Sussan Deihim · Richard Horowitz - Desert Equations: Azax Attra (1985)

The beginning of a fruitful collaborative relationship between American composer Richard Horowitz and Iranian vocalist Sussan Deyhim (that's the way she spells her last name everywhere else, I've never known why it's spelled "Deihim" here.) Technically, this is a compilation of two separate works (Desert Equations and Azax/Attra) released as part of Crammed Disc's Composers' Series, but they're both cut of the same cloth: tribal percussion, tasteful electronics/synth, and dense layers of Deyhim's voice in all its many permutations.

Track listing:

1. Ishtar

2. Got Away

3. I'm a Man

4. Tear

5. Azax Attra

6. Jum Jum

7. Armour

8. Desert Equations (For Brion Gysin)

How fragile we are under the sheltering the sky

You might also like:

Robert Rich & Steve Roach - Strata (1990)

Fetisch Park - Alluvial (1997)

Zero Kama - The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H. (1984)

Minimal tribal industrial. This album fucking scares me. Most tracks max out at around 2-3 musical elements, each of which is some kind of percussion, some kind of droning element -- often sounding like a recorder or pan flute --  or a mixture of the two, and it makes me feel like I'm about to be ritualistically murdered by someone I can't even lay eyes on. Oh, and according to the liner notes, every single instrument used on this record is made out of human bone.

Track listing:

1. Death Posture

2. Atavism Dream

3. Night of Matter

4. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome

5. Love Alway Yieldeth

6. Azure-Lidden Woman (Pregnant Womb of Non)

7. Hassan I Sabbah

8. Starlit Mire

9. Winged Eye Hadit

10. Love Alway Hardeneth

11. Town of Pyramids (Night of Pan)

Temples of death

You might also like:
Mother Destruction / Sixth Comm - Seething (1990)

Lunus - Monolilith (1993)

Rapoon - Dream Circle (1992)

Related:
New Cult of the Sun Moon - New Cult of the Sun Moon (2002)
Reformed Faction - Vota (2006)

Kaleidoscopic ambient tribal from Robin Storey (of Zoviet France.) Echoing atmospherics, samples of every variety, and rich waves of synth wash over endless drum loops.

Track listing:
1. Najam Jikkah
2. In Light
3. Govindahal
4. Dream Circle
5. Lotus
6. Wind Chime
7. Radio Ganga
8. Imdeepah
9. Na Jam-fal

Sky heroes

Similar listening:

Amir Baghiri -
Cages (1997)

Byron Metcalf -
The Shaman's Heart (2005)

Amir Baghiri & Mathias Grassow - True North (1998)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Mathias Grassow - At the Gates of Dawn (1986)
Amir Baghiri - Cages (1997)

Oh hey hi there everybody. I stepped away from internet nerdery for the holidays, then came down with this wretched, slow-burning flu that continues to ramp up the intensity every goddam day. But I figured, as long as I'm confined to my couch, I can at least share what I'm listening to on my way off of this mortal coil. Cavernous, shivering drones, nature sounds, and gently warped tribal percussion.

Track listing:
1. Jontunheimen
2. Finnmark
3. 66°33'
4. Old Man Walking
5. Really Trolls
6. Fjell Og Fjord
7. Polar Nights
8. Hardangervidda
9. Tussen
10. Man of Aran
11. At the Waterfall
12. Beginning

Ghost clouds

You'd also enjoy:

Vidna Obmana -
Echoing Delight (1993)

Oöphoi -
Night Currents (1998)

Jon Hassell - Vernal Equinox (1977)

Awe-inspiring tribal ambient from experimental American trumpet player Jon Hassell. Hand drumming, various exotic instruments, synths, jungle sounds, and Hassell's free-floating, jazz-influenced trumpet playing make for music that's as engaging as it is soothing. I started this blog over five fucking years ago, and it's absolutely criminal that this is the first time I've posted about Hassell -- between this era and his later ambient jazz stuff on ECM, he masterfully covers two of three of this dumb blog's primary concerns. Now he just has to put out a black metal album.

Track listing:
1. Toucan Ocean
2. Viva Shona
3. Hex
4. Blues Nile
5. Vernal Equinox
6. Caracas Night September 11, 1975

The surgeon of the nightsky restores dead things by the power of sound

Also of interest:

Barry Cleveland with Bob Stohl &
Kate Epple - Stones of Precious Water (1986)

Arve Henriksen -
Chiaroscuro (2004)

Byron Metcalf - The Shaman's Heart (2005)

Sublime, deeply meditative tribal-ambient from American percussionist Byron Metcalf, and featuring the great Steve Roach. Gently insistent percussion slowly building and receding against a warm backdrop of shimmering synth-based drone.

