on the physics chaos theory. The results are a quite amazing and truly unique collage of fluttering beats and rhythms. Together these elements swirl and churn through ecstasy and endless environments of space and time. This basic formula continues throughout the album with subtle variations on the theme accenting the elegant compositions. This album is not background music, and it requires the listeners’ attention in order to reap the full benefits of this work. As with all good ambient music, I would recommend a good stereo setup with surround sound, plenty of good incense to burn, and time to relax and fully take in the music. Save some money on expensive psychotherapy and relax, let yourself dream a little, and soon you to will be immersed in a light fantastic. (BF)

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