Ida - The Braille Night (2001)

Downcast, low-key love songs with rich vocal harmonies courtesy of three lead vocalists. Ida have been accused of trying too hard to be pretty, and they're definitely too earnest to be considered 'cool', but I got into them at just the right time -- in my early 20s, trying to navigate a doomed relationship -- and this record (and Will You Find Me) stuck with me to this day.

Track listing:
1. Let's Go Walking
2. Ignatia Amara
3. Arrowheads
4. So Long
5. Blizzard of '78
6. So Worn Out
7. The Braille Night
8. Gladiolas
9. Ocean of Glass
10. Moves Through the Air

We're just haunted in our skins
By all that could have been
You hide it from your face
But it still shows

More sad lovey-dovey music:

Azure Ray - November (2002)

Mi and L'au - Mi and L'au (2005)

Simon Scott - Navigare (2009)

Excellent first solo album by Simon Scott, best known as the drummer for Slowdive. Haunting, evocatively layered ambient pieces that kind of sound like distant echoes of Slowdive songs.

Track listing:

1. Introduction of Cambridge

2. Under Crumbling Skies

3. Flood Inn

4. Derelict Days

5. Repulse

6. The ACC

7. The Old Jug and Drum

8. Ashma

9. Spring Stars

10. The Night and the Artificial Light

Today I watch the colors fade

You should also listen to:

Belong - October Language (2006)

Alan Sparhawk - Solo Guitar (2006)

Excessive Force - Conquer Your World (1991)

Related:

KMFDM - Virus (1989)

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife... (1990)

Rock-tinged industrial-dance from Buzz McCoy (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult) and Sascha Konietzko (KMFDM). Truly sounds like a cross between the two projects. Like everything early-KMFDM-related, Conquer Your World sounds gloriously dated and makes me want to smoke cigarettes and drink vodka-Fruitopias on a playground somewhere in suburbia.

Track listing:

1. Conquer Your House II

2. Conquer Your World

3. Blow Your House Down

4. To Death II

5. Ride the Bomb

6. We Like War

7. Worship Me

8. Finger on the Trigger

9. Conquer Your House III

Rip the system

Similar vibes:

Noise Unit - Response Frequency (1990)

Bile - Suckpump (1994)

Turmoil - The Process Of (1999)

Philly metallic hardcore. Tough and super-pissed, and with big bonehead mosh energy (BBME) but enough dissonance and compositional chops to convey something deeper than "I am very mad." If you're wondering whether or not there's a chugga-chugga breakdown over which the vocalist lists things that he absolutely WILL NOT do: you fuckin' know there is.

Track listing:

1. Playing Dead

2. The Discipline of Self Loathing

3. The Locust

4. Killing Today for a Better Tomorrow

5. Impending Doom Theory

6. Dear Jon

7. Let It Die

8. Fear of Falling Down

9. Ever Man My Enemy

10. Six Demon Bag

11. Staring Back

12. Throwing Stones

I've yet to see

This war you wage

Follower

More great hardcore from the same year:

Breach - Venom (1999)

Buried Alive - The Death of Your Perfect World (1999)

The Gates of Slumber - ...the Awakening (2004)

First full-length by this US doom power trio. Thick guitar tones, gruff singing, and droning, sludgy songs with the kind of dual guitar solos that tend, at least for me, to conjure images of classic Sabbath. But make no mistake: this is Saint Vitus worship, straight up. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Track listing:

1. Resurrection from the Underworld

2. The Awakening (Interpolating the Wrath of the Undead)

3. The Judge

4. The Jury

5. Broken on the Wheel

6. The Executioner

7. Blessed Pathway to the Celestial Kingdom

8. The Burial

9. The Cloaked Figure [bonus]

Take his head

He will know the law

You should also hear:

Count Raven - High on Infinity (1993)

Forsaken - Evermore (1997)

Portrait of David - These Days Are Hard to Ignore (2001)

Melancholic, minimal post-rock by Ola Fløttum (of The White Birch). Acoustic guitars, echoing keys, misty atmospheric drones, and understated vocals. A beautiful, subtle, and bafflingly obscure record.

Track listing:

1. Wide Open Doors

2. Lake

3. Nine-Day Wonders

4. Beautiful Flimsy Kite

5. Hot-Air Balloon

6. Constant Flow

7. Sweet Thief

8. In the Garden

9. David's Portrait

10. Seaweed

No clock on the wall

You'd probably also like:

Bark Psychosis - Hex (1994)

Auburn Lull - Alone I Admire (1999)

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per un amico (1972)

An Italian prog classic. Colorful, ornate songs performed on a veritable army of instruments -- piano, harpsichord, organ, flute, violin, piccolo, bells, virtually every kind of guitar, something called a mandocello -- broken up by pretty vocal sections, and full of stylistic hairpin turns that somehow make perfect sense in context.

Track listing:

1. Appena un po

2. Generale!

3. Per un amico

4. Il banchetto

5. Geranio

You know the way

More Italian prog:

Quella Vecchia Locanda - Il Tempo Della Gioia (1974)

Picchio del Pazo - Picchio dal Pozo (1976)

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)

Steve Kindler - Automatic Writing (1985)

Glimmering new age bliss from American violinist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Kindler. Synths, layered violins, guitars, autoharp, and various forms of percussion form a warm, bright sound that occasionally approaches fusion.

Track listing:

1. Invocation

2. Back Country

3. Something from the Heart

4. For You...

5. Dawn in Varanasi

6. Sometime Ago

7. Automatic Writing

8. Song of the Seabird

Caught up in the rapture

Similar listening:

Latitude - Latitude (1986)

Michael Shrieve & Steve Roach - The Leaving Time (1988)

Stezo - Crazy Noise (1989)

Old-school hip-hop straight outta New Haven, Connecticut. A former EPMD dancer, Stezo's flows are perfectly enjoyable, slightly above-par old-school fare -- "I'm the man with the plan to make you stand / Get up and clap your hands" kinda stuff -- but his beats were seriously ahead of their time. His aesthetic, not so much.

Track listing:

1. Bring the Horns

2. Freak the Funk

3. Talking Sense

4. It's My Turn

5. Getting Paid

6. Girl Trouble

7. To the Max

8. Put Your Body into It

9. Jimmy's Gettin' Funky

10. Crazy Noise

11. Get's into His Move

12. Going for Mine

Droppin' beats on you like playin' Cee-lo

Similar listening:

Overweight Pooch - Female Preacher (1991)

Justin Warfield - My Field Trip to Planet 9 (1993)

Hacride - Back to Where You've Never Been (2013)

French prog metal. Crushing, dynamic, immersive sounds that take from djent, progressive death, post-metal, and neo-prog. Featured on this blog's first best-of-the-year list, which, despite its clunky formatting, holds up surprisingly well as a representation of my favorite records from that year.

Track listing:

1. Introversion

2. Strive Ever to More

3. Synesthesia

4. Overcome

5. Edification of the Fall

6. To Numb the Pain

7. Ghosts of the Modern World

8. Requiem for a Lullaby

Become who you are meant to be before you turn into dust

You should also hear:

The End - Elementary (2007)

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition (2009)

Siddhartha - Weltschmerz (1975)

German psych greatness. Dextrous, anxious guitar interplay, organ, violin, and occasional male and female vocals. Each song constantly changes motifs, or stutters briefly only to pick back up again, as if the band is grasping for a stable reality that never quite materializes. Too bad it's their only record.

Track listing:

1. Looking into Past

2. Tanz im Schnee

3. Times of Delight

4. Weit Weg

5. Gift of the Fool

I wandered lonely as a cloud

Further listening:

Affinity - Affinity (1970)

Paternoster - Paternoster (1972)

E - A Man Called E (1992)

The music of Mark Oliver Everett -- aka E, best known as the only permanent member of Eels -- has remained more or less unchanged for about three decades now. Sure, he has singer-songwriter mode (his default setting), weirdo pop mode, 'rock' mode (NOT GOOD), and even Shrek mode, but it's all splitting hairs around the same mopey, lovesick smart-ass. The only thing that's really changed about his music has been its quality, which has taken a significant downturn over the past 15 years or so.

His debut album, A Man Called E finds him in full-blown pop-rock singer-songwriter mode, and it's often more effortless, thoughtful, and mature -- not to mention concise -- than anything he'd put out as Eels. Due to having first heard them as a stoned sadsack teenager, I'll always have a very special place in my heart for Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues, but as a content but anxious adult, A Man Called E is my favorite thing dude's ever done.

Track listing:

1. Hello Cruel World

2. Fitting In with the Misfits

3. Are You & Me Gonna Happen

4. Looking Out the Window with a Blue Hat On

5. Nowheresville

6. Symphony for Toy Piano in G Minor

7. Mockingbird Franklin

8. I've Been Kicked Around

9. Pray

10. E's Tune

11. You'll Be the Scarecrow

Bad and beautiful and strange

Monkeys dancing in a cage

Also listen to:

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989)

Sparklehorse - The Black Sessions (2006)

Ragnarök - Ragnarök (1976)

Laid-back Swedish prog. Folk- and jazz-infused, subtly expansive instrumentals for gazing at the stars, or -- if you, like me, live in an area where there's too much light/actual pollution to really see anything up there aside from a gray haze -- pretending that you're gazing at the stars.

