Saleeha - Chase the Spirit (2016)

Haunting, guitar-based drone from Vancouver, BC. Slow-building waves of tremolo-picked guitars, (mostly) wordless, angelic vocals, chiming piano, and screeching feedback. Free/name your price via bandcamp.

On a semi-related note: I'm genuinely surprised at how many emails I've been getting since I posted my contact info. Haven't been able to read all of them yet, but some of y'all are making great fucking music, and I'm way into getting all these recommendations, so keep 'em coming! (Sorry if you've send me something and I haven't gotten back to you -- as anyone who knows me could tell you, I am truly terrible at responding to texts and emails.)

Track listing:
1. Gone Beyond
2. Chase the Spirit

On and on

You should also check out:

Set Fire to Flames -
Sings Reign Rebuilder (2001)

Ricardo Donoso -
Deterrence (2010)

Draugnim - Northwind's Ire (2008)

Finnish blackened viking metal. Mid-paced, melodic, and epic, with a lush, orchestral backbone.

Track listing:
1. Moonpath
2. Craionhorn
3. Feast of the Fallen
4. Towards the Dusk
5. Will Dawn Rise Again
6. Sworn to Waves
7. Archein

In salty grave I shall be reborn

You'll also like:

Kermania -
Kehre Heim... (2014)

Ancestors Blood -
Hyperboria (2016)

Sandy Bull - Inventions (1965)

Eastern-influenced folk-rock meditations by outsider-folk-innovator Sandy Bull. Goddamn, this guy was so fucking cool. How in the hell did I not hear him until a couple of months ago?

Track listing:
1. Blend II
2. Gavotte No. 2 Take 1
3. Gavotte No. 2 Take 2
4. Manha de Carnival
5. Triple Ballade
6. Memphis, Tennessee

Coming together

You will also like:

Robbie Basho -
Venus in Cancer (1970)

Jack Rose -
Opium Musick (2003)

Buried at Sea - Migration (2003)

Eardrum-shattering, life-decimating, earth-leveling sludge. Many scholars contend that the moment when the whole band comes in, about thirty seconds into track one, is the heaviest sound in the history of recorded music.

Three untitled tracks

She lived for others but died for us

More very heavy music:

Bunkur -
Bludgeon (2004)

Otesanek -
Otesanek (2004)

Alice Coltrane & Carlos Santana - Illuminations (1974)

Hazy, sprawling psychedelic jazz-rock. A meditative, kaleidoscopic sound made up of harp, guitar, piano, saxophone, organ, sitar, lush, cinematic strings, and probably a bunch of other instruments. Because my first real awareness of Santana came about during his "Smooth" era, I've never really given him the time of day, but this is making me think that I may have missed the boat.

Track listing:
1. Guru Sri Chinmoy Aphorism
2. Angel of Air - Angel of Water
3. Bliss: The Eternal Now
4. Angel of Sunlight
5. Illuminations

Sing, for song drives away the wolves

Also listen to:

Out of Focus -
Four Letter Monday Afternoon (1972)

Picchio dal Pozzo -
Picchio dal Pozzo (1976)

Hetroertzen - Exaltation of Wisdom (2010)

Chilean/Swedish black metal. The band's first album following their relocation to Sweden, Exaltation of Wisdom finds the band embracing a more lysergic, ritualistic sound that's enhanced by a darker, more cavernous atmosphere.

Track listing:
1. Incinerating Illumination
2. Like the Serpent
3. Perpetual Eclipse Stigmata
4. The Final Breath of Mankind
5. Mystery of the Fallen
6. Light Beyond the Obscure
7. The White Priestcraft

I saw a girl like a bird falling from the sky
With burning wings naked like a fullmoon winter
A crowned serpent from each breast
Radiating eyes and mouth
Her voice was a terrifying scream
Causing death and extinction

If you like this, try:

Mortuus Infradaemoni -
Imis Avernis (2009)

Insane Vesper -
Abomination of Death (2011)

Ronnie Laws - Pressure Sensitive (1975)

Airtight, vibrant jazz-funk led by saxophonist Ronnie Laws. The younger brother of Hubert Laws, Ronnie's been known to dip his toes in the cheesy waters of smooth-jazz, but you won't find any of that on Pressure Sensitive -- despite the fact that it's hella smooth.

