Caustic Resin - Fly Me to the Moon (1995)

Indie rock gone drone. Caustic Resin takes the stoned, bemused mindset of 90s alt/indie and pumps it full of the heavier, darker-tinted sounds of drone, garage, psych, and noise rock. I've been on a major 90s kick for the past few months, but due to my extremely sporadic posting, this is the first y'all are hearing about it. More to come?

Track listing:

1. Spore

2. Kill You If You Want Me To

3. Water Moccasin

4. Alien Fugue

5. Cancerous Eye

6. Healing Cough

7. The End of Betrayal

8. Damaged Animal

9. Summertime of Your Life

10. I Feel

11. A Fistful of Violence

12. Golden Hours

13. Calling Off the Dogs

14. White Box

15. Alien Fugue (Slight Return)

16. Station Wagon

Oh me oh my, I think it's been an eternity

You'd be surprised at my degree of uncertainty

How can moments go so slow

You should also listen to:

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon (1998)

Gorch Fock - Lying and Manipulating (2005)

Honey Is Cool - Early Morning Are You Working? (1999)

The second and final full-length from Honey Is Cool, a Gothenburg indie rock band that ultimately served as a springboard for the career of Karin Dreijer, aka Fever Ray. Dreijer's powerful, distinctive vocals are very much the focal point here, but here it's in service of dark-tinted, dynamic, muscular indie rock. I forget how I first found this band but I know it was via some ass-backwards-internet-music-nerd means, as I had no idea Dreijer was in the band when I first put them on, and it slowly dawned on me as her voice soared over the opening whirlwind of the title track.

Track listing:

1. Early Morning Are You Working?

2. Bolero

3. Great and Smaller Things

4. There's No Difference

5. Summer of Men

6. I Surprise

7. Waiting for a Friend

8. My Love Is a Bell

9. Lead but Low

10. Something Above the Mountains

11. The Giraffe

I'm head over heels but I'm not around

You should also hear:

Come - Eleven:Eleven (1992)

dEUS - The Ideal Crash (1999)

Cable - Down-Lift the Up-Trodden (1996)

First album by these British indie rockers. Chaotic, grunge-y post-hardcore with a sense of playfulness and melody that keeps things fun even as they descend into full-on noise rock on a song called "Murdering Spree". Had a real hard time picking which of this band's albums to post, as they only have three and they're all great, so why not start from the beginning?

Track listing:

1. New Set of Bruises

2. Choice

3. Blindman

4. Hydra

5. Seventy

6. Murdering Spree

7. Sale of the Century

8. Oubliette

9. Give 'Em What They Want [bonus]

10. Dead Wood for Green [bonus]

We're here to watch you fall

If you like this, listen to:

Shudder to Think - Get Your Goat (1992)

Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight (2000)

The Swimming Pool Q's - The Swimming Pool Q's (1984)

Sweet, bright jangle pop/alternative from a great band that never quite broke through. My dad loves this band, and earlier today he sent me links to a pair of songs from this record, without caption or comment. He underwent pretty major surgery last month and is still recovering, both physically and emotionally. Neither of us have ever been good at staying in touch with people we care about, but a mutual love for music keeps us in regular contact. Tomorrow I'm gonna send him this Ben Watt video -- he kinda hates Pink Floyd so David Gilmour's presence might initially be off-putting, but the song is very much up his alley. Really wish I could just give him a hug, but listening to the same songs will have to do for now.

Track listing:

1. The Bells Ring

2. Pull Back My Spring

3. Purple Rivers

4. The Knave

5. Some New Highway

6. Just Property

7. Silver Slippers

8. She's Bringing Down the Poison

9. Celestion

10. Sacrificial Altar

A basket full of flowers flowing over the rim

Incandescence in a high school gym

And every single street corner

Will remind me of him

Other stuff my dad got me into:

Jane Siberry - The Walking (1987)

Steve Tibbetts - The Fall of Us All (1994)

dEUS - The Ideal Crash (1999)

Dark, claustrophobic Belgian indie rock. Pre-millennium tension of the highest order. Practically every song is a slow-burner in one way or another, built on knotty, interwoven guitars and layered densely with synths, pianos, and cinematic strings that amplify the haunting, druggy, noir lyrical themes. The first time I heard this record was about two weeks into Covid: I had put it on to go for a walk around the neighborhood just to get out of the house -- masked up the entire time, as was the custom -- and ended up completely drawn-in, taking all these weird side streets to prolong the walk and finish the record. "Instant Street" in particular is god-tier.