Track listing:

1. Farväl Köpenhamn

2. Promenader

3. Nybakat Bröd

4. Dagarnas Skum

5. Polska Från Kalmar

6. Fabriksfunky

7. Tatanga Mani

8. Fjottot

9. Stiltje-Uppbrott

10. Vattenpussar

Reflection from the star world above

You'd probably also enjoy:

Sergius Golowin - Lord Krishna Von Goloka (1973)

Franco Leprino - Integrati... Disintegrati (1977)

Popsicle - Lacquer (1993)

Swedish power pop of the 90s alt-rock variety. Short, punchy songs enlivened by elements of noise pop and shoegaze. Popsicle would have sounded right at home ripping through a set on the rooftop of Empire Records.

Track listing:

1. Hey Princess

2. Popcorn

3. Undulate

4. How Come We

5. Pale Honey

6. Irreplaceable

7. She

8. Template

9. True

10. A Song Called Liberty

11. Bird

12. Sandy

13. Slow

Tell me if you need me

I need you

If you like this, listen to:

Velvet Crush - In the Presence of Greatness (1991)

Imperial Teen - Seasick (1996)

Daniel Lanois - Belladonna (2005)

Haunting ambient instrumentals from Daniel Lanois, who, despite having released a number of solid-to-excellent ambient and singer-songwriter records, is best known for his work as a producer for massive artists like Bob Dylan, U2, and Neil Young. Mysterious, nocturnal, somewhat cinematic pieces for a wide array of instruments. Another record that I first discovered while searching the Pitchfork archives for their worst reviewed records (I know that musical taste is subjective, but goddamn can they get it wrong sometimes.)

Track listing:

1. Two Worlds

2. Sketches

3. Oaxaca

4. Agave

5. Telco

6. Desert Rose

7. Carla

8. The Deadly Nightshade

9. Dusty

10. Frozen

11. Panorama

12. Flametop Green

13. Todos Santos

You could almost touch heaven right there in front of you

Similar listening:

Vangelis - L'Apocalypse des Animaux (1973)

Andy Partridge & Harold Budd - Through the Hill (1994)

Twin Stumps - Seedbed (2010)

Blown-out, draining Brooklyn noise rock. Burly bass, feedback-drenched guitars, plodding drums, a pure harsh noise source, and strung-out, distorted vocals. Very gnarly.

Track listing:

1. Landlord

2. Missing Persons

3. Pigs at the Trough

4. Lungs

5. Child Republic

6. Drainage City

7. Business Class

8. Caged Emily

9. Pope's Nose

10. Body Plan

11. Lust Murder

Painted in blood

More bad vibes:

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules (2007)

The End - Elementary (2007)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

The End - Transfer Trachea Reverberations from Point: False Omniscient (2001)

Years before Tesseract, Periphery, and their legions of disciples were fusing heady, math-y heaviness with dark, melodic alt metal, there was Elementary. It kinda sounds like if hardcore-Cave In and alt-Cave In made a record together. Unfortunately, fans of The End never stopped pining for the Calculating Infinity-worship of their debut EP, and they never really found a new audience to replace the old one. Thus, both of the band's excellent Relapse albums were largely either ignored or hated on, and they broke up shortly after the second one (Elementary) was released. Frowny-face.

Track listing:

1. Dangerous

2. The Never Ever Aftermath

3. Animals

4. The Moth and I

5. Throwing Stones

6. My Abyss

7. Awake?

8. A Fell Wind

9. In Distress

10. And Always...

When it seems like all you're made to do is suffer

You'll be pleased to know that miracles do occur

Also listen to:

Eryn Non Dae - Hydra Lernaïa (2009)

The Contortionist - Intrinsic (2012)

A Canorous Quintet - Silence of the World Beyond (1996)

Essential Swedish melodic death metal. Instead of emphasizing brutal catchiness or machine-like precision like so many of their peers, A Canorous Quintet made sorrowful, misty music that's almost as close to gothic death/doom as it is to melodeath, with high-pitched rasps that help to give it all a blackened feel.

Track listing:

1. Silence of the World Beyond

2. Naked with Open Eyes

3. Spellbound

4. The Orchid's Sleep

5. The Black Spiral

6. The Last Journey

7. In the Twilight of Fear

8. Burning, Emotionless

9. Dream Reality

Black roses surround the fields

Strange floating lights

If you like this, listen to:

Horrified - In the Garden of the Earthly Delights (1993)

The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph (1998)

Amp - Sirènes (1999)

Related:

Light - Turning (1996)

Just remembered I told someone I'd post some Amp. Here's their second full-length. Much like that Light record, it's a hazy, somewhat lo-fi take on ambient shoegaze/psych that's probably best listened to while high, late at night.

Track listing:

1. Souvenir

2. Frieze

3. Perdu

4. Merry Go Down

5. November

6. Rave Mantra

7. Matilda's Short Wave

8. Soft Stone Soul

9. Eternity

10. So Be It

Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested ground

More like this:

Jessamine - Jessamine (1994)

Bowery Electric - Bowery Electric (1995)

Fantômas - Fantômas (1999)

Related:

Melvins - Eggnog (1991)

Kaada & Patton - Romances (2004)

MadLove - White with Foam (2009)

Slobber Pup - Black Aces (2013)

I'm in a celebrating mood, so here's a personal favorite: the first Fantômas album. God-tier, horror-themed, experimental grind/thrash/sludge/jazz-noir/spazz-core from the folks who brought you, among many others, Mr. Bungle, Slayer, and Melvins. Obviously, this is, by this blog's standards, fairly well-known, but 1) Tomahawk finally put out a new album and it's got me on a Mike Patton kick, 2) Who says everything I post on here has to be obscure? and 3) I guarantee you there are people reading this who have never heard Fantômas and are about to have their minds blown out their asses. 

30 tracks. You can't make me type them all out. Here's a track listing if you want it.

(I have no idea why I had the release date as 2009 initially. I first heard it in summer of 2001. Must be my dumb brain again.)

The wedding bells are ringing

The shotgun is a-singing

Now your fingers steady

More insanity:

Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Towards Men (1996)

Today Is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail (2002)

Manual - Until Tomorrow (2001)

Lovely, organic-sounding IDM -- think early múm without the vocals, or even The Album Leaf -- from Danish producer Jonas Munk Jensen. I got my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday and my body has been simulating a flu ever since, which means I've been spending all of my time either rewatching movies for the millionth time (Young Frankenstein, Life of Brian, Mars Attacks!, that kind of thing) or listening to gentle electronic music like this.

Track listing:

1. Nova

2. Velvet Sunset

3. It'll Be Fine

4. Frequently

5. Lunate

6. Inn

7. Fortnights

8. Baja Nights

9. Tomorrow

Don't touch him! He wants to do it by himself!

More along these lines:

Purple Confusion - The Sound of the Atom Splitting (2002)

Glitterbug - Privilege (2010)

Earthstar - French Skyline (1979)

Excellent, borderline symphonic Berlin-school synth glory, this time from a Utaca-based band. According to the credits, there are a ton of instruments on this album -- including flute, violin, guitar, French horn, and an actual choir -- but it all gets folded into a single, massive wall of sound. Co-produced by Klaus Schulze.

Track listing:

1. Latin Sirens Face the Wall - Part I: Sirens

2. Latin Sirens Face the Wall - Part II: The Amazon

3. Latin Sirens Face the Wall - Part III: The Flourishing Illusion

4. Splendoured Skies and Angels

5. French Sky Lines Suite

Energy rise, energy collapse

More like this:

Mario Schönwälder - The Eye of the Chameleon (1989)

AirSculpture - Thunderhead (1998)

Sacrificium Carmen - Sanansaattaja (2013)

Finnish raw black metal. High-pitched, DSBM-sounding shrieks atop a redlining storm of tremolo-picking and muffled drumming.

Track listing:

1. 666

2. Sanansaattaja

3. Korpin Jäljissä

4. Viimeinen Rukous

Writhing upon human bones

If you like this, try:

Rundagor - Stronghold of Ruin (1996)

Land Beyond the Forest - On Road to Frozen Stars (1998)

Endon - Mama (2014)

A mind-melting, eardrum-shattering cacophony of Japanese blackened noisecore insanity. Harsh noise, samples, drumming that's akin to free jazz but with blast beats, tremolo-picked guitars, serrated synths, and unhinged, shrieking vocals. Produced by Atsuo of Boris.

Track listing:

1. Etude for Lynching by Family

2. Parricide Agent Service

3. Acme Apathy Amok

4. Pray for Me

5. WIWTWM

6. Just Like Everybody

Perversion till death

Further into chaos:

Musica Transonic - Musica Transonic (1995)

The Armed - Only Love (2018)

Jeff Mills - The Occurrence (2010)

Jeff Mills has been making strange, cosmic techno since the early 90s, and he shows no sign of stopping; if anything, he's gained momentum over the past decade. Thus, he's built up a pretty extensive discography, which can make things difficult for a prospective fan, so I'm just going with the album that was my entry point into his beautiful cosmos. What is it about Detroit that makes for such amazing house and techno?

