The Durutti Column - LC (1981)

The Durutti Column are, according to their Wiki (I have no idea, I just got into them a couple of weeks ago through some weird internet K-hole) from England, and they revolve around one central member, Vini Reilly, who apparently was/is bros with Ian Curtis and Morrissey. For such a cohesive, simple-sounding album, LC brings some seemingly disparate artists and genres to mind -- early Cure (esp. "All Cats Are Grey"), Paul Simon, and a little krautrock, maybe? Lots of low-key instrumentals, echoing guitars, simple drumming, piano... pretty charming stuff. This reissue has twenty-three bonus tracks following the original ten, and they're great, so I'm including 'em.

Track listing:
-Disc One-
1. Sketch for Dawn 1
2. Portrait for Frazer
3. Jacqueline
4. Messidor
5. Sketch for Dawn 2
6. Never Known
7. The Act Committed
8. Detail for Paul
9. The Missing Boy
10. The Sweet Cheat Gone
11. Danny
12. Enigma
13. For Mimi
14. For Belgian Friends
15. Self-Portrait
16. Favourite Painting
17. Zinni
-Disc Two-
1. Mavuchka
2. Experiment in Fifth
3. Portrait for Paul
4. The Act Committed
5. Portrait for Frazer
6. Never Known
7. Untitled LC Demo
8. For Patti
9. Weakness and Fever
10. The Eye and the Hand
11. Party
12. One Christmas for Your Thoughts
13. Homage to Martinu
14. Sleep Will Come
15. Piece for an Ideal
16. Piece of Out of Tune Grand Piano

1
2

John Martyn - One World (1977)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
John Martyn - Grace and Danger (1980) + Glorious Fool (1981)

...and my hellish week is over. Here's some laid-back, jazz-y, slightly funky folk rock from one of the world's all-time most under-appreciated musicians. I refuse to write any more, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME.

Track listing:
1. Dealer
2. One World
3. Smiling Stranger
4. Big Muff
5. Couldn't Love You More
6. Certain Surprise
7. Dancing
8. Small Hours

Love is coming

Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - After the Night Falls (2007)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder (1986)
Harold Budd - The White Arcades (1988)

Once again, I am too busy for this blog shit. But here's a gorgeous, shimmering pool of guitar, synth, and piano that is helping to keep me sane through all of this studying and essaying.

Track listing:
1. How Distant Your Heart
2. Avenue of Shapes
3. Seven Thousand Sunny Years
4. She Is My Strength
5. Inside, a Golden Echo
6. Open Book
7. And Then I Turned Away
8. The Girl with Colorful Thoughts
9. Turn Off the Sun

Freefall

Al Gromer Khan - Divan I Khas (Visions of a Mogul Prince) (1984)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Al Gromer Khan - Utopia (1993) + Attar (1996)

Y'all. School just blew the fuck up in my face. Due to overconsumption of coffee and a bit of Adderall, I may actually be turning into an unfeeling, essay-writing machine. But I'm done for the day, so I'm off to the gym to blow off some steam, after which I will fall face-first into this beckoning, pillowy cloud of sitar, drum machines, and dated synths.

Track listing:
1. Visions Of Vilayat Khan
2. Hirubilal (Part 1)
3. Piz Pakiza
4. The Anahat Syndrome
5. Barhat Anga
6. Hirubilal (Part 2)
7. Zuban
8. Oiram Qarz

After the crash

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

Graveworm - As the Angels Reach the Beauty (1999)

Holy shit, I forgot how great this record is! Epic, Italian symphonic black/gothic metal -- melodic, tremolo-picked riffs, high-pitched howls, and layer upon layer of REAL, not keyboard-made, orchestral elements. Plus, the bonus track is a Type O Negative cover! (I realize that most of you metal snobs don't like that band, but I fucking love 'em.) If you like frilly metal, this record is tops.

[2/25/19: Upon revisiting this post while I re-up the link, I can't help but notice that my Type O Negative comment no longer applies, as practically everyone loves them now. Funny thing is, I can't find anyone who got into them after Peter Steele died -- apparently everyone's been down since day one. Guess I must have been imagining all the shit-talk that used to get thrown my way whenever I tried to put on Bloody Kisses or October Rust back in the day. Weird.]

