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)

Yume Bitsu - Yume Bitsu (1999)

Jammy space/post-rock from good ole Portland, OR. Gathering clouds of droning distortion; chiming, almost krautrock-like cleans; keyboards/samples/tape loops (I'm not really sure at times); the occasional murmur-y vocal; and the strange sense of floating in mid-air yet feeling hopelessly weighed down.

Track listing:

1. Team Yume

2. I Wait for You

3. Surface I

4. Truth

5. Surface II

6. The Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg

Like amputees

We wander aimlessly

And nothing sets us free

If you like this, listen to:

Light - Turning (1996)

Landing - Oceanless (2001)

Monoland - Cooning (2001)

A top-tier obscurity of German shoegaze bliss. Starts out sounding like it's gonna be some really great Loveless-worship, then quickly dives into a deep, shimmering pool of ambient dub.

Track listing:

1. De Pale

2. Cooning

3. Motel Fumatore

4. MC Cann

5. Orcin

6. Moon

7. Voodoo

8. Embrace

9. Honolulu

Cupid come

If you like this, you should hear:

Swallow - Blow + Blowback (1992)

Guitar - Sunkissed (2002)

Alpha Stone - Stereophonic Pop Art Music (1996)

First record from Alpha Stone, a grouped formed by Pete "Bassman" Bain, who you know and love as one of the non-Pete Kember/Jason Pierce members of Spacemen 3. A hazy, droning star-world of synth, drum machine, heavy-lidded vocals, and fuzzed-out guitar.

Track listing:

1. Special One

2. Destiny Angel

3. Transfixed

4. Farmer C

5. Astro

6. Fall on Me

7. A Hard Day's Fun

8. Martian Interlude

Some dreams fade

More like this:

Loop - Heaven's End (1987)

Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine) (1992)

Monaural - Monitor Interference (1999)

Detroit experimental psych that takes from dub, drum n bass, and space rock. Has a slightly rough, homemade feel, which tracks considering that it was "recorded exclusively in Monaural's dining room studio."

Track listing:

1. Dot

2. Brek

3. A (To the 10th Power)

4. Reed

5. Working Title

6. Last Exit

7. Light Module

8. Icebox

9. Untitled [unlisted track]

Blur my thoughts again

Also listen to:

Divination - Ambient Dub Vol. II - Dead Slow (1993)

Pocahaunted - Chains (2008)

Light - Turning (1996)

Ambient, shoegaze-informed space rock. Echoing, shimmering clouds of guitars, droning feedback, minimal drums, and distorted vocals. Definitely FFO Flying Saucer Attack.

Track listing:

1. Trailer

2. Tale of White Passage

3. Nature Man

4. Bird

5. Passing

6. Unknown Song

7. Mind Crossing

8. End of the River

Lightdripglow

Similar listening:

Landing - Oceanless (2001)

Clear Horizon - Clear Horizon (2003)

Charalambides - Market Square (1995)

Related:

Christina Carter - Bastard Wing (2003)

Heavily sedated drone/psych/folk. Consists almost entirely of warped, at times out-of-tune guitars and lonely, drifting vocals. Seemingly largely improvised. The sound of nodding off. (Not making any assumptions about the musicians involved, just a description of the sounds they made.)

Track listing:

 -Disc One-

1. Think About

2. Those Who Walk

3. We Live Like Pigs

4. Namaste / Lightning Walk / Hours / And So Danced the River

5. Bankrupt

 -Disc Two-

1. House with Three Sides

2. Silvatica

3. Saratoga Reel

4. Indianola

5. Magnolia at Last

6. Someday You'll Get Yours

It's too late to think about this

Similar listening:

Jessamine - Jessamine (1994)

Badgerlore - Of Things Too Sorrowful to Be Reminded of, and Things Too Beautiful to Possess (2003)

Landing - Oceanless (2001)

Heady vibes from Utah. Weightless, echoing clouds of guitar and synth hover and hum over slow, minimal drumming. Slowcore filtered through the sounds of ambient space rock.

Track listing:

1. How Did You Feel?

2. Harmonies

3. Rival Veed Fiir

4. Are You Gone to Vast Arc Hues?

5. Structure vs. Chaos

6. ...