Track listing:

1. Indications

2. Spacewalk (The Storm)

3. Abnormal Feeling

4. Inception

5. Hallucinations

6. Something Is Happening

7. Protons

8. Opening the Passageways

9. Infected

10. Eve

11. Satellite Retrieval

12. The Occurrence

13. A Newfound Sense of Being

14. Damaged Tether

15. From Beyond the Star

16. Reviewing the Incident

17. Transmitting Data to Mission Control

18. Re-Establishing Connection

19. Spiral Galaxy

20. New Measurements

21. Peaceful Encounter

22. Determination

23. Off-Line

One man spaceship

More Detroit magic:

The Martian – LBH-6251876 (A Red Planet Compilation) (1999)

Andrés - Andrés (2003)

Buried Inside - Chronoclast (2005)

A perfect fusion of Celestial-style post-metal and melodic metalcore, Chronoclast blew the minds of pretty much everyone who heard it when it first came out, but never quite made the crossover into full-blown classic, possibly because they didn't quite stick the landing with the follow-up record. I saw them open for Isis shortly after this came out, and the vocalist had a gong front and center that he would positively fucking wild out on during instrumental bits.

Track listing:

1. Introduction

2. Time as Ideology

3. Time as Methodology

4. Time as Surrogate Religion

5. Time as Imperialism

6. Reintroduction

7. Time as Abjection

8. Time as Automation

9. Time as Commodity

10. Time as Resistance

The violent revolt of being

If you like this, you'll probably also like:

Curl Up and Die - Unfortunately We're Not Robots (2002)

Bloodiest - Descent (2011)

Wavestar - Moonwind (1987)

Synth-based sounds for drifting through an infinite expanse of glittering stars and planets. Like many of us, anxiety has played a major role in my life over the past year, and it's been the kind of pervasive, omnipresent anxiety that can't be staved off by ambient music. In fact, ambient music has been so at-odds with how I've been feeling, it's made my anxiety worse a few times. Kinda like how if you're feeling really lonely, listening to funk can feel like listening to a great party that someone else threw and didn't invite you. SO I take it as a great sign that I've been listening to more and more of it over the past few months.

Track listing:

1. Voyager

2. Edge of Morning

3. Cabala

4. Troll Valley

5. Moonwind

6. Chase the Evening

7. For the Whales [bonus]

Intergalactic planetary

Similar vibes:

Mark Shreeve - Ursa Major (1980)

Waveshape - Zyklus (1995)

1 Gud Cide - Look What the Streets Made (1995)

A should-be classic of underground Forth Worth, TX g-funk. Smooth, laid-back beats and flows to match. Some really poignant, emotionally compelling stuff. The cover famously includes a picture of one half of the duo, Twisted Black, after he was shot in the face -- as you can tell from the "(NOT)" underneath the "R.I.P. Black", he survived -- taking the then-newly-formed group temporarily out of commission and arguably robbing them of their place in hip-hop history.

Track listing:

1. Intro

2. Time to Be a Man

3. Convictin It

4. Makin It Right

5. Game of Life

6. Mama Told Me

7. Remember Me (feat. Jerome)

8. Skitt

9. Years Ago (feat. Jerome)

10. Loco vs. State (feat. Jerome)

11. Let Them Colors Go

12. Brothers

13. Going Crazy

14. Where Do I Go

15. Terror in the Gulf Coast (feat. El Dog & Pig) [bonus]

I'm tryin' to do what's right but I'm livin' in a nation of sin

You should also listen to:

Kokane - Funk upon a Rhyme (1994)

South Circle - Anotha Day Anotha Balla (1995)

The Clearing Path - Watershed Between Firmament and the Realm of Hyperborea (2017)

Phenomenal Italian progressive black metal, and maybe my biggest musical oversight of 2017 (it really was a phenomenal year for black metal.) Jangling, barely overdriven guitars, distorted screams, ambient noise, and wordless choirs winding their way through an infinity of dark, cosmic knowledge. As seamless a fusion of beauty and dissonance as you're likely to hear. This is one of several solo projects by the same dude, and they're all excellent, so if you're feeling this, check out his other stuff.

Track listing:

1. Ankhtkheperura in Thee (A Mystical Enlightenment)

2. The Pillars of Creation

3. Stargazer Monolith

4. This Stairway Will Carry Me Towards the Grandest Light

In deep cosmos you'll be reborn

Far realms of true absence

More black metal for cosmic exploration:

Trist - Hin-fort (2007)

Finster - Existenz (2012)

Camera Obscura - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi (2001)

First proper full-length from one of Glasgow's finest musical exports. Breezy, sleepy, 60's-referencing indie pop that's very much in the vein of early Belle and Sebastian, whose Stuart Murdoch helped out with string arrangements. All of this band's records are really great -- there's apparently a new album in the works, too -- but Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi and I go way back.