Track listing:
1. A Dreaming Beauty
2. Portrait of a Deadly Nightshade
3. Ceremonial Requiem
4. Nocturnal Hymns
5. Behind the Curtain of Darkness
6. Pandemonium
7. Prophecies in Blood
8. Into the Dust of Eden
9. Graveyard of Angels
10. Christian Woman (bonus)

Wolven screams of deepest hate

Brenoritvrezorkre - Vèrmyaprèb (1995), Nèvgzérya (1995), + Vasagraèbe éakr vatrè brenoritvrezorkre (1996)

Three psychotic demos by Brenoritvrezorkre, one of the finest projects associated with Les Légions Noires, a French black metal/dark ambient horde who, during the mid-90s, released countless limited cassette demos through a seemingly endless number of incestuous, perplexingly named bands and projects. Supremely deranged black metal full of knotty, dissonant guitars, ghostly rasps and howls, and almost completely indecipherable, off-kilter drums. As should be expected, it's all totally blown-out and lo-fi to the point of absurdity. To the ears of black metal nerds, these demos are invaluable gifts from the Dark Lord Himself; to everyone else's ears, they are utter dogshit.

Track listing:
-Vèrmyaprèb-
1. Eápr Govépèrv
2. Borarp!
3. Voarmérpébre Uatr Vèrmyapre
4. Tsaévarya Vèrmyaprèb
5. Favoapr Uatr Zuflebre Oatr Bouarvtre Blehrurb
6. Eamkl Uatre Bervétrèmdre...
-Nèvgzérya-
1. Voarmtre Zuèrkl Ndearbe
2. Tsaévarya Zurgtapre
3. Ezlèybdrèb Zuèrkl Bèrvétrèmdre
4. Morvbtre Urvdrèm Dlèfme
5. Abgvatrèb
6. Eamkl Eèpreb Dzélyambre
7. Abgzvoryatre Urvdrèm Dlèfme
8. Abgvatrèb
9. Nèvgzérya
-Vasagraèbe éakr vatrè brenoritvrezorkre-
1. Aaprab Vergz Varbadre
2. Eakre Uatre Zurgtapre
3. Berv Tre Mve
4. Vermyapre Zuerkle Uatre
5. Kloarbe Vurtrue Zuerkle Goebtre
6. Uatr Borvuatre Zuerkle Droer

I died from a vampiric grief

The Legendary Pink Dots - Chemical Playschool 1 & 2 (1981)

Early, duel-cassette release from the semi-legendary Legendary Pink Dots pink dots. It's essentially a quadruple album, as each side has over forty minutes of music, adding up to over three hours of warped, psychedelic, synth-based genius! Originally uploaded by/copped from Shards of Beauty.

Track listing:
-1A-
1. Defeated
2. Voices
3. Ideal Home
4. Black Highway
5. Soma Bath
6. Doll's House
7. Louder After Six
8. Phallus Dei
9. Stand Firm, Damien
10. (untitled)
11. Dying for the Emperor
-1B-
1. Peace Krime 1
2. Brighter Now
3. Peace Krime 2
4. Mpnmep Cptaha
5. Apocalypse Now
6. Professional
7. Donna's Blitzed Again
8. Brill
9. Witch Hunt
10. Break Day
11. Break Down
-2A-
1. City Ghosts
2. Onward
3. Legacy
4. For the Pearl Moon
5. Sensory Deprivation
6. Temper Temper
7. Amphitheatre Shuffle
8. Misfortunes
9. Red Castles
10. Hanging Gardens
11. detaefeD
12. Before the End
-2B-
1. Waiting for the Call / You'n'me
2. Amphitheatre 1
3. Frosty
4. Another Kind of Violence
5. The Wedding
6. Starch on Sunday
7. Caligula
8. Fin

To mourn the death of colour

Beggar's Opera - Act One (1971)

Tripped-out, organ-fueled, Scottish psych/prog rock. Awesome, tweaked, semi-croony vocals, and extended instrumental sections full of awesome harmonized leads and keyboard noodling. The last two tracks weren't on the original release. I have a bunch of writing to do for school, so that's all you get, buttface.

Track listing:
1. Poet and Peasant
2. Passacaglia
3. Memory
4. Raymonds Road
5. Light Cavalry
6. Sarabande (bonus)
7. Think (bonus)

She smiles as if she knows I'm there
I hold her hand, I touch her hair

Container - LP (2011)

Harsh, blown-out, yet highly listenable techno. Pulsing, red-lined drums; alarm-like screeches; distorted, amelodic basslines; short, warped, mantra-like samples. Do people dance to this?

Track listing:
1. Application
2. Protrusion
3. Dissolve
4. Overflow
5. Rattler

Paralyzed

Harold Budd - The White Arcades (1988)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder (1986)

Gentle, drifting synth and piano sound worlds from an American master. Put this on the next time you die and go to heaven in a little rowboat.

Track listing:
1. The White Arcades
2. Balthus Bemused by Color
3. The Child with a Lion
4. The Real Dream of Sails
5. Algebra of Darkness
6. Totems of the Red-Sleeved Warrior
7. The Room
8. Coyote
9. The Kiss

Ice floes in Eden

Grave Digger - Heart of Darkness (1995)

Cheese metal at its finest. Anthemic choruses, soaring leads, noodly solos, and subject matter that includes stuff like witches, magic, religious hypocrisy, and reveling in the death of fools and losers. Happy Valentine's!

Track listing:
1. Tears of Madness
2. Shadow Maker
3. Grave Dancer
4. Demon's Day
5. Warchild
6. Heart of Darkness
7. Hate
8. Circle of Witches
9. Black Death

Fools - I will lead you down
Losers - Your eyes will stud my crown
Bastards - I rule your life

Steve Kilbey - Unearthed (1987)

This blog has gone far too long without a post about Steve Kilbey and/or his band, The Church. Although they're pretty popular in their homeland of Australia, The Church are known everywhere else in the world, if they're known at all, for their only major hit: the immortal "Under the Milkyway". I think that this is really unfortunate, as their synthesis of new wave, goth, U2-like arena rock, and psychedelia makes for some of my favorite music.

No matter how lush and inviting the rest of the band sounds, though, Kilbey's surreal lyrics and spectral voice are the band's lifesblood, so it's not surprising that Unearthed, his first solo album, stands up nicely to comparison with his primary project's work. Although the dreamlike words and crystalline guitar work are in full effect, Unearthed leans more heavily on synths and drum machines than anything that The Church had recorded up to this point. Like many solo excursions, there's a sense of experimentation and spontaneity to this record, and thankfully, in addition to the cool, weird keyboard pieces, there are a bunch of great songs.

Track listing:
1. Out of This World
2. Guilty
3. Pretty Ugly, Pretty Sad
4. Swampdrone
5. Judgement Day
6. Rising Son
7. Tyrant
8. Transference
9. My Birthday, the Moon Festival
10. Design Error
11. Nothing Inside
12. Other Time
13. Heliopolis
14. Famine

It reminds me of the time I've told you about
Every voice in the world seemed to shout
I sank to my knees, hands over my ears
I could have heard what nobody hears

Malcolm McLaren - Fans (1984)

One of the strangest records of which I'm aware. I first heard Fans in my dad's car when I was in high school, and while I really wanted to like it, because it seemed really smart, and because of McLaren's ties with the Sex Pistols, it was just too fucking weird. (Plus, the Sex Pistols were sellouts, man.) Gated drums, slap bass, twinkly synths, and other indicators that Fans was produced in the 1980s provide the musical backdrop for the vocals, which make apparent the album's raison d'être: treating famous opera songs to 80's R&B/dance makeovers. Yup. I'm not sure that it's any good, but it's a mindfuck that any music fan should experience at least once.

Track listing:
1. Madam Butterfly
2. Fans
3. Carmen
4. Boys' Chorus
5. Lauretta
6. Death of Butterfly

Donkey-donkey-dough

16 - Blaze of Incompetence (1997)

Tough, self-destructive, pro-drug, pro-violence, anti-cop sludge. Music by and for lowlives. If I had to pick a highlight, it would be "A Real Piece of Work", particularly the ending -- I've never heard a riff that's so disrespectful to its surroundings! One of my top-five sludge records.

Track listing:
1. Asian Heat
2. Burning Sensation
3. Flaming Head-On Train Wreck
4. Rob Someone
5. Thiothixene
6. Glowing Bowl
7. A Real Piece of Work
8. Wash Me
9. Ride the Snake
10. Sleep Forever

THIS IS NOT AN EXIT