Track listing:
1. Always There
2. Momma
3. Never Be the Same
4. Tell Me Something Good
5. Nothing to Lose
6. Tidal Wave
7. Why Do You Laugh at Me
8. Mis' Mary's Place

Let's keep it together

You should also listen to:

Lonnie Liston Smith -
Reflections of a Golden Dream (1976)

Flight -
Excursion Beyond (1980)

Koopsta Knicca - Da Devil's Playground: Underground Solo (1999)

Creepy-ass, pro-Satan, Three 6 Mafia-affiliated horrorcore. I know I don't have to sell you on this record -- if you like shit like this, you're already downloading it -- so I'll just use this space to mention that the first track is built around a Metallica sample, and the second, an Art of Noise sample.

Track listing:
1. Torture Chamber
2. Crucifix
3. Ready 2 Ride
4. Robbers
5. Smoking on a J
6. Stash Pot
7. Front a Busta
8. Judgement Nite
9. Bustaz Betts Make Way
10. Anna Got Me Clickin'
11. Now I'm Hi (Part 2)
12. Purple Thang
13. Stash Pot (Remix)
14. Whatcha Gonna Do
15. Talkin'

Where's your fucking God?

You'll also like:

Nigga Creep -
Demons Takin' Over Me (1995)

Prophet Posse -
Body Part (1998)

Hierophant - Great Mother : Holy Monster (2013)

Crushing Italian blackened d-beat/hardcore. Some metal blog (can't remember which one, maybe Metal Inquisition?) used to call bands like this "amazingcore" because their fans are beardos who alway say that shit's "amazing," and though the shoe fits Hierophant, please don't hold it against them, cause they slay.

Track listing:
1. Son of the New Faith
2. Son of the Tongue's Prison
3. Son of Four-Hands Way
4. Son of the Carcinoma
5. Son of Egoistic Love
6. Son of the Public Castration
7. Son of the Cathartic Cave
8. Son of the Black Mirror

Ten thousand winters

You might also like:

Majority Rule -
Interviews with David Frost (2001)

Generation of Vipers -
Howl and Filth (2011)

Osamu - Passages (1987)

Lovely, synth-y new age courtesy of Japanese musician Osamu Kitajima. There's a great deal of 'organic' instrumentation -- pan flute, koto, acoustic guitar, chimes, strings, harp, etc. -- amid the synths, making for a layered, appealingly textural sound.

Track listing:
1. FM Shrine
2. The Bronze Mirror
3. Ancient Midi Stars
4. Secret Lagoon
5. Passages
6. Ebb and Flow
7. Mystic Knot
8. Thoughts Ago
9. Sweet Dew
10. White Dragon
11. Passages

Breath of night

If you like this, try:

Andreas Vollenweider -
Caverna Magica (1983)

Lucia Hwong -
House of Sleeping Beauties (1985)

Sextrash - Sexual Carnage (1990)

Been gone a while, so you know I'm gonna bring the ruckus. Here's some evil, disgusting Brazilian death/thrash for scumbags and perverts. If only every album could just be this album.

Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Psychoneurosis
3. Delirium Tremens
4. The Insatiable Pleasure of Delight
5. Seduced by Evil
6. Alcoholic Mosh
7. Obscene Symphony
8. Black Church
9. Night Pigs
10. Genital Tumor

The gutter is our bed

Also listen to:

Gehennah -
Hardrocker (1995)

Abigail -
Intercourse & Lust (1996)

Sourvein - Will to Mangle (2002)

One of the best sludge/stoner doom records ever made. Riffs, bong smoke, riffs, hatred for mankind, and riffs. If Electric Wizard swapped-out half of their weed intake for crystal meth, it might sound like this. My old band played a warehouse show with this band right after Will to Mangle came out, and it was unquestionably one of the heaviest sets I've ever seen. Only problem: their name makes people think they're a nu metal band.

Track listing:
1. Bangleaf
2. Seamerchant
3. Blizzard
4. Blackzorlac
5. ZeroPath
6. 1%D.F.F.D.
7. Carveblind
8. Dirgewine

Stars in the sky, the scars of life
Seven seas of disbelief

You should also listen to:

Cavity -
Supercollider (2002)

Pombagira -
Black Axis Abraxas (2009)

Shadow - Love Lite (1979)

Driving, funky disco workouts and soulful slow-burners courtesy of this relatively obscure trio, all three of whom were members of the Ohio Players. Music for falling in love by the light of a mirror ball.