Track listing:

1. Put the Freaks Up Front

2. Sister Dew

3. One Advice, Space

4. The Magic Hour

5. The Ideal Crash

6. Instant Street

7. Magdalena

8. Everybody's Weird

9. Let's See Who Goes Down First

10. Dream Sequence No. 1

This time I go for Instant Street

This life's a soulless excuse for all abuse and parentheses

The flyspecked windows and the stinking lobbies, they'll remain

All the same, all the same

You should also hear:

Strangelove - Love and Other Demons (1996)

Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense (2001)

Come - Eleven:Eleven (1992)

Related:

Uzi - Sleep Asylum (1986)

Alright, so this one doesn't really fit my Halloween theme. It's dark for sure, but it's the oppressive, existential dread kinda darkness, not the "look out there's a wolfman behind you" or the "let's conjure Satan" kinda darkness. But fuck it, I'm sick of this record not getting the respect it deserves. It's absolutely one of my favorite records of the alt rock era -- explosive, simultaneously sludgy and sharp guitar work that's heavy on slide guitar and whammy bar; a dynamic, dialed-in rhythm section; and the raw, strung-out-sounding vocals of Thalia Zedek at the peak of her powers. An actual masterpiece. Yet you can (as I did) still find sealed copies of the 2013 Matador reissue for under $20. What's up with that?

Track listing:

1. Submerge

2. Dead Molly

3. Brand New Vein

4. Off to One Side

5. Bell

6. William

7. Sad Eyes

8. Power Failure

9. Orbit

10. Fast Piss Blues

11. I Got the Blues

Well I taste the sweetness of life

And I lick off the knife

Then all the blood in my brain

Will pump out a brand new vein

Also listen to:

Helium - Pirate Prude (1994)

lowercase - The Going Away Present (1999)

The Paradise Motel - Left Over Life to Kill (1996)

Dark, dreamy Australian indie rock. Pretty, pristine vocals over glacial noir-Americana, complete with strummed acoustics, and bending, tremolo-saturated leads. Man, I'm loving my old time indie rock and roll over here. There's both an EP and a compilation version of Left Over Life to Kill, both of which have excellent songs that aren't included on the other; bafflingly, the comp only has two songs from the EP. I hemmed and hawed for days over which one to post before ultimately landing on the EP as it's the original, but will probably post a link for the comp version in the comments because they're both essential, and someone is definitely going to request it anyway.

Track listing:

1. German Girl

2. Ashes

3. Letter to a Stranger

4. North of God

5. Jack Star

6. Thumbelina

7. Serpent Intro

It always rained in her life

If you like this, you'd also like:

Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night (1989) + The Voice of Love (1993)

The Clientele - The Violet Hour (2003)

Tripping Daisy - I Am an Elastic Firecracker (1995)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Tripping Daisy - Tripping Daisy (2000)

Tripping Daisy and I Am an Elastic Firecracker are irrevocably wrapped up in three major milestones in my life, thus I will always see them through a refracted lens of youthful exploration and awe, and have no ability to gauge the band or album's quality. So this post is going to be much more autobiographical than music-related. 

I met my first "girlfriend" Becca at summer camp over a conversation about "I Got a Girl", Tripping Daisy's one quasi-hit and adult-me's least favorite song on the album. Later that day, things escalated over a game of spin-the-bottle, then that night, I snuck out of my tent and asked her to be my girlfriend while we laid on our backs looking at the stars. She said yes, and we smooched. One of the most magical nights of my life. When camp was over, it turned out that she lived an hour away, so over the course of the next few months, we went on a total of three dates -- one to see Batman Forever, one to see Waterworld, and one to see an Al Gore speech (L O fucking L) -- before she dumped me and I cried for a week.