Blue sky away

I also recommend listening to:

Jessamine - Jessamine (1994)

Jessica Bailiff - Hour of the Trace (1999)

Lumen Drones - Lumen Drones (2014)

Droning, atmospheric sounds from a trio of Norwegian musicians -- guitar, violin, and drums. Slow-burning and often melancholic, with a sound that touches on jazz, post-rock, and psych. Fans of Dirty Three will find a lot to love here.

Track listing:

1. Dark Sea

2. Ira Furore

3. Anemone

4. Echo Plexus

5. Lux

6. Husky

7. Keelwater

8. Svartaskjaer

I remember a time when once you used to love me

You should also hear:

Pelt - Ayahuasca (2001)

Clear Horizon - Clear Horizon (2003)

Bright - Bright (1996)

Blissed-out, kraut-indebted indie/post-rock from a Boston duo. Echoing guitars, understated vocals, insistent drumming, and a few saxophone cameos for good measure. Bright does remind me of some other, great bands -- Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Duster, primarily -- but their sound is their own.

Track listing:
1. Canal
2. The Res
3. Enthusiasm
4. Off
5. Merrimack
6. Point
7. Lake Killala
8. Elting 1901
9. Switch
10. Mugged
11. Redefine
12. All the Wheels Go
13. Pannonica
14. Perennials
15. Boham and Pribram

Forever more or less

You'd also like:

Flying Saucer Attack -
Flying Saucer Attack (1993)

Pram - The Stars Are So Big, the Earth
Is So Small... Stay as You Are (1993)

Fear of Dolls - When the Organ Played at Twilight (1999)

Creepy experimental rock. Surrealist darkwave through a lens of psych, drone, and noise rock. Or, as they put it in their bio: "Avant-garde children’s music for children who prefer rusty toys and moldy candy, bringing you back to a time when you still believed monsters lived under your bed." First track sounds like it could've been the inspiration for Menace Ruine's entire sound.

Track listing:
1. St. Dymphna
2. Bleeding on Her Wings
3. Fragile Toy
4. Show Me My Insides
5. Broken Toy
6. Persephone Is Scratching

Paranoid mess

If you like this, check out:

Beyond Dawn -
Pity Love (1995)

Monumentum -
In Absentia Christi (1995)

Robedoor / Husere Grav - Robedoor / Husere Grav [Split] (2008)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Robedoor - Devourer (2005)
Husere Grav - Haunted Tomb / The Great Empty (2009)

Excellent split cassette by raw dark psych/drone/noise/what-have-you band Robedoor and black drone project Husere Grav. Robedoor lead off with a slowburning monolith of eerie, ritualistic psych, followed by a murky cauldron of narcotizing black slime, courtesy of Husere Grav.

Track listing:
1. Robedoor - Terminal Abomination
2. Husere Grav - Awakening
3. Husere Grav - Heart Problems
4. Husere Grav - Silver Mist
5. Husere Grav - This Is Forever
6. Husere Grav - Falling from the Sky

Fog of God

More like this:

Equimanthorn -
Lectionum Anituquarum (1999)

Emit -
A Sword of Death for the Prince (2005)

Clear Horizon - Clear Horizon (2003)

Related:
Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack (1993)
Flying Saucer Attack - Further (1995)
Jessica Bailiff - Hour of the Trace (1999)
Northern Song Dynasty - Northern Song Dynasty (2002)
Synrinx & Jessica Bailiff - Fear of the Red Admirals (2011)

Entrancing, ambient psych folk/space rock. Clear Horizon was a one-off collaboration between Jessica Bailiff and Dave Pearce of Flying Saucer Attack, and that's exactly what it sounds like.

Track listing:
1. Watching the Sea
2. Death's Dance
3. For Days
4. Sunrise Drift
5. Millenium Blues
6. Distortion Song
7. A Child's Eyes
8. Dusk
9. Open Road

You were so close

For more like this, listen to:

Christina Carter -
Bastard Wind (2003)

Islaja -
Ulual Yyy (2007)

Blues Control - Local Flavor (2009)

Experimental, lo-fi, instrumental psych. Sun-baked guitars, chiming keyboards, a bit of trumpet and sax, and simple, programmed rhythms make for a hypnotic, krautrock-y feel.

