Mark Renner - All Walks of This Life (1986)

Beautiful, elusive sounds from one of Baltimore's finest. Side A is all gauzy synths and glistening guitars, while Side B finds Renner channeling a swooning, lo-fi new wave muse, and would have been a huge hit with the hipsters if it came out in 2010.

Track listing:
1. Feeling Blue and Grey
2. Princes Street
3. The Quiet Land
4. The Man and the Echo
5. Book of Mercy
6. Wounds
7. Few Traces
8. Riverside
9. The Mirror at Saint Andrews
10. Half a Heart
11. The Wild House
12. More or Less
13. A Glimpse of the Thirteenthroom

It might have been

If you like this, listen to:

Bernard Xolotl -
Return of the Golden Mean (1980)

Karl Schaffner & Lothar Grimm -
Birds of Passage (1984)

The Residents - Animal Lover (2005)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
The Residents - Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composter Series, Vol. II (1986)
The Residents - 1997: The Missing Year - Adobe Disfigured Night (2009)
The Residents - Hades (2009)
Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2011)

The definitive 'modern' Residents record IMO. Superficially, it's about as close to conventionally-structured songwriting as The Residents are interested in getting, but the songs are as dark, strange, and emotionally compelling as anything they've written. "Elmer's Song" in particular is a real marvel of warped, miserably beautiful songwriting. Honestly, probably my most listened-to Residents record.

Track listing:
1. On the Way (To Oklahoma)
2. Olive and Gray
3. What Have My Chickens Done Now?
4. Two Lips
5. Mr. Bee's Bumble
6. Inner Space
7. Dead Men
8. My Window
9. Ingrid's Oily Tongue
10. Mother No More
11. Dreaming of an Anthill (Teeming)
12. Elmer's Song
13. The Monkey Man
14. The Whispering Boys
15. Burn My Bones

But soon a voice inside of a dream
Said "Son you can become My Cream"

You might also like:

The Legendary Pink Dots -
The Maria Dimension (1991)

Human Host -
The Halloween Tree (2007)

The Residents ‎– 1997: The Missing Year - Adobe Disfigured Night (2009)

Cheap-sounding synths, pounding rhythms, and disturbing, unhinged vocals, in service of unsettling, darkly satirical compositions. In other words, it's everything you should expect from a Residents record.

A ghost story of sorts, "Disfigured Night" is a multi-movement piece that has been released in at least six different incarnations, all of which, I believe, are live recordings. It contains, among many other things, lyrics taken from "We're an American Band", musical elements of "Another One Bites the Dust" and Metallica's "Creeping Death", and an extremely dark, warped cover of "We Are the World".



Track listing:
1. Adobe 1 (2.0)
2. Adobe 2
3. Adobe 3
4. Adobe 4
5. We Are the World

There's a choice we're making

You might also wanna hear:

Sand -
Golem (1974)

Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry By for
the Golden Age of Nothing (2004)

Phil Flowers and His United Family - Alpha and Omega (1973)

A lost psych gem helmed by Phil Flowers, who is better known, if he's known at all, as a right-down-the-middle sort of pop vocalist and songwriter (his first record is a collaboration with Nat King Cole.) As far as I can tell, this far-out psychedelic funk/soul explosion, chronicling the Biblical story of the creation of the universe and the rise and fall of man, came more or less out of nowhere, and had little to no commercial impact. In other words, it's the stuff that music blogs are made of.

As always, if anyone has further relevant information, please illuminate me.

Track listing:
1. God's Creation, First Movement
2. God's Creation, Second Movement
3. First Man (Adam)
4. Adam and Eve's Love Song
5. First Man (Tag)
6. Devil's Theme
7. Prostitution (Hooked)
8. Abortion (It's Too Crowded)
9. I Can See the Sunlight
10. Fire, Fire
11. Will You Be There
12. Gabriel's Gonna Blow
13. Alpha and Omega

And God said, "Yeeeah, that's good."

You'll also wanna hear:

Chubby Checker -
Chubby Checker (1971)

Angelo Bond -
Bondage (1975)

Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry By for the Golden Age of Nothing (2004)

Esoteric musical dementia. Warped old time-y sideshow music drones as Keyes sings in a shrill vibrato about the many miseries of life -- big and small -- and cackles like a goddamn lunatic. As depressing as it is bizarre, Songs to Cry By for the Golden Age of Nothing is a guaranteed mood killer.