Somewhere in there, I went to my first show, and you guessed it: Tripping Daisy, motherfucker. Hagfish opened, so technically they were the first band I ever saw live, and it was literally the loudest thing I had ever heard. I was completely overwhelmed, and bought their CD, which I still think is pretty great. But Tripping Daisy blew my fucking mind -- I just remember headbanging the entire time because I thought that's what you did at a show, and getting the sense that the people next to me were making fun of me. Fuck 'em, I kept headbanging. Then Reverend Horton Heat played and we left a couple songs in because even then I could tell that psychobilly was corny af. My ears were still ringing the next day, but I was in the cool club now. (Just googled the show, and unbelievably, there IS evidence of it on the internet courtesy of the Washington Post. 9/23/95 at Lisner Auditorium. I'm reminded that Supersuckers also played, although I have no memory of their set.)

The following spring, my grandmother died. My grandfather on my mom's side had died when I was 5, but this was the first time I'd really had to reckon with death on a meaningful, existential level. One night before bed, I asked my mom what happened when we die, and she told me that no one really knows for sure, but it's probably just like going to sleep and never waking up. Her answer and her obvious unsureness were both very tough pills to swallow. With my limited musical palette, "Motivation" was probably the saddest song I knew, so I just listened to that on repeat for weeks, including on the way to the ashes-scattering ceremony.

So that's a snapshot of the life of a 12-13-year-old DEAR SPIRIT. Listen to the album, too. Sugary alt-rock with splashes of starry psych, possibly of interest to Smashing Pumpkins fans. I threw in their cover of Harry Nilsson's "Jump into the Fire" from The Craft for bonus nostalgia. Also, I'd love to hear your stories of firsts and their musical associations, if you'd care to share them.

Track listing:

1. Rocketpop

2. Bang

3. I Got a Girl

4. Piranha

5. Motivation

6. Same Dress New Day

7. Trip Along

8. Raindrop

9. Step Behind

10. Noose

11. Prick

12. High

You can be what you want

It's a matter of time

Prepare to be amazed

More coming-of-age tunes:

Imperial Teen - Seasick (1996)

Psychotica - Psychotica (1996)

Strangelove - Love and Other Demons (1996)

A relatively unsung gem from the Britpop era. Love and Other Demons kicks off with the gnarled, discordant guitar squall of "Living with the Human Machines", before settling on a noire, string-laden sound to accompany the album's themes of addiction and alienation. If that description reminds you of Suede, it should: Strangelove opened for Suede on their Dog Man Star tour, and Brett Anderson sings backing vocals on a couple of tracks here. They also opened for Manic Street Preachers just before Richey Edwards' disappearance, and for Radiohead on one of their first major tours. So clearly, they were in rarified Britrock company, and they had the tunes to back up the hype, but vocalist Patrick Duff chose wellness over rock stardom -- he'd been struggling with serious addiction and mental health issues -- and ended the band shortly after their next album came out.

Track listing:

1. Living with the Human Machines

2. Beautiful Alone

3. Sway

4. 20th Century Cold

5. She's Everywhere

6. #1432

7. Casualties

8. Spiders and Flies

9. Elin's Photograph

10. The Sea of Black

A futureless peep show

You should also hear:

The Auteurs - Now I'm a Cowboy (1994)

The Tears - Here Come the Tears (2005)

Doc Corbin Dart - Patricia (1990)

Related:

The Crucifucks - L.D. Eye (1996)

Doc Corbin Dart's only official solo album. Released the year after The Crucifucks split, Patricia marked a sharp departure from that band's abrasive punk into the jangly world of Replacements-esque indie/alt rock -- although his vocals continue to positively drip with animosity and sarcasm. It's also way more personal than any of the Crucifucks stuff, dealing primarily with Doc's neuroses and mental health struggles.

Track listing:

1. Out My Window

2. Falling

3. The Cathedral

4. Don't Look In

5. Little Town, Little People

6. Fear of Abandonment

7. Casket with Flowers

8. Patricia

9. Here for You Now

Something gnawing constantly

My nerves are frayed

So happy to see you but I start to shake

You should also hear:

Paul Roland - Burnt Orchids (1985)

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Jon Brion - Meaningless (2000)

First solo album by composer/musician/producer Jon Brion, who's composed scores for a whole bunch of movies, including Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my introduction to Brion), and Punch-Drunk Love. Tuneful, sweet-sounding, yet deeply bitter songs that will land like a long lost friend to any fan of Elliott Smith in Beatles mode. He's obviously stayed plenty busy over the years, but I really wish he'd put out another record like this one.

Track listing:

1. Gotta Start Somewhere

2. I Believe She's Lying

3. Meaningless

4. Ruin My Day

5. Walking Through Walls

6. Trouble

7. Hook, Line, and Sinker

8. Dead to the World

9. Her Ghost

10. Same Mistakes

11. Voices

Love, it was nothing

It hardly hurt a bit

More like this:

Michael Penn - Resigned (1997)

Matthew Sweet - Kimi Ga Suki (Raifu) (2003)

Psychotica - Psychotica (1996)

[Editor's note: I think a demon possessed my body and mind while I was writing this. Or I blacked out. Why, of all the albums in the world, over 3,000 of which I have posted here, is this the album to which I would devote a legitimate write-up? Upon completing this post a little over a month ago, I immediately decided to shelve it out of sheer embarrassment. But shit, it's Halloween season, and I don't have anything else to post today. Enjoy.]

Psychotica were an NYC band whose brush with success can largely be attributed to scoring a spot in Lollapalooza '96, at which vocalist Pat Briggs presented himself as a glammed-up Marilyn Manson in silver spandex and poached a bunch of their mall-dwelling fans, myself included. (It's worth noting that Marilyn Manson had yet to go glam at this point, and I've always wondered if Psychotica had something to do with that eventuality. It's also worth noting that Marilyn Manson is a piece of shit.)

Musically, it's a fusion of alt, glam, goth, and hard rock that's bolstered by some pretty fucking weird choices. In addition to including a cellist, there's a second vocalist named Reeka who, despite being Swedish, delivers her demonic, hyper-rhythmic verses in a vaguely Jamaican accent. Meanwhile, Briggs spends most of the record delivering an actually pretty powerful, Bowie-aping performance; and a series of brief interludes gesture towards chamber music and 90s electronica.

It's weird, messy, and memorable, but make no mistake: it is not "good." My enjoyment of this record probably represents a lapse in taste on my part, and my posting of it doesn't mean that I think you're gonna like it. There are some very unfortunate moments. Like when he starts off "Stop" by snarling "Sex and drugs and rock and roll are not enough to feed my soul" over a bargain-bin rawk riff -- in fact, "Stop" flat-out sucks an entire ass -- or when Reeka appears to rap on "What Is God". The lyrics aren't great. "The Future" is a baffling vignette built around a generic techno beat and the sound of an old-school dial-up modem. And generally, they seem overly eager to say "fuck" a lot, like a bunch of edgy 13-year-olds.

But none of this has stopped me from coming back again and again over the years. The DEVO cover? Love it. A dejected power ballad based on The Little Prince? Love it more. That deranged reggae breakdown in "Starfucker Love"? Fucking love it even more. And "Ice Planet Hell" fully slaps. It's hard to imagine anyone discovering and enjoying this record in the year of our lord 2021, but I've been listening to a bunch of early adolescent favorites, I have spare time, and I have a music blog, so this is what you get. What's next, Hagfish? Trip 66? I listened to a lot of questionable shit back in the day! 

Postscript: In working on this post, I discovered this ancient, Tripod.com Psychotica fan page, last updated in August 1998, preserved on the web like a mosquito full of dino-DNA in amber. Too bad the guestbook isn't viewable, I bet there was some real gold in there.

