Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Tucker Zimmerman - Tucker Zimmerman (1972)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Another one from the old (and I do mean old) request pile. Second album, right on par with the first. Warm, homespun, stoned outsider folk.

Track listing:
1. Another Normal Day
2. Freeway
3. A Friend Like You
4. Left Hand of Moses
5. No Love Lost
6. She's an Easy Rider
7. Amusement Park
8. Back on the Road Again
9. Canary Island Rain
10. Keep That Fire Burning


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Sunday, February 26, 2023

Miroslav Vitous - Purple (1970)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Low-key, simmering fusion helmed by bassist Miroslav Vitous. I had a truly massive buildup of spam comments that I never deleted, and lo and behold, on the other side of that pile were a grip of comments from almost 4 years ago. One of them was a request for a post on this album from July 7, 2019. Better late than never?

Track listing:
1. Purple
2. Mood
3. Water Lilie
4. Dolores
5. It Came from Knowhere


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Friday, February 24, 2023

Tears ov Blood - Infinite Winter (1994)


Lo-fi ethereal darkwave/dungeon synth from Matthew Davis, who I believe is best known/remembered for his work as Secret Stairways. I am still new to Davis' music, but to my ears, these are some of the most haunting, compelling recordings of their kind.

Track listing:
1. Into Glamis Castle
2. Serenade
3. Our Winter Infinite
4. So Far Away
5. Falling
6. Something Scary
7. Reprise


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Sunday, February 19, 2023

Medusa - En Raga Sül (2008)


Raw sludge/noise metal from Bloomington, IL. A potent mix of punishing locked grooves and dissonant yet weirdly catchy riffs that I'm guessing won over every crowd this band ever played for. Somewhere between early Melvins and early Today Is the Day. Members of Racebannon.

Track listing:
1. Rain un Thunder
2. Mediatrix
3. En Raga Sül
4. Back to Dust
5. Transform
6. Destructor
7. Bruier
8. Throne of God
9. Inflict the Venom
10. Snakebite
11. Soldiers of Death
12. Body Count
13. Alucarda
14. Fresh Fly
15. Wicked Father


Also listen to:

Friday, February 17, 2023

Titonton Duvanté - Voyeurism (1999)


A bit of funky, acid-warped bedroom techno from producer/DJ Titonton Duvanté. Great mix of punchy, 808-driven, low-key bangers and downtempo cool-downs. In making this post, I discovered that he's doing a set tomorrow in Portland, but if you think I'm going to a DJ set that starts at 10 (at night?!), at which I am meant to dance, you're out your gotdamn mind. You kids have fun.

[This is the 2002 CD reissue with additional tracks and reworked sequencing.]

Track listing:
1. Foreplay
2. Taste Test
3. Bedpost
4. Favorite Position
5. Innuendo
6. Double Entendre
7. Remember
8. When We Used To.....
9. Boudoir
10. Novice with No Vices
11. Rugburn
12. Afterglow


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Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Industries of the Blind - Chapter 1: Had We Known Better (2011)


Melancholic, heartstrings-tugging post-rock to play loud while ruminating on regrets, dead friends, and the overwhelming sadness of our world. Crystalline guitars, shivering strings, slow builds, cathartic peaks, and dejected valleys. Everyone's too cool for this stuff 'til depression comes back around.

Track listing:
1. I Just Wanted to Make You Something Beautiful
2. Waiting and Waltzing in Airport Terminals
3. The Lights Weren't That Bright, but Our Eyes Were So Tired


More along these lines:

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Dante Augustus Scarlatti - Demises of the Dynamic Microphone (in Monodelity) (2009)


A few months back, I found a crate in my garage full of old CDs of friends' projects and random shit that I accumulated while on tour back in the day. There's a lot of mid-tier punk and metal, but there are a few gems in there, like this one, which I got in Bloomington, IN, where, in 2009, there was a surprisingly rich scene for experimental, often black metal-adjacent sounds. Demises of the Dynamic Microphone (in Monodelity) presents a series of grainy, analogue synth and/or guitar abstractions against a backdrop of tape hiss and muffled field recordings. While there, I also picked up this tape, as well as this LP by the band OS, who we played with and whose house we stayed at -- neither of which I have the capability to rip, unfortunately.

Track listing:
1. Prologue
2. Re:verses of Decay in 1939's Kodascope Mass for Arachnid
3. Transcriptions of Subterranean Meteorological Phenomena in the Galaxie Deluxe
4. Vinyl Etchings Containing Hymns of the Sacred Greek Orthodox Funeral
5. Electro-Syncing Static Keys in the City of Dead Sound
6. Recitations of the Reel Rhythm in a Stern Seasonal Stereophonic Headphone Set
7.  Epilogue


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Friday, February 10, 2023

Black Priest of Satan - Element of Destruction (2016)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Just got a re-up request on the above post, felt like a good time to revisit this piece of mid-paced, doom-laden German black metal. Gnarly guitar tone, ritualistic atmosphere, riffs, and a touch of slop to let you know that practice comes second, Satanic Chaos comes first.

Track listing:
1. The Element of Destruction
2. Prophet of Fire
3. Blazing Fires in the Night
4. Unheard Prayer
5. Ritual of Three Candles
6. Guided by Two Moons


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Saturday, February 4, 2023

Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave (2009)


The crowning achievement of a decade spent getting back to what Napalm Death does best: punishing, riff-y death-grind. My introduction to the Napalm Death fold was via the soundtrack to the first Mortal Kombat movie, and that song still fucking crushes, so even after discovering the classic material, I've always been a steadfast 90s Napalm Death apologist. One of the few, the proud 80s metal bands who made it through the 90s with their dignity fully intact, they spent the decade pushing towards both more accessible and more experimental sounds that nonetheless maintained a solid through-line to their earlier material, and avoided sudden leaps into goth-rock*, nu metal, alt-metal, or whatever the fuck this was. And, questionable album art aside, they kinda just stayed cool.

That being said, all their 90s albums sag a bit. As strong as the songwriting was, and as interesting as it could be to hear them playing these unorthodox, angular guitar lines, the weaker stretches ended up feeling like a whole lot of ducking and weaving without a solid knockout punch. So Napalm Death's turn-of-the-millennium return to 'straightforward' death-grind was welcomed by all, myself included. The sixth album to spring from this resurgence, Time Waits for No Slave capped off a decade spent making some of the strongest, tightest, most effective mosh-bait ever produced, and it's my favorite of the lot. Anyone who doesn't fuck with this band is a stupid dumbass.

*Not gonna front, I like this one.

Track listing:
1. Strong-Arm
2. Diktat
3. Work to Rule
4. On the Brink of Extinction
5. Time Waits for No Slave
6. Life and Limb
7. Downbeat Clique
8. Fallacy Dominion
9. Passive Tense
10. Larceny of the Heart
11. Procrastination on the Empty Vessel
12. Feeling Redundant
13. A No-Sided Argument
14. De-Evolution Ad Nauseam


More beefy grind: