Kliché - Supertanker (1980)

Synth-heavy Danish punk/new wave excellence. First found via the Pære Punk comp -- truly one of the best punk comps in existence -- where Kliché stood out for their more melodic, pop-y sound. What I really love about this band is what I hear as not-so-subtle krautrock influences, which are most pronounced on instrumental intro track "Igen Og Igen" and the endless, euphoric repetition of 10-minute album closer "Masselinjen".

Track listing:

1. Igen Og Igen

2. Havets Ble

3. Hetz

4. Militskvinder

5. Panorama

6. Aldrig Mere

7. Stjernerne I Deres Ojne

8. Bodygaurds

9. Maselinjen

I do what I wanna do

Also listen to:

Edith Nylon - Edith Nylon (1979)

Flowers - Icehouse (1980)

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)

Screaming for Emily - Scriptures (1987)

Synth-y goth-rock for heartbroken ghouls that's almost punk in its theatrical angst and lyrical bluntness. Makes me want to grab my Discman and pack of Camel Lights and go cry in a graveyard.

Track listing:

1. The Love

2. Too Late for Prayer

3. Last Goodbye

4. Another Girl

5. From Your Heart

6. Just a Lie

Get ready for the last goodbye

Get ready for a real long cry

More like this:

The Essence - Ecstasy (1988)

Maskull - Maskull (1997)

The Lover Speaks - The Lover Speaks (1986)

Excellent, sophisticated pop rock/new wave from this short-lived English duo. The Lover Speaks were clearly aiming for the fences with their self-titled debut, and artistically, their efforts paid off -- it's what I want Spandau Ballet to be -- but the album's commercial impact was pretty much nil, and the band broke up while recording their second album. Given that they received their first industry boost by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, it tracks that The Lover Speaks are best remembered for Annie Lennox's cover of their single, "No More 'I Love You's", which I'm pretty sure most people (in America, anyway) don't realize is a cover.

It's worth noting that, while The Lover Speaks had only two official members -- vocalist David Freeman and everything-else-ist Joseph Hughes -- The Lover Speaks was undeniably a group effort. Most significantly, there's vocalist June Miles-Kingston, whose ethereal, Elizabeth Fraser-esque singing is so prominently featured in every song that it's truly awkward that she wasn't billed as an official member.

Track listing:

1. Every Lover's Sign

2. No More "I Love You's"

3. Never to Forget You

4. Face Me and Smile

5. Absent One

6. Love Is: "I Gave You Everything"

7. "This Can't Go On"

8. Still Faking This Art of Love

9. Tremble Dancing

10. Of Tears

The language is leaving me

You'd also like:

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - The Pacific Age (1986)

The Dolphin Brothers - Catch the Fall (1987)

Obywatel G.C. - Obywatel G.C. (1986)

A bit of dark Polish art rock/pop. Unsurprisingly, I know very little about Polish pop culture, but the main guy behind Obywatel G.C. -- Grzegorz Ciechowski -- was in a band called Republika, who apparently were a big deal in Poland back in the day. Very 80s production that includes slap bass, bleating sax, wailing (but tasteful) guitar leads, soft synth pads, and more. I'm feeling it.

Track listing:

1. Paryż Moskwa 17.15 (czyli mimowolne podróże kochanków)

2. Tak Długo Czekam (czyli "Ciało")

3. Błagam Nie Odmawiaj (czyli wyroki ferowane z pewną nadzieją)

4. Kaspar Hauser

5. Spoza Lini świata (czyli listy pisane z serca dżungli)

6. Przyznaję Się Do Winy (czyli zeznania miłosne)

7. Moje Modły

I don't remember, I don't recall

I got no memory of anything at all

If you like this, listen to:

Adrian Belew - Lone Rhino (1982)

Gary Numan - Warriors (1983) + Strange Charm (1986)

Snowy Red - The Right to Die (1982)

What's up y'all? What's been going on? Me? Pretty much just been kickin' it around the crib. Here's some sinister Belgian minimal wave/synth pop that you could maybe throw on to try and stave off the boredom/creeping anxiety.

Track listing:
1. Euroshima (Wardance)
2. Nowhere
3. I'm Hurt
4. Never Alive
5. Relax
6. Opium
7. Lies in Your Eyes
8. Madman
9. The Right to Die

How funny are those explosions

Also listen to:

Fad Gadget -
Fireside Favourites (1980)

Oppenheimer Analysis -
New Mexico (1982)

The Bible - Walking the Ghost Back Home (1986)

British indie/pop rock that's somewhere in the same sophisticated new wave realm as Prefab Sprout. Jangly guitars, fretless bass, bittersweet vocals, and a lonely saxophone echoing from around the corner.