Track listing:

1. Ice Planet Hell

2. The Worship

3. Starfucker Love

4. Little Prince

5. Stop

6. The Call

7. Freedom of Choice

8. 180°

9. The Sleep

10. Flesh & Bone

11. Blue Fear

12. What Is God

13. La Chocha

14. Barcelona

15. The Future

16. Cybernation

17. New Man

18. The Awakening

Jesus kissed me on my thigh

And Jesus loves me all the time

More 9th-grade favorites:

GWAR - America Must Be Destroyed (1991)

Machines of Loving Grace - Gilt (1995)

Uzi - Sleep Asylum (1986)

This mini-LP is the only release by Uzi, a short-lived band featuring a young Thalia Zedek (Live Skull, Come, others). A great mix of no-wave, art punk, and the drone-y alt rock dirges that Zedek would perfect with Come, with disorienting tape loops courtesy of Phil Milstein. All things considered, it's surprisingly accessible.

Track listing:

1. Criminal Child

2. Pale Light

3. Gabrielle

4. Ha-Ha-Ha

5. Collections

6. Underneath

Would you let me inside your house?

Would you like to push me inside out?

If you like this, listen to:

Alien Sex Fiend - "It" The Album (1986)

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon (1998)

Machines of Loving Grace - Gilt (1995)

Dark, grimy, very 90s alt rock with juuuust enough gestures towards the band's electro-industrial past -- a sample here, a drum machine here, a serrated guitar tone there -- to associate them with bands like NIN and their legions of followers. This record was, I'm guessing, an attempt to capitalize on their having landed a song on the extremely popular soundtrack to The Crow, but they just didn't have much mainstream appeal, and called it quits midway through recording the follow-up. I honestly can't even tell if Gilt is any good or it's just nostalgia that keeps me coming back year after year.

Also, I don't know what is wrong with me, but I've been on a dubious old favorites kick, and before this, I wrote a fucking diatribe (I'm serious, it's without a doubt the longest post I've ever written for this blog) on the first Psychotica record, an album and also-ran band that literally no one has cared about in over two decades. That post probably ain't gonna see the light of the day -- we have top men working on it right now. [Edit: I posted it, and I wasn't lying about how fucking long it was.] I even briefly considered doing a post on Extra Fancy, who are one of those alt rock bands who kinda sound like noise rock by default simply because they're utterly incapable of writing an effective melody. Somebody send help.

Track listing:

1. Richest Junkie Still Alive

2. Kiss Destroyer

3. Suicide King

4. Animal Mass

5. The Soft Collision

6. Solar Temple

7. Tryst

8. Casual Users

9. Twofold Godhead

10. Last

11. Serpico

"Something's gone wrong," I thought I heard the old man say

As the insides spilled out into the cold mountain air

You might also like:

Cop Shoot Cop - White Noise (1991)

Skrew - Shadow of Doubt (1996)

Purple Ivy Shadows - No More the Trees Than the Stars (1997)

Laid-back, country-and-psych-tinged indie rock from Providence, RI (thanks for the correction.) No Less the Trees Than the Stars has soundtracked a few late-night friend-bubble porch-hangs here at Opium Hum HQ, and it always hits just right.

Track listing:

1. Pawtucket

2. Feeble

3. Rebuilding the Ancestral Statue

4. Until I Saw the Fish

5. Blue Mtn.

6. Roadwise Blood

7. Sustance

8. She Wouldn't Have It

9. Stairs

10. Dancefloor's Shiny Under Junky

11. No Health

12. A Space Is Needed

God is an American

You might also enjoy:

Meat Puppets - Forbidden Places (1991)

Mojave 3 - Ask Me Tomorrow (1995)

Jack Frost - Jack Frost (1991)

Related:
Steve Kilbey - The Slow Crack (1987)
Steve Kilbey - Unearthed (1987)
The Church - Priest=Aura (1992)
Steve Kilbey & Russell P. Kilbey - Gilt Trip (1997)
The Church - Hologram of Baal (1998)
The Church - Untitled #23 (2009)

First of two albums from this fruitful collaboration between Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Grant McLennan (The Go-Betweens, who I still haven't really given a good listen). Jangly guitars, drum machines, gauzy synths, and heavy-lidded vocals. Way better than an obscure side project of this nature has any business being.