Track listing:
1. Tomb Song
2. Small Apart
3. Look at You, You're Ugly
4. Cauliflower
5. My Child
6. Old Pal
7. Excreted from Our Mother's Womb
8. Old Folks
9. The Show Is Over

Look at you, you're heinous
Your face is like an anus

More music made by possible witches:

Ruth White -
Flowers of Evil (1969)

Diamanda Galas -
The Litanies of Satan (1982)

The Residents - Hades (2009)

Related:
The Residents - Stars and Hank Forever - The American Composers Series, Vol. II (1986)
Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2010)

Hades (released as a download, then re-released in CDr form as The Rivers of Hades) consists of one long, atmospheric instrumental suite divided into five tracks, and might be considered among the band's less acutely disturbing records.

Of course, given that they're responsible for some of the most disturbing music in existence, there's still plenty of room for scary-ass shit -- stuttering percussion, sickly washes of synth, high-frequency drones, trembling feedback, ominous pianos, horror-movie cellos, and dissonant, shrieking melodies.

But starting with the latter half of "Cocytus River", they seem to settle into a darkly zen-like, quasi-tribal state that wouldn't sound THAT out of place next to something like Six Organs of Admittance, Ben Reynolds, or even some of Robert Rich's more unsettling recordings.

Track listing:
1. Acheron River
2. Cocytus River
3. Lethe River
4. Styx River
5. Phlegethon River

Gaping mouths of Cerberus

You like this shit? Try these shits:

Bill Horist - Soylent Radio (1997)

CoH - Mask of Birth (2002)

Lordian Guard - Lordian Guard (1995)

Got a real treat for y'all tonight. Lordian Guard was a woefully short-lived heavy metal project composed of multi-instrumentalist William J. Tsamis and vocalist Vidonne Sayre-Riemenschneider. Their self-titled LP is a sublime collision of massively epic, prog-like cheese and ambitions (and chops to match) with homemade-sounding production involving a conspicuous drum machine, somewhat muffled guitars, slightly too-loud synths, and a vocalist whose dramatic yet understated performance reminds me more than a little of Marianne Faithful. Oh, and they're Christian, in an Old Testament, angry God kinda way. As far as I'm concerned, this is a fucking masterpiece.

Track listing:
1. War in Heaven
2. Winds of Thor
3. Lost Archangel
4. My Name Is Man
5. Revelation XIX
6. In Peace He Comes Again

The Adversary, he will fall
By the wrath of the everlasting God

More epic, drum machine-fueled metal:

Obtest - Tūkstantmetis (1997)

Summoning - Nightshade Forests (1997)

Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2011)

Related:
The Residents - Stars and Hank Forever: The American Composers Series, Vol. 2 (1986)

A deeply disturbing, highly abstract solo effort from Charles Bobuck of The Residents. Pitch-black synthesizers, clattering percussion, samples from commercials, tape loops, ghoulish vocals. The kind of stuff that can really get in your head if you let it.

Track listing:
1. Florence
2. Ghost Snake
3. Perchance to Dream
4. Milton
5. Pudding in Disguise
6. Sleepwalker
7. Unseen Sister
8. Talking Light

Trident

More music to make your skin crawl:

Diamanda Galas -
The Litanies of Satan (1982)

The Legendary Pink Dots -
Plutonium Blonde (2008)

The Legendary Pink Dots - Plutonium Blonde (2008)

Related:
The Legendary Pink Dots - Chemical Playschool 1 & 2 (1981)
The Tear Garden - Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987)
The Legendary Pink Dots - The Maria Dimension (1991)

After almost three decades, Edward Ka-Spel's musical brilliance shined as bright as ever on Plutonium Blonde, a warped journey through thunderous industrial, cinematic synthscapes, gothic synth pop, sinister psychedelia, musique concrète, and utter emotional desolation. For some reason, their label claimed upon the album's release that it was their "most commercially appealing" record to date; this sentiment was echoed in a reliably off-base review on Allmusic. Trust me, though: it's fucking not.

