Dreamboat - Dreamboat (2016)

Related:

Ilyas Ahmed - Between Two Skies (2005)

Ilyas Ahmed - Speaking of Shadows (2006)
Golden Retriever - Golden Retriever (2010)

One-off collaboration between two phenomenal Portland artists. The rare collaboration that actually delivers on its implicit promise: Ahmed's spectral desert folk intertwined with Golden Retriever's shimmering synth drone.

Track listing:

1. Aftershock / Face to Face

2. Mirrored Image / Your Sunday Best

What do you think I'd see

If I could walk away from me?

You should also hear:

Charalambides - Market Square (1995)

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Negative Chambers (2017)

Badgerlore - We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits (2007)

Related:

Charalambides - Market Square (1995)

Badgerlore - Of Things Too Sorrowful to Be Reminded Of, and Things Too Beautiful to Possess (2003)

Six Organs of Admittance - For Octavio Paz (2004)

Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ (2009)

Got a request for more Badgerlore, so here's their final full-length. At this point, the former duo had ballooned to a six-member quasi-supergroup encompassing the original two plus Liz Harris of Grouper, Tom Carter of Charalambides, and more. All things considered, We Are All Hopeful Farmers... really isn't all that different from the Badgerlore that had come before -- skeletal guitar figures, shