The Monolith Deathcult - Trivmvirate (2008)

Alright, strap in, this one's fuckin' bananas. Trivmvirate is made up of about 80% stellar technical brutal death metal, and 20% electro flourishes, samples, keyboards, and chanting. However, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see from these numbers, while the unorthodox musical elements are substantial, one can't really call this anything but death metal. Epic, innovative death metal.

Track listing:
1. Deus Ex Machina
2. Wrath of the Baath
3. Kindertodeslied
4. Master of the Bryansk Forest
5. M.M.F.D.
6. I Spew Thee Out of My Mouth
7. Demigod
8. Den Ensomme Nordens Dronning

Let me embrace my fate which was adrift and hung
I will be again the apple of his eye
Take me from among the doomed Laodiceans
whose defamation thrilled the seething skies

Bridget St. John - Ask Me No Questions (1969)

Beautiful, reflective, hippie-friendly folk. Consists almost entirely of acoustic guitars and St. John's rich, melancholic voice. I got really weird last night, and consequently, have an anxiety-ridden hangover. This album is the aural equivalent of someone gently brushing my forehead and hairline with their fingers while whispering comforting nothings. Thanks, Ms. St. John.

Track listing:
1. To B Without a Hitch
2. Autumn Lullaby
3. Curl Your Toes
4. Like Never Before
5. Curious Crystals of Unusual Purity
6. Bare Feet and Hot Pavements
7. I Like to Be with You in the Sun
8. Lizard Long Tongue Boy
9. Hello Again (Of Course)
10. Many Happy Returns
11. Broken Faith
12. Ask Me No Questions

The promise of another spring

Chris Isaak - Silvertone (1987) + Forever Blue (1995)

Two perfect breakup records. Excellent songwriting, spacious, shimmering production, and a twisted undercurrent of darkness. Don't be one of those ding-dongs who says they hate Chris Isaak but has never actually listened to him, just because he had the audacity to role around in the sand with a topless supermodel in a music video that probably gave you a boner. Just go with it. He's really, really good.

Track listing:
  Silvertone
1. Dancin'
2. Talk to Me
3. Livin' for Your Lover
4. Back on Your Side
5. Voodoo
6. Funeral in the Rain
7. The Lonely Ones
8. Unhappiness
9. Tears
10. Gone Ridin'
11. Pretty Girls Don't Cry
12. Western Stars
  Forever Blue
1. Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing
2. Somebody's Crying
3. Graduation Day
4. Go Walking Down There
5. Don't Leave Me on My Own
6. Things Go Wrong
7. Forever Blue
8. There She Goes
9. Goin' Nowhere
10. Changed Your Mind
11. Shadows in a Mirror
12. I Believe
13. The End of Everything

I believe in lovers walking side by side

I believe that someday we'll be satisfied

I believe the angels listen, God hears us pray

And I believe in a beautiful day

Yeah, I believe it's gonna work out OK

But not for me

And not for you

The Nest - Music for Drivers (2012)

Sprawling, improvisation-heavy compositions for saxophone, bass, synthesizer, and sampler. Features Christoph Clöser of Bohren and Der Club of Gore. Sparse, dissonant soundscapes littered with ghostly sax lines, glitchy electronics, and fragmented synthesizers.

Track listing:
1. First Date
2. Second Try
3. Third Gear
4. For You

Midnight walker

Svart Crown - Witnessing the Fall (2010)

Dunno how I slept on this band for so long. Killer black/death metal with that classy French touch. I know you're all (all ten of you) hating that this isn't an ECM record from 1974, but I just gotta do me, you know?

Track listing:
1. Where the Light Ends
2. Colosseum
3. Dogs of God
4. Nahash the Temptator
5. Here Comes Your Salvation
6. Into a Demential Sea
7. An Eternal Descent
8. Strength Higher Than Justice
9. Incestuous Breath
10. Of Sulphur and Fire

My soul corrupted
Unspeakable triumph

Brendan Perry - Eye of the Hunter (1999)

Excellent debut solo album of dark, atmospheric Americana from Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance. Eye of the Hunter centers on delicately picked guitars and Perry's deep, god-like voice, with a host of faux-symphonic and acoustic instrumental embellishments. Includes a cover of Tim Buckley's "I Must Have Been Blind."

Track listing:
1. Saturday's Child
2. Voyage of Bran
3. Medusa
4. Sloth
5. I Must Have Been Blind
6. The Captive Heart
7. Death Will Be My Bride
8. Archangel

We are the children of the sun

Tropics - Parodia Flare (2011)

Easily one of my favorite albums to emerge from the golden age of blissful, hazy electropop. Swirling layers of warm keyboards, loops, chiming guitars, and sleepy, stoned vocals. Sounds like a couple of painkillers and a plush comforter.

Track listing:
1. Navajo
2. Mouves
3. Parodia Flare
4. Going Back
5. Wear Out
6. Celebrate
7. Figures
8. Telassar
9. Playgrounds
10. After Visiting
11. Sapphire
12. On the Move

We always used to

Colin Blunstone - One Year (1971), Ennismore (1972), Journey (1974), + Planes (1976)

First four solo albums from this silken-voiced ex-Zombies frontman. For the uninitiated, it's probably best to listen to them in the order in which they were released. The first two are absolutely essential albums of untouchable, baroque-tinged pop rock. Journey is a bit more AM rock, and marks an ever so slight step down in the songwriting department. Still great stuff, though. But by the time he got around to releasing Planes, he was clearly running out of ideas, and while some brilliance shines through, there's a whole lot of shlock.

For track listings, just go to Discogs. I'm not trying to type up forty plus song names.

One Year
Ennismore
Journey
Planes

Oregon - Music of Another Present Era (1972)

Phenomenal debut album from this innovative group, whose members included, at the time, guitarist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore, oboist Paul McCandless, and multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott. Their distinct blending of Indian and 'Western' classical folk styles with jazz fusion and psychedelia has never sounded better than it does here.

Track listing:
1. North Star
2. The Rough Places Plain
3. Sail
4. At the Hawk's Well
5. Children of God
6. Opening
7. Naiads
8. Shard / Spring Is Really Coming
9. Bell Spirit
10. Baku the Dream Eater
11. The Silence of a Candle
12. Land of Heart's Desire
13. The Swan
14. Touchstone

Eyes

Brian Parnham - Mantle (2007)

Ambient drones from New Hampshire based composer Brian Parnham. Features contributions from Opium Hum favorite Steve Roach. Allow yourself to float.

Track listing:
1. Skim the Surface
2. Meandering
3. Rising Temperatures
4. Strata Peel
5. Liquid Aggregate
6. Scorpion Den
7. Minotaur's Lair
8. Molten
9. Altar of the Underworld
10. Relentless Flow
11. Bends
12. Up for Air

The big comedown

Lustre - Night Spirit (2009)

Mesmerizing atmospheric black metal solo project from Sweden. Two elongated tracks that carry the aesthetics of Filosofem into a hazy, narcotized emotional void.

Track listing:
Two tracks - Parts 1 and 2

As a thousand trees danced, into an endless flow I was drawn
But still I stayed far out of sight

El Guincho - Alegranza (2008) + Pop Negro (2010)

Two undeniable albums of sample-heavy Spanish dance mantras.

Track listing:
-Alegranza-
1. Palmitos Park
2. Antillas
3. Fata Morgana
4. Kalise
5. Cuando Maravilla Fui
6. Buenos Matrimonios Ahi Afuera
7. Costa Paraiso
8. Prez Lagarto
9. Polca Mazurca
-Pop Negro-
1. Bombay
2. Novias
3. Ghetto Facil
4. Soca Del Eclipse
5. Lycra Mistral
6. FM Tan Sexy
7. Muerte Midi
8. (Chica-Oh) Drims
9. Danza Invinto

Pleasure

McCarthy - I Am a Wallet (1987) + Banking, Violence, and the Inner Life Today (1990)

McCarthy made bouncy, highly enjoyable, Smiths/R.E.M.-style jangle pop with anti-capitalist, pro-communist, often highly satirical lyrics. Very strange. A pre-Stereolab Lætitia Sadier (bandleader Malcolm Eden's girlfriend at the time) provided backing vocals on their last album, Banking, Violence, and the Inner Life Today, which found them moving musically into darker, more experimental territory.

Track listing:
-I Am a Wallet-
1. An MP Speaks
2. Monetaries
3. The International Narcotics Traffic
4. The Way of the World
5. Antinature
6. Charles Windsor
7. The Vision of Peregrine Worsthorne
8. The Well of Loneliness
9. The Wicked Palace Revolution
10. God Made the Virus
11. The Funeral
12. A Child Soon in Chains
13. In the Dark Times
14. The Procession of Popular Capitalism
-Banking, Violence, and the Inner Life Today
1. I'm on the Side of Mankind as Much as the Next Man
2. And Tomorrow the Stock Exchange Will Be the Human Race
3. Now Is the Time for an Iron Hand
4. The Drinking Song of the Merchant Bankers
5. Write to Your MP Today
6. Use a Bank I'd Rather Die
7. I Worked Myself Up for Nothing
8. The Well-Fed Point of View
9. Get a Knife Between Your Teeth
10. Take the Shortest Way with the Men of Violence
11. You'll Have to Put an End to Them

Revenge is so sweet to those who have never known anything sweet

Kauan - Lumikuuro (2007) + Tietäjän Laulu (2008)

Excellent first two albums from this Russian duo. Their debut, Lumikuuro, introduces their lush, folk-tinged, keyboard-centric take on doom metal, while their second album, Tietäjän Laulu, deemphasizes guitar distortion and harsh vocals, in favor of acoustic picking, clean vocals, and lush string sections to generate a more delicate, mournful sound. If Tenhi were to admit that they were a doom metal band, this is what they would sound like.

Track listing:
-Lumikuuro-
1. Alku
2. Aamu Ja Kaste
3. Lumikuuro
4. Savu
5. Koivun Ela
6. Syleily Sumu
7. Villiruusu
8. Syleily Sumu (Acoustic)
-Tietäjän Laulu-
1. Vmesto Slez
2. Kyynelten Sijaan
3. Pesnja Materi
4. Äidin Laulu
5. Prozrachni Cvetok
6. Orkidea

1
2

Last Days of Humanity - Putrefaction in Progress (2006)

One of the greatest goregrind records I've ever heard. A relentless wall of snares, incomprehensible guitars, and pitchshifted gutturals. It's so artless, it's somehow artful. Also, enjoy this video of Bert and Ernie performing Last Days of Humanity's hit single, "A Divine Proclamation of Finishing the Present Existence."

Track listing:
If you think I'm typing out forty-one songs titles like "Precisely Eviscerated And Conserved In A Formaldehyde-Methanol Solution," you are mistaken. Go to discogs.

The beauty of perfection in sensible cruelty

McCoy Tyner - Horizon (1980) + 13th House (1981)

Two of my favorite albums by one of my favorite jazz musicians, pianist McCoy Tyner. Horizon is arguably his finest hour, and 13th House isn't far behind.

Track listing:
-Horizon-
1. Horizon
2. Woman of Tomorrow
3. Motherland
4. One for Honor
5. Just Feelin'
-13th House-
1. Short Suite
2. 13th House
3. Search for Peace
4. Love Samba
5. Leo Rising

Meet the loving

Bibio - Fi (2004)

Debut album from UK artist Stephen James Wilkinson. Tranquil, warped psych folk guitar lines immersed in a sea of grainy ambient textures.

Track listing:
1. Cherry Blossom Road
2. Bewley in White
3. Puffer
4. Cluster at CWM Einion
5. London Planes
6. It Was Willow
7. I'm Rewinding It...
8. Looking through the Facets of a Plastic Jewel
9. Wet Flakey Bark
10. Bewley in Grey
11. Teleidophonic Torch
12. Puddled in the Morning
13. At the Chase
14. Cantaloup Carousel
15. Lakeside
16. Bewley in Red
17. Poplar Avenue

Up there

Girls Against Boys - Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby (1993)

First-rate post-hardcore. Got into this band via the soundtrack to SFW, which also hipped me to Suicidal Tendencies, Babes in Toyland, Monster Magnet, and Cop Shoot Cop. That's a lot of work for the soundtrack to such a shitty movie.

Track listing:
1. In Like Flynn
2. Go Be Delighted
3. Rockets Are Red
4. Satin Down
5. Let Me Come Back
6. Learned It
7. Get Down
8. Bullet Proof Cupid
9. Seven Seas
10. Billy's One Stop
11. Bug House

Swimming pool