Track listing:
1. Good Morning
2. Rest on Water
3. Tangier
4. On Through the Night

Opium den

You should also listen to:

Liliental -
Liliental (1978)

White Rainbow -
Sky Drips Drifts (2007)

Bowery Electric - Beat (1996)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Bowery Electric - Bowery Electric (1995)
Bowery Electric - Lushlife (2000)

A mesmerizing shoegaze/space rock/trip-hop hybrid. At times it's dark and drugged-out, elsewhere it's bright and warm, with the constant pulse of downtempo beats and a droning wall of guitars and synth.

Track listing:
1. Beat
2. Empty Words
3. Without Stopping
4. Under the Sun
5. Fear of Flying
6. Looped
7. Black Light
8. Inside Out
9. Coming Down
10. Postscript
11. Low Density

Home
Everybody wants to go home

You should also hear:

Lilys -
Eccsame the Photon Band (1994)

Guitar -
Sunkissed (2002)

Overhang Party - Overhang Party (1993)

Japanese experimental psych. Seems likely that much of this was improvised, and that they were very stoned at the time.

Track listing:
1. Twins of Sun
2. Bass Oscillation
3. One's Double
4. Air
5. In the Direction of the Night
6. G House Blues

Then the ship was sunk

More along these lines:

Skullflower -
Obsidian Shaking Codex (1993)

Spectrum & Jessamine -
A Pox on You (1996)

The Black Ryder - Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2009)

Blissed-out, shoegaze-tinted psych nirvanas in the grand, shades-wearing tradition of Spacemen 3.

Track listing:
1. To Never Know You
2. Let It Go
3. Grass
4. Outside
5. Gone Without Feeling
6. The Greatest Fall
7. What's Forsaken
8. All That We See
9. Sweet Come Down
10. Burn and Fade
11. Rise

A distraction

Also of interest:

Spectrum -
Soul Kiss (Glide Divine) (1992)

Wildhoney - Wildhoney (2013)
+ Seventeen Forever (2014)

Skullflower - Obsidian Shaking Codex (1993)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Skullflower - Infinityland (1995) + Transformer (1995)

Far-out, feedback-drenched, psych-drone black hole explorations. Obsidian Shaking Codex is the sound of a band destroying rock 'n' roll, then taking acid and jamming in the wreckage. It's also my favorite Skullflower record.

Track listing:
1. Sir Bendalot
2. Circular Temple
3. Crashing Silver Ghost Phallus
4. Diamond Bullet
5. Smoke Jaguar

Shiny birds of doom

If you like this, listen to:

Burning Star Core -
A Brighter Summer Day (2002)

Birchville Cat Motel - Our Love
Will Destroy the World (2006)

Bardo Pond - Amanita (1996)

Related:
Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Heaven-sent space rock from one of the very best modern psych bands. Harshly distorted, thick guitars and rhythm section mantras keep an eye on our home planet while weightless drone-leads and disconnected, shoegaze-like murmurs float overhead like angels, beckoning us to the infinite beyond.

Track listing:
1. Limerick
2. Sentence
3. Tantric Porno
4. Wank
5. The High Frequency
6. Sometimes Words
7. Yellow Turban
8. Rumination
9. Be a Fish
10. Tapir Song
11. RM

A lifetime in the ocean

If you like this, try:

Jessamine -
Jessamine (1994)

Bowery Electric -
Bowery Electric (1995)

Spectrum & Jessamine - A Pox on You (1996)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine) (1992)
Experimental Audio Research - Mesmerised (1994)
Jessamine - Jessamine (1994)

Drugged-out vibes courtesy of Jessamine and Spectrum. One track of dark, driving psych rock -- not at all unlike the kind currently being made by bands like Moon Duo and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard -- followed by half an hour of foreboding, minimal drone.

Track listing:
1. A Pox on You
2. Satellite
3. Radiophonic (Musique Concrete)
4. Opus 3
5. Satellite (Reprise)

Forever alien

You should also check out:

Teenage Filmstars -
Star (1992)

Implodes -
Black Earth (2011)