Track listing:
1. Torchsong
2. Rainbows Too
3. A World with No Mirrors
4. My First Zonee
5. Faded Photography
6. An Arm and a Leg
7. Mailman
8. Oceans Blue
9. Savannah Red
10. Cubic Caesar

Dressed up to the nines
Sipping dandylion wine

More music from bizzaro-land:

Throbbing Gristle -
Assume Power Focus (1981)

Human Host -
The Halloween Tree (2007)

Human Host - The Halloween Tree (2007)

One of Baltimore's (recently relocated to NY) longest running and all-time greatest acts. Though they've covered a lot of stylistic ground over the years, their core sound is a creepy, synth-driven, Residents-esque bizarro pop with bombastic vocals and intensely absurd and psychedelic lyrics. Free download via bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Thunder Moth
2. Vision Drug
3. Ghost and Talking Fire
4. Underground Rainbow
5. Out of State
6. Nocturnal Quadruped
7. Bathtub Blast
8. The Realm

You were born everywhere
Nothing else could ever be there

The Legendary Pink Dots - The Maria Dimension (1991)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Legendary Pink Dots - Chemical Playschool ! & 2 (1981)

A full-on masterpiece of dark, mind-melting outsider psych. Come get lost in a dense musical forest of acoustic and fuzzed-out guitars, synth, saxophone, and more, throughout which Edward Ka-Spel's warped, desperate vocals echo. Perfect in every way, except in that it is too creepy for mixed company.

Track listing:
1. Disturbance
2. Pennies for Heaven
3. Third Secret
4. The Grain Kings
5. The Ocean Cried 'Blue Murder'
6. Belladonna
7. A Space Between
8. Evolution
9. Cheraderama
10. Lilith
11. Fourth Secret
12. Expresso Noir
13. Home
14. Crushed Velvet

Deep down horrors untold
In the hold

Sean Nicholas Savage - Flamingo (2011)

Lo-fi, lounge-y acoustic indie pop with a distinctly outsider feel. Savage's voice is high-pitched and thin, and trembles in way that sounds more like struggling to stay on pitch than an affectation. Add a bit of tape warp, a cheap-sounding drum machine and keyboard, and bizarre, at times surreal, but earnest lyrics, and you've got a singular, idiosyncratic vision that most people will not get.

Track listing:
1. Days Go By
2. Come Back to Me
3. Chin Chin
4. You Changed Me
5. My Chances
6. Catch the Quick Fish
7. Spotted Brown
8. Only the Wind
9. Goodbye Rainbow
10. Wasted in Snowstorm
11. Common Ground
12. She Was the One
13. Pupil of the Night

That's the way it's always been
The only way to swim is into the current

Sister Irene O'Connor - Fire of God's Love / Songs to Ignite the Spirit (1973)

Here's a nice 'lil oddity. So as you can easily tell by the cover, this is a Christian album, through and through, recorded by a nun. An Australian nun, to be precise. Stick with me, though, and if you haven't heard this record, download it now.

Upon pressing play, you'll be greeted not by acoustic picking and a sunny-sounding voice praising the Lord, but by eery, ethereal, echo-laden vocals, primitive drum machines, and synthesizers. And even if not every song is as haunting as the album-leading title track, Fire never stops sounding as though it was written and performed by an insane person. Sounds as if Sister O'Connor wasn't just getting high on Christ -- she was straight-up tripping her balls off on him. Or acid.

Track listing:
1. Fire (Luke 12:49)
2. Nature Is a Song
3. Springtime (In Australia)
4. Mass: Emmanuel (Text: I.C.E.L.)
5. Messe du Saint Esprit
6. Light (John 8:12)
7. Mary Was 'There'
8. O Brother! (Matt. 7:1-5)
9. Teenager's Chorus
10. O Great Mystery (John 6)
11. Christ Our King (Col. 1:13)
12. Keshukoran

I am the living bread
He who eats this bread I give
He shall not die but he will live

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

The Residents - Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composers Series, Vol. II (1986)

The Residents turn songs by country music legend Hank Williams and The March King John Philip Sousa into Residents songs, meaning that they're played mainly on synthesizers and sung by someone who sounds like he's probably committed a murder or two. Just as disturbing and excellent as it sounds. Their churning, elusive, ghostly take on Williams' "Jambalaya" is particularly mesmerizing.

Track listing:
1. Hey Good Lookin'
2. Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)
3. Kawa-Liga
4. Ramblin' Man
5. Jambalaya
6. Sousapart
7. Kawa-Liga (Praire Mix) (bonus)

Son of a gun, we'll have big fun
On the bayou

The Kaplan Brothers - Nightbird (1978)

This one made the rounds a few years ago, it's probably time to revisit it. Dark, lo-fi, low-key psychedelic rock from the almost completely unknown Kaplan Brothers. Think of it as the outsider's Forever Changes. Albums like this are why music blogs exist.

Track listing:
1. Ode to Life
2. Vodka and Caviare
3. Epitaph
4. Listen to Falling Rain
5. Life and Me
6. Love Is Life
7. Nightbird
8. Happy
9. He

Confusion will be my epitaph