Track listing:

1. Happy New Year

2. Eighties Fan

3. Houseboat

4. Shine Like a New Pin

5. Pen and Notebook

6. Swimming Pool

7. Anti-Western

8. Let's Go Bowling

9. I Don't Do Crowds

10. The Sun on His Back

11. Double Feature

12. Arrangements of Shapes and Space

Don't get wise to everyone and everything
Leave a little room for some naiveté

If you like this, listen to:

The Gentle Waves - The Green Fields of Foreverland... (1999)

Luna - The Days of Our Nights (1999)

Fantastic Four - Alvin Stone (The Birth and Death of a Gangster) (1975)

A lost gem of lushly produced 70s soul. Rich, layered vocals and ornate, orchestral arrangements. Not sure why more people don't rep this record; maybe it's the lack of a successful single? Whatever the case, any O'Jays fans should definitely hear it.

Track listing:

1. Alvin Stone (The Birth and Death of a Gangster)

2. Have a Little Mercy

3. County Line

4. Let This Moment Last Forever

5. Words

6. My Love Won't Stop at Nothing

Anything I see I want

I'm gonna take it

Similar listening:

The Stylistics - Round 2 (1972)

Billy Paul - War of the Gods (1973)

Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine - Rampton (2002)

Related:
Cathedral - Cosmic Requiem (1994)

Cathedral - Supernatural Birth Machine (1996)

Sarin - Nihilist (1996)

Iron Monkey - Iron Monkey (1997)

Iron Monkey - Our Problem (1998)

Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light (1998)

Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)

Khanate - Things Viral (2003)

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

KTL - 2 (2007)

Ascend - Ample Fire Within (2008)

Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)

Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

ÄÄNIPÄÄ - Through a Pre-Memory (2013)

Given that mass of links, it should be obvious that Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (named for an Earth song) is a supergroup. Essentially, it's Sunn O))) with drummer Justin Greaves (of Iron Monkey and many others) and the great Lee Dorian on vocals. As should also be obvious, they played massive, mean, monumentally heavy drone-doom. Too bad they only made one album.

Track listing:

1. He Who Accepts All That Is Offered (Feel Bad Hit of the Winter)

2. New Pants and Shirt

3. The Smiler

Within her hands are gifts for the damned

More like this:

Bunkur - Bludgeon (2004)

Circle of Eyes - Circle of Eyes (2011)

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)

Black Swan - When the Angels of Twilight Dance (1998)

Related:
Dolorian - When All the Laughter Has Gone (1999)

Dolorian - Dolorian (2001)

Finnish melodic black metal. Mostly mid-paced but busy drumming and the occasional faster section keep things energetic. Ample keyboards but not to an off-putting degree. Highly recommended for any fan of the style.

Track listing:

1. The Tavastian Parade

2. Under Cloak and Hood

3. Into the Sea of Sorrow

4. Autumn in Eden

5. The Withering Flower of Life

6. Mist

7. To Behold the Sky of Flames

8. When the Angels of Twilight Dance

The dismal cold infinity, silent divine tranquility

Drawn upon the pale landscape in our never-ending dream

More like this:

Carpe Tenebrum - Mirrored Hate Painting (1998)

Tunrida - Hierarchy (1998)

Asunta - Landscapes (1996)

Mesmerizing ambient instrumentals from a Polish duo of clarinetist/composer Sławomir Gołaszewski and harmoniumist (that's probably not a word) Wojciech Karwacki. Nothing but droning harmonium and echoing clarinet. Could be likened to an extremely abstracted form of dark jazz. Whatever it is, it's a true hidden gem of ambient music that I only stumbled upon fairly recently, and I'd like to think that I've cultivated a readership that will absolutely fucking love this.

Track listing:

1. Landscape I / Krajobraz I

2. Landscape II / Krajobraz II

3. Landscape III / Krajobraz III

4. Landscape IV / Krajobraz IV

5. Landscape V / Krajobraz V

6. Landscape VI / Krajobraz VI

7. Landscape VII / Krajobraz II

8. Landscape VIII / Krajobraz VIII

Places that even the peaks of the highest mountain cannot reach

Similar vibes:

Jon Hassell - Vernal Equinox (1977)

Sarah Hopkins & Alan Lamb - Sky Song (1985)

Hordes of the Lunar Eclipse - Dancing Demons in the Grey-Lit Glade (2003)

Related:

Fog - Through the Eyes of Night... Winged They Come (2000)

Ripping occult black metal from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Excellent drumming, somewhat standard-issue raspy vocals, and really interesting guitar playing that has this droning quality that, in a certain light, takes on an odd, sore-ridden beauty.

Track listing:

1. In the Service of the Stormlord

2. Gleaned of Gazes into the Shadow-Mirror

3. Nameless, Unnamable

4. And Blood Became Snow

5. Beneath the Veridian Loche

6. Dreams of the Aemerald Alter

7. Dancing Demons in the Grey-Lit Glade

8. Frozen in Death

9. Anointing of the Sick

Decapitation ritual

More like this:

Near - The Dark Art of the Death Hidden in the Castle (2003)

Nosvrolok - The Luciferian Doctrine (2006)

Acrimony - Tumuli Shroomaroom (1997)

I'd like to start by acknowledging the alien-Buddha in the room. Yes, it has a beard. Yes, it looks more like something you'd see on a comp of didgeridoo-driven trance than on a metal album. However, stoner-doom metal this is, and really good stoner-doom at that. It's significantly less cheesy in execution than it is in presentation. And there's only a little bit of didgeridoo. I humbly ask that you trust me, maybe take a bonghit or two if that's your thing, and give ol' Tumuli Shroomaroom a spin.