Track listing:
1. Graceland
2. Mahalia
3. Walking the Ghost Back Home
4. Kid Galahad and the Chrome Kinema
5. King Chicago
6. Sweetness
7. Spend, Spend, Spend
8. (Talk to Me Like) Jackie Kennedy
9. She's My Bible
10. High Wide and Handsome
3. Walking the Ghost Back Home

Your twisting days are over

Also listen to:

Anna Domino -
East and West (1984)

Telefilme -
Fade In, Fade Out (1995)

The Dolphin Brothers - Catch the Fall (1987)

Related:
Japan - Adolescent Sex (1978)
Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Artful new wave/"sophistipop" (I refuse to use that word without mentioning my contempt for it) from Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen of Japan. Honestly, Jansen, who handles vocals, kinda sounds like he's straight-up doing a David Sylvian impression.

Track listing:
1. Catch the Fall
2. Shining
3. Second Sight
4. Love That You Need
5. Real Life, Real Answers
6. Host to the Holy
7. My Winter
8. Pushing the River

Falling down without a sound

You might also like:

Gary Numan -
Dance (1981)

The Wild Swans -
Bringing Home the Ashes (1988)

Mark Renner - All Walks of This Life (1986)

Beautiful, elusive sounds from one of Baltimore's finest. Side A is all gauzy synths and glistening guitars, while Side B finds Renner channeling a swooning, lo-fi new wave muse, and would have been a huge hit with the hipsters if it came out in 2010.

Track listing:
1. Feeling Blue and Grey
2. Princes Street
3. The Quiet Land
4. The Man and the Echo
5. Book of Mercy
6. Wounds
7. Few Traces
8. Riverside
9. The Mirror at Saint Andrews
10. Half a Heart
11. The Wild House
12. More or Less
13. A Glimpse of the Thirteenthroom

It might have been

If you like this, listen to:

Bernard Xolotl -
Return of the Golden Mean (1980)

Karl Schaffner & Lothar Grimm -
Birds of Passage (1984)

M - The Official Secrets Act (1980)

English new wave/synthpop from English musician Robin Scott. Fun, bouncy, whimsical-sounding songs with angry, politically-charged concerns. A great soundtrack for the relentless shitscape that is my life right now (jk it's not that bad I just have no days off ever.)

Track listing:
1. Transmission
2. Join the Party
3. Working for the Corporation
4. Your Country Needs You
5. Mayday
6. Relax
7. Maniac
8. Keep It to Yourself
9. Abracadabra
10. Official Secrets

Working, working, working, working

You'd probably also like:

Visage -
Visage (1980)

Telex -
Neurovision (1980)

This Kind of Punishment - A Beard of Bees (1984)

Old-school New Zealand indie rock. To these ears, A Beard of Bees plays kinda like deconstructed, piano-based post-punk, but with a warm, lo-fi sound and, despite an abundance of melancholy, a sense of playfulness. And yes, those songs are supposed to end abruptly like that.

Track listing:
1. Prelude
2. From the Diary of Hermann Doubt
3. The Horrible Tango
4. Trepidation
5. East Meets West
6. Turning to Stone
7. Although They Appear
8. The Sleepwalker
9. An Open Denial

I'm sorry

You'd also enjoy:

Holy Toy -
Panzer and Rabbits (1984)

Telefilme -
Fade In, Fade Out (1995)

Fad Gadget - Fireside Favourites (1980)

Dark, pissed-off English synth pop with a distinctly political bent. Angular, jerky grooves aired out by hovering synths, and vocals that range from unfeeling, robotic singing to visceral, unhinged shouts to a sarcastic croon.

Track listing:
1. Pedestrian
2. State of the Nation
3. Salt Lake City Sunday
4. Coitus Interruptus
5. Fireside Favourite
6. Newsreel
7. Insecticide
8. The Box
9. Arch of the Aorta

Your head was on my shoulder
Now I'm kissing a skull

If you like this, try:

Second Layer - Flesh as Property
(1979) + State of Emergency (1981)

John Foxx -
Metamatic (1980)

Nico - Drama of Exile (1981)

The incomparable Nico's criminally underrated fifth LP. Gone are the harmonium-driven dirges, and in their place, dissonant, druggy, weirdly hypnotic new wave. Between this drastic change in sound and the drug-fueled controversy surrounding its recording and re-recording (google it if you're interested) Drama of Exile never really got a fair shake, and has ended up long out-of-print and practically forgotten. But fuck that. It might not have the timeless elegance of her first four albums, but it's still a great record.

Track listing:
1. Genghis Khan
2. Purple Lips
3. One More Chance
4. Hendry Hudson
5. Waiting for the Man
6. Sixty Forty
7. The Sphinx
8. Orly Flight
9. "Heroes"

Do we have to give it all away?

[When making this post, I didn't known that the other version of this album was significantly harder to find, so for posterity, here it is.]

You should also hear:

Lene Lovich -
Flex (1979)

Poly Styrene -
Translucence (1981)

Second Layer - Flesh as Property (1979) + State of Emergency (1981)

Related:
The Sound - Jeopardy (1980)

A pair of first-rate EPs of darkly political post-punk featuring two members of The Sound. Cerebral, noisy, weirdly catchy, and all-around so fucking good. I am currently halfway through my third time in a row listening to these back-to-back.