Track listing:

1. Every Hour God Sends

2. Birdowner (As Seen on T.V.)

3. Civil War Lament

4. Geneva 4 a.m.

5. Trapeze Boy

6. Providence

7. Thought That I Was Over You

8. Theshold

9. Number Eleven

10. Didn't Know Where I Was

11. Even as We Speak

12. Ramble

13. Everything Takes Forever

Every night she brings me here

And I fly around the room

Also listen to:

Martin Newell - Songs for a Fallow Land (1985)

Daniell Dax - Inky Bloaters (1987)

The Three O'Clock - Sixteen Tambourines (1983)

An early gem from the Paisley Underground, i.e. an L.A. band making 60s psych pop by way of 80s pop rock. Apparently some people get annoyed by vocalist Michael Quercio's high-pitched, reedy voice, but I love it; he pretty much just sounds like Susanna Hoffs.

Track listing:

1. Jet Fighter

2. Stupid Einstein

3. And So We Run

4. Fall to the Ground

5. A Day in Erotica

6. Tomorrow

7. In My Own Time

8. On My Own

9. When Lightning Starts

10. Seeing Is Believing

Feel Ann go through you

If you like this, try:

Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain (1983)

Michael Penn - Resigned (1997)

Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense (2001)

Adventurous, expansive indie rock/post-hardcore/post-rock from Seattle. Juno probably was very important to a number of people, and I can only imagine how hard they would have blown my mind if I'd seen them live, but unfortunately, I only found out about them a few months ago.

Track listing:

1. A Thousand Motors Pressed upon the Heart

2. Covered with Hair

3. When I Was in ________

4. Help Is on the Way

5. The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow

6. The French Letter

7. Up Through the Night

8. Things Gone and Things Still Here (We'll Need the Machine-Guns by Next March)

9. We Slept in Rented Rooms (The Old School Bush)

10. You Are the Beautiful Conductor of This Orchestra

11. Killing It in a Quiet Way

12. [untitled]

13. I'm Sorry You're Having Trouble... Goodbye

Sorry we couldn't help keep you sane

If you like this, check out:

Chavez - Ride the Fader (1996)

U.S. Maple - Purple on Time (2003)

E - A Man Called E (1992)

The music of Mark Oliver Everett -- aka E, best known as the only permanent member of Eels -- has remained more or less unchanged for about three decades now. Sure, he has singer-songwriter mode (his default setting), weirdo pop mode, 'rock' mode (NOT GOOD), and even Shrek mode, but it's all splitting hairs around the same mopey, lovesick smart-ass. The only thing that's really changed about his music has been its quality, which has taken a significant downturn over the past 15 years or so.

His debut album, A Man Called E finds him in full-blown pop-rock singer-songwriter mode, and it's often more effortless, thoughtful, and mature -- not to mention concise -- than anything he'd put out as Eels. Due to having first heard them as a stoned sadsack teenager, I'll always have a very special place in my heart for Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues, but as a content but anxious adult, A Man Called E is my favorite thing dude's ever done.

Track listing:

1. Hello Cruel World

2. Fitting In with the Misfits

3. Are You & Me Gonna Happen

4. Looking Out the Window with a Blue Hat On

5. Nowheresville

6. Symphony for Toy Piano in G Minor

7. Mockingbird Franklin

8. I've Been Kicked Around

9. Pray

10. E's Tune

11. You'll Be the Scarecrow

Bad and beautiful and strange

Monkeys dancing in a cage

Also listen to:

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989)

Sparklehorse - The Black Sessions (2006)

Popsicle - Lacquer (1993)

Swedish power pop of the 90s alt-rock variety. Short, punchy songs enlivened by elements of noise pop and shoegaze. Popsicle would have sounded right at home ripping through a set on the rooftop of Empire Records.

Track listing:

1. Hey Princess

2. Popcorn

3. Undulate

4. How Come We

5. Pale Honey

6. Irreplaceable

7. She

8. Template

9. True

10. A Song Called Liberty

11. Bird

12. Sandy

13. Slow

Tell me if you need me

I need you

If you like this, listen to:

Velvet Crush - In the Presence of Greatness (1991)

Imperial Teen - Seasick (1996)