Track listing:

1. Hymns to the Stone

2. Million Year Summer

3. Turn the Page

4. Vŷ

5. Find the Path

6. The Bud Song

7. Motherslug (The Mother of All Slugs)

8. Heavy Feather

9. Firedance

I was born a million years ago

On a blue star far away

More heavy longhairs:

Eternal Elysium - Spiritualized D (2000)

Malasangre - A Bad Trip To... (2002)

Locust - Weathered Well (1994)

Woozy, nocturnal ambient-electronic sounds from London producer Mark Van Hoeg. The kind of album that makes you feel as though you have stepped into someone else's inner world, and you can't really read their thoughts or memories but you can kind of watch them bounce off of each other unconsciously in the darkness. You know what I'm talking about, right? Right? Anybody?

Track listing:

1. Prospero

2. Moist Moss

3. Xenophobe

4. Weathered Gate

5. Tamed

6. Still

7. Music About Love

8. Lust

9. Fawn

Nightvision

Similar vibes:

Ambient Temple of Imagination - Mystery School (1994)

Not Breathing - Time Music of Quazars (1995)

Avsky - Scorn (2010)

Swedish black metal. Riffs on riffs on riffs, reverb-soaked vocals, and the kind of cruel-but-almost-catchy/groove-y edge that the Swedes have been dominating for years. And there's a d-beat part in "No Compassion, No Regrets". A phenomenal record that I thought I had posted years ago, but that must have been my old blog.

Track listing:

1. As the Mountains Collapse

2. No Compassion, No Regrets

3. Dead End

4. The Beyond

5. Scorn

6. The Sickness Within

The final breath of Mother Earth

More from the land of Swede:

Heresi - Psalm I (2005) + Psalm II: Infusco Ignis (2006)

Arckanum - Helvítismyrkr (2011)

Michael Penn - Resigned (1997)

Charming, Beatles-worshipping power pop from Michael Penn (brother of Sean and Chris.) I feel like I'm lifting this thought from somewhere, so forgive me if that's the case, but: There something inherently sad about power pop, and it's not just that it tends to consist of a bunch of peppy-sounding songs about heartbreak and depression. It's that it always seems to be made by some scruffy dude, clearly out-of-sync with the times, pouring countless hours into crafting these sweet little guitar-pop nuggets that have precisely zero chance of becoming actual pop hits. I guess there may have been a little bit of space for music like this when Resigned came out, but Matthew Sweet already had dibs.

Track listing:

1. Try

2. Me Around

3. Like Egypt Was

4. Out of My Hands

5. All That That Implies

6. Selfish

7. Cover Up

8. Figment

9. Small Black Box

10. Comfort

11. I Can Tell

I am just one of a number of guests

That you'll drop after running a couple of tests

More power pop sad bois:

Dwight Twilley - Twilley (1979)

Brendan Benson - One Mississippi (1997)

Creeps on Candy - Wonders of Giardia (1999)

Killer noise rock with hardcore tendencies from some dudes who've been involved with a whole bunch of Bay Area hardcore/punk bands over the years. Lands a bit on the more melodic side of the equation without sacrificing intensity or nastiness.

Track listing:

1. Nectar of the Gods

2. Her Song

3. Trial

4. Arena

5. Fish People

6. Porn Habit

7. Apples from Eden

8. Gravity's Angel

9. Truth-Truth-Lust

10. Life War

11. Descent

12. Dr. O

13. Bobby Ray

14. Scorpion Dance in the Floating World

I remember crawling

More nasty sounds for nasty folks:

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules (2007)

Richard Barbieri / Tim Bowness - Flame (1994)

Related:

Tim Bowness / Samuel Smiles - World of Bright Futures (1999)

No-Man - Together We're Stranger (2003)

Artful, nocturnal melancholy featuring the vocal stylings of Tim Bowness, who as far as I know hasn't stopped being sad since at least the early 90s. If you had told a 16-year-old me that I'd end up liking the same kind of sleekly produced, middle-aged sad sack music that my dad forced me to listen to in the car on the way to school, I probably would've quoted "Life Sentence" at you and skulked away to smoke cigarettes with my faux-hippie girlfriend and assure myself that I would never, ever be like my dad -- who, it turns out, was right all along.

