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's 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)