Track listing:
1. Preparation Pulse
2. Threshold of Intention
3. Decision Point
4. The Call for Total Surrender
5. Raven Medicine
6. Wisdom Work
7. Unfolding Clarity

Archaic layers

You'd also like:

Vidna Obmana -
Echoing Delight (1993)

New Cult of the Sun Moon -
New Cult of the Sun Moon (2002)

Amir Baghiri - Cages (1997)

Spacious, trance-inducing ambient tribal. Percussion mantras, rain sticks, didgeridoo, and more awash in shimmering pools of droning synth. Perfect for when you want to melt the world around you into a more manageable haze of pure color.

Track listing:
1. The Day Before
2. Under Earth
3. Out of the Womb
4. Childhood
5. Growing Up
6. Spider's Net
7. Run
8. Learning to Fall

At the waterfall

For more like this, try:

Tuu -
All Our Ancestors (1994)

Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana -
Well of Souls (1995)

Projekt Karpaty Magiczne - Ethnocore (1999)

Ritualistic, tribal sounds fused with elements of experimental electronic, psych rock, and avant-garde jazz. Ethnocore is a mind-melting listening experience that overcomes its clunky title through shear force of excellence and insanity.

Track listing:
1. Opowieść Ragany / The Ragana's Story
2. Ethnocore
3. One Mother
4. Jojk Urdego Wierchu / Urdy Wierch Joik
5. Bluff
6. Zaginione Plemię / The Lost Tribes Song
7. Kołysanka Dla "Tęczowego Wojownika" / Lullaby for "Rainbow Warrior"
8. Karpaty Magiczne / The Magic Carpathians
9. Góry Nad Chmurami / The Moutains Over Clouds
10. Nagual Vydunas
11. Kołysanka Dla "Tęczowego Wojownika" - Live

No one ever believes me

Also of interest:

Mother Destruction / Sixth Comm -
Seething (1990)

Kemialliset Ystävät -
Kellari Juniversumi (2002)

New Cult of the Sun Moon - New Cult of the Sun Moon (2002)

Related:
Reformed Faction - Vota (2006)

A sprawling double-album of hella stoned ambient tribal. Gauzy, textural drones, warped voices, minimal rhythmic mantras, and digital glitch. Possibly a bit demanding for those of you with short attention spans, so I recommend getting really, really high before and while listening.

Tracks on Disc 1 called "Sun Phase 1" through "Sun Phase 11", tracks on Disc 2 called "Moon Phase 1" through "Moon Phase 6"

Good morning...
... and good night

You might also enjoy:

Voice of Eye -
Mariner Sonique (1992)

Ah Cama-Sotz -
Terra Infernalis (1999)

Tuu - All Our Ancestors (1994)

A lush, evocative mix of ethereal synths and organic instrumentation over gentle tribal percussion, for a soothing but dramatic, ceremonial sound.

Track listing:
1. Shiva Descending
2. All Our Ancestors
3. House of the Waters
4. Stillpoint in Motion
5. Rainfall
6. Illumination
7. Triple Gem of Wisdom

Body of light

You might also like:

Al Gromer Khan - Divan I Khas (1987)

Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana - Well of Souls (1995)

David Sylvian & Holger Szukay - Plight & Premonition (1988) + Flux & Mutability (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Two gorgeous, ambient collaborations between David Sylvian, formerly of Japan and one of my all-time favorite musicians, and Holger Szukay, formerly of Can. Plight & Premonition is pure, haunting ambient, while Flux & Mutability has some percussion and a sense of gentle, queazy euphoria that wouldn't sound out of place on an 80s ECM record.

Track listing:
-Plight & Premonition-
1. Plight (The Spiraling of Winter Ghosts)
2. Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel)
-Flux & Mutability-
1. Flux (A Big Bright Beautiful World)
2. Mutability (A New Beginning Is in the Offing)

Every color you are

Mother Destruction / Sixth Comm - Seething (1990)

A witchy, nature-loving mindfuck courtesy of that fascinating melding of hippie and industrial culture that took place in the late 80s and early 90s. Programmed tribal drumming, droning keyboards, dance beats, and dramatic, ritualistic vocals -- each tracks seems to be some sort of aural spell, curse, or invocation -- make for a highly uneasy listen. Quite curious as to what my normal-y roommate is making of this one.