Track listing:

1. A Night in Heaven

2. Song of Love and Everything Part I and II

3. Brightest Blue

4. Flame

5. Trash Talk

6. Time Flown

7. Torch Dance

8. Feel

See me

Also listen to:

Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Alesini & Andreoni - Marco Polo (1995)

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps with the Fishes (1987)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Michael Brook - Cobalt Blue (1992)

Excellent one-off collaboration between Pieter Nooten (of Clan of Xymox) and ambient composer/guitarist Michael Brook. Drifting synths, mournful strings, murmured singing, heartbreaking songs. Very 4AD.

Track listing:

1. Several Times I

2. Searching

3. The Choice

4. After the Call

5. Finally II

6. Instrumental

7. Suddenly II

8. Suddenly I

9. Clouds

10. Finally I

11. Several Times II

12. Equal Ways

13. These Waves

14. Time

15. Several Times III

Colors above me

Arise high above despair

Also listen to:

Trance to the Sun - Ghost Forest (1984)

The Hope Blister - ...Smile's OK (1998)

Fetisch Park - Alluvial (1997)

Driving, techno/industrial-leaning electronic abstractions partially built around the singing of Thai prostitutes, recorded by the band while staying at a hotel in Bangkok. In the hands of a lesser artist, this could have been a disastrous exercise in exoticization à la Enigma, but Fetisch Park imbues these recordings with genuine, even frightening power, making for a work of art that's utterly fascinating -- both conceptually and sonically.

Track listing:

1. Malaysia Hotel

2. Blow

3. Gradation d'humour

4. Reiz

5. Off Line

6. Pongh

7. Ball-Room

8. Cargo

9. Kadse

10. Suktion

Uncover our heads and reveal our souls

We were hungry before we were born

If you like this, try:

Ancient Methods - First Method (2007) + Second Method (2008)

Demdike Stare - Voices of Dust (2010)

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)

The Consumers - All My Friends Are Dead (1995)

18 minutes of killer raw garage punk. All My Friends Are Dead was supposedly recorded in 1977 -- the author of this article claims to have seen the receipts -- and if that's the case, this was some seriously ahead of its time, proto-hardcore shit. Any doubt that I have is completely unfounded and surely just a testament to how great this record is.

Track listing:

1. Teen Love Song

2. Anti, Anti, Anti

3. Consumers

4. Concerned Citizen

5. Your Problem

6. Ballad to the Son of Sam

7. My Type

8. Dream Hits

9. Get Out

10. Media Ogre

11. Punk Church

Mr. President, you are not my friend

You'd also like:

The Lewd - American Wino (1982)

Charm City Suicides - Charm City Suicides (2000)

dälek - Absence (2004)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

dälek - Deadverse Massive Vol. 1: dälek Rarities 1999-2006 (2007)

My favorite dälek record, and definitely in my hip-hop top 10. Impenetrably dense, shoegaze-like walls of noise, monstrous beats, and bleak, extremely pissed-off flows. One of the only rap records that's made me do the invisible pineapple. 

Track listing:

1. Distorted Prose

2. Asylum (Permanent Underclass)

3. Culture for Dollars

4. Absence

5. A Beast Caged

6. Koner

7. In Midst of Struggle

8. Eyes to Form Shadows

9. Ever Somber

10. Opiate the Masses

Makes our leaders play minstrel, left with none to lead our people

How the fuck am I gonna shake your hand when we never been seen as equals?

You might also like:
Gravediggaz - Nightmare in A-Minor (2001)

Blue Sky Black Death & Nacho Picasso - Exalted (2012)

The New Birth - Comin' from All Ends (1974)

Soul/funk perfection from the great New Birth, a band formed via the fusion of multiple instrumental and vocal groups. Equal parts party-starters, baby-makers, and reflective space-out sessions.

Track listing:

1. End to End

2. Take This Train to Freedom

3. I Wash My Hands of the Whole Damn Deal

4. Lady Love

5. Pretty Music

6. Patiently

7. Echoes of My Mind

8. Do It Again

9. Comin' from All Ends

10. Epilog

Please don't stand still

If you like this, listen to:

Graham Central Station - Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It (1975)

Mandrill - Solid (1975)

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue (1959)

One of my absolute favorite vocal jazz records. Slow-burning, ethereal sounds for the late-night hours, addressing heartache and racial injustice in powerful, sorrowful terms.

Track listing:

1. Afro-Blue

2. Lonely House

3. Let Up

4. Thursday's Child

5. Brother, Where Are You?

6. Laugh, Clown, Laugh

7. Come Sunday

8. Softly, as a Morning Sunrise

9. Lost in the Stars

10. Long as You're Living

Sometimes I think maybe God's gone away

Forgetting his promise and the word he'd say

And we're lost out here in the stars

You'll probably also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Kimiko Kasai - Butterfly (1979)