Track listing:
1. I Need Love
2. No Better Love
3. I Enjoy Ya
4. Love Lite
5. Say It Again
6. Get It

You'll never find no better love than mine

You would also like:

Kilo -
Kilo (1979)

Teena Marie -
Starchild (1984)

Blue Holocaust - Twitch of the Death Nerve (2004)

French solo-drum-machine-goregrind. Fuzzy, probably line-in guitars, vocals that might as well be someone scraping a metal hook across a garage door, and the requisite samples. Sick as fuuuuuck. Horror buffs will have a field day with the below track listing.

Track listing:
1. 6 Women for the Murderer
2. Slaughter Hotel
3. Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence
4. Deep Red
5. All the Colors of the Dark
6. Murder to the Tune of 7 Black Notes
7. Delirious Incision
8. A Butterfly with Blood-Spattered Wings
9. Black Belly of the Tarantula
10. So Sweet, So Dead
11. Twitch of the Death Nerve
12. The Tail of the Scorpion
13. Blade of the Ripper (Next)
14. What Are These Strange Drops of Blood on Her Body?
15. The Killer Must Strike Again
16. Plumage of Crystal
17. Cat O'Nine Tails
18. Four Velvet Flies
19. Dancesteps on the Edge of a Razor
20. Murder Obsession
21. Your Vice Is a Locked Room (And Only I Have the Key)
22. Strip Nude for Your Killer
23. What Have You Done to Solange?
24. Eyeball (Wide-Eyed in the Dark)
25. 7 Orchids Stained in Red
26. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
27. Don't Torture Donald Duck
28. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire
29. Death Laid an Egg
30. The Crimes of the Black Cat
31. She Met Her Fate on a Cold NY Night
32. Under the Eyes of the Assassin

Bury me an angel, God
I need some inspiration

You also are gonna wanna hear:

Blood Freak -
Sleaze Merchants (2003)

Carnivorous Vagina -
Istinto Omicida (2004)

Helena Espvall - Nimis & Arx (2006)

Related:
Espers - Espers (2003)

Abstract, uneasy instrumentals courtesy of Helena Espvall, who I first heard as cellist for Espers. Somewhere in the realm of way-out free-folk -- dissonant, seemingly improvised tapestries of cello, guitar, recorder, and arhythmic percussion -- with a twist of broken, droning electronics.

Track listing:
1. Idioblast
2. Kretslopp Av Blod Och Stjarnor
3. Nimis & Arx
4. Certainty of the Neverseen
5. Multiplication Broken and Restored I
6. Tidepools
7. The Straight Line Leads to Hell
8. Mar Amarga
9. Purgatory Chasm
10. Multiplication Broken and Restored II
11. Vortex

Our willingness to die

You might also like:

Otomo Yoshihide -
Cathode (1999)

Zoe Keating -
One Cello x 16 = Notoma (2005)

Patria - Sovereign Misanthropy (2010)

Brazilian raw black metal. Blown-out and harsh, with simple but highly effective guitar interplay and some eerie keyboards for atmosphere.

Track listing:
1. Arson Cult
2. Sovereign Misanthropy
3. Choir of Damnation
4. At Darkest Night
5. Pest
6. Dying Dream
7. From the Solitude Veil
8. Season of Shadows
9. My Lady Princess of Hell [Song d'Enfer cover[

Vapor of dripping blood

More along these lines:

Am Mondesschatten - Atrium
Sinistrum: Auf Nebelwinden (2003)

Tundra -
Ansia (2005)

Shakatak - Night Birds (1982)

Super-smooth sounds that reside right on the border between jazz-funk and disco. This LP came into my work but I forgot to put it aside and now it's gone forever. Cry emoji.

UPDATE: Don't worry, guys, stop your crying. It turns out my co-worker put it aside for me, and it's now mine, all mine.

Track listing:
1. Night Birds
2. Streetwalkin'
3. Rio Nights
4. Fly the Winds
5. Easier Said Than Done
6. Bitch to the Boys
7. Light on My Life
8. Takin' Off

Flying through the night

You should also hear:

Kimiko Kasai -
Butterfly (1979)

Flight -
Excursion Beyond (1979)