Track listing:
1. Mithras
2. Birth of the Seven
3. Hella
4. Cenaz
5. Carnelian
6. Serpent Dance

To burn

Robert Rich & Steve Roach - Strata (1990)

The first of two excellent collaborative albums from influential ambient/new age artists (and OPIUM HUM favorites) Robert Rich and Steve Roach. Roach's hypnotic, tribal rhythms mix extraordinarily well with Rich's darker, Eastern-tinged melodies, and glacial synth work provides a spacious, enveloping aural landscape. The end result is some of the richest, most evocative music in either one of their discographies.

Track listing:
1. Fearless
2. Mica
3. Forever
4. The Grotto of Time Lost
5. Iguana
6. Magma
7. Persistence of Memory (for Dali)
8. Remembrance
9. Ceremony of Shadows
10. La Luna

Lost landmarks

Steve Tibbetts - The Fall of Us All (1994)

The Fall of Us All is the album that introduced me to the wondrous world of Steve Tibbetts, and it's still probably my favorite in his catalogue, as well as his darkest, most intense album. The first half of the album is all thunderous percussion, wailing guitars, and wordless choral vocals, then the bottom falls out, and the music slow burns through to the brilliant, wandering "Travel Alone".

Track listing:
1. Dzogchen Punks
2. Full Moon Dogs
3. Nyemma
4. Formless
5. Roam and Spy
6. Hellbound Train
7. All for Nothing
8. Fade Away
9. Drinking Lesson
10. Burnt Offering
11. Travel Alone

Burning temple

The Creatures - Feast (1983)

The Creatures are Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Their first album, Feast is a brilliantly conceived and performed record -- lush, kaleidoscopic percussion, samples, and Siouxsie's powerful voice hanging overhead like the voice of an animal-obsessed prophet echoing from on high.

Track listing:
1. Morning Dawn
2. Inoa' Ole
3. Ice House
4. Dancing on Glass
5. Gecko
6. Sky Train
7. Festival of Colours
8. Miss the Girl / A Strutting Rooster
9. Flesh

Panoramic banana

Vidna Obmana - Echoing Delight (1993)

Vidna Obmana is Belgian composer Dirk Serries, who specializes in the same type of drone-based, tribal-flavored ambient as Opium Hum favorite Steve Roach, with whom he has released a couple of collaborative full-lengths (here's one that I posted back in August.) Echoing Delight is arguably his defining moment: a spacious, shimmering, nocturnal world of drifting synths, drones, and insistent, trance-like percussion.

Track listing:
1. Winter Mouvement
2. Crystal Traveling
3. The Empty Night
4. Echoing Delight
5. Narrow Gloom (Part Two)
6. Glass Splendour

At the edge of everything

Steve Tibbetts - Steve Tibbetts (1977) + Yr (1980)

First two albums from guitarist Steve Tibbetts, best known for his innovative, seamless fusion of Eastern and Western styles. Recorded covertly at night in a university recording studio (read the full amusing story here), his excellent self-titled first album is certainly his rawest, and is easily some of his most inspired work. You can practically hear his mind exploding with ideas. It's unmistakably Tibbetts, but many of the songs foreground electro-proggy synthesizers, giving it a more specifically 'prog' sound than anything else he's recorded. His second album, Yr, was his first to feature longtime collaborator Marc Anderson, and finds him firmly establishing a fluid, dynamic sound template that he's been exploring and expanding for the last three decades. Many fans consider it to be his best record.

Track listings:
-Steve Tibbetts-
1. Sunrise
2. The Secret
3. Desert
4. The Wonderful Day
5. Gong
6. Jungle Rhythm
7. Interlude
8. Alvin Goes to Tibet
9. How Do You Like My Buddha?
-Yr-
1. Ur
2. Sphexes
3. Ten Years
4. One Day
5. Three Primates
6. You and It
7. The Alien Lounge
8. Ten Year Dance

Burning temples

Steve Roach & Jerry Fayman - Trance Spirits (2002)

Heavy tribal drumming, deep synthscapes, spaced out guitar textures (courtesy of Robert Fripp). Perfect for exploring jungles on Saturn. Credits listed in the booklet include "Mercurial Sounds," "Soundworlds," "Hybrid Groove," and "Mystic Chord."

Tracklist:
1. Taking Flight
2. Trance Spirits
3. Off Spring
4. Seekers
5. The Calling
6. Year of the Horse
7. In the Same Deep Water

Blood music