Track listing:
  -Flesh as Property-
1. Courts or Wars
2. Metal Sheet
3. Germany
  -State of Emergency-
1. State of Emergency
2. I Need Noise
3. The Cutting Motion

Beyond a prayer

If you like this, listen to:

Métal Urbain - Les Hommes
Morts Sont Dangereux (1981)

Modern Eon -
Fiction Tales (1981)

Gary Numan - Dance (1981)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Gary Numan - Living Ornaments '79 and '80 (1981)
Gary Numan - Warriors (1983) + Strange Charm (1986)
Gary Numan - Exile Extended (1998)

Numan's most underrated album -- I've underrated it myself, in fact -- Dance is way overdue for a reappraisal. Contrary to what the name implies, the first side of Dance completely removes pop from the equation, leaving behind a series of abstract, protracted slow-burners with minimal drum patterns, darkly lush synth, and slightly more human-sounding vocals from a newly emotionally expressive Numan. The second half of the record sees a partial return to Numan's inimitable take on pop, while introducing a more fleshed-out, still hella synth-y sound that he'd further explore on later records.

In working on this writeup, I found out that Beggar's Banquet is putting out a rad-looking double LP reissue of Dance on the 18th of this month, so apparently they also think that now's a good time to give it a re-listen. There are a bunch of great b-sides -- his b-sides are almost always strong -- and the previously unreleased full version of the album-closing, "Metal"-referencing "Moral", so don't cheat yourself, treat yourself: buy that.

Track listing:
1. Slowcar to China
2. Night Talk
3. A Subway Called "You"
4. Cry the Clock Said
5. She's Got Claws
6. Crash
7. Boys Like Me
8. Stories
9. My Brother's Time
10. You Are, You Are
11. Moral

I'll forget who you are
I'll forget one of these days

You should also listen to:

Flowers -
Icehouse (1980)

Telex -
Neurovision (1980)

Modern Eon - Fiction Tales (1981)

Topnotch English post-punk. A locked-in, propulsive rhythm section, sparse guitar, haunted vocals, and atmospheric synths.

Track listing:
1. Second Still
2. The Grass Still Grows
3. Playwrite
4. Watching the Dancers
5. Real Hymn
6. Waiting for the Cavalry
7. High Noon
8. Child's Play
9. Choreography
10. Euthenics
11. In a Strange Way
12. Mechanic

A bullet with a name on it

You should also listen to:

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry -
Talk About the Weather (1985)

The Essence -
Ecstasy (1988)

Oppenheimer Analysis - New Mexico (1982)

Truly phenomenal English synthpop/minimal wave. Really, some of the best of its kind. I know nothing about this band, but I know that thousands of today's hipsters wish they could make an album this good.

Track listing:
1. Don't Be Seen with Me
2. Scorpions
3. Radiance
4. Men in White Coats
5. Modern Wonder
6. Subterranean Desire
7. Martyr
8. The Devil's Dancers
9. New Mexico
10. Security Risk
11. Behind the Shadesw
12. Cold War

What's the use of being free?
All that's left is you and me

More like this:

Flowers -
Icehouse (1980)

Telex -
Neurovision (1980)

Warning - Warning (1982)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Warning - Electric Eye (1983)

Bizarre, creepy, monstrous synth pop from another dimension. You know what? Warning are simply too awesome for one of my tossed-off descriptions, so either go to the above link to read what I wrote last time, or just imagination the greatest music ever made.

Track listing:
1. Why Can the Bodies Fly?
2. Magic Castle
3. Wild Roses for the Exit
4. Darkness
5. Out of Tune
6. The Door, Part I
7. The Door, Part II
8. Message
9. Warning
10. Lost in Time
11. In Crowd

There was a magic castle with life and death in it

You should also check out:

Holy Toy -
Panzer & Rabbits (1984)

Deine Lakaien -
Deine Lakaien (1986)

The Wild Swans - Bringing Home the Ashes (1988)

Bittersweet, shimmering, pretty much perfect English new wave. The kind of swooning songs that set your heart aflutter like you're a high schooler in love, then you notice that the singer's saying stuff like, "God has left the world bereft / And the scars remain."

Track listing:
1. Young Manhood
2. Bible Dreams
3. Bitterness
4. Archangels
5. Northern England
6. Whirlpool Heart
7. Bringing Home the Ashes
8. Mythical Beast
9. Now and Forever
10. The Worst Year of My Life

My blackest days were bandaged white

You'd also like:

Aztec Camera -
High Land, Hard Rain (1983)

Frazier Chorus -
Sue (1989)

Twice a Man - The Sound of a Goat in a Room (1983)

Related:
Anna Själv Tredje - Tussilago Fanfara (1977)

Excellent second album of dark, experimental, synth-based new wave from this longstanding Swedish duo. Some songs are ready for a goth night dance floor, but most are better suited for solitary drug use.

Track listing:
1. Room I.
2. Goat I.
3. Liquid Observations
4. Voices
5. Killing Angels
6. Coffins of Snow
7. Goat II.
8. Sorrow
9. Balloons
10. Talking to the Wall
11. Goat III.
12. Room II.

It's only when I close my eyes

If you like this, listen to:

Holy Toy -
Panzer and Rabbits (1984)

Deine Lakaien -
Deine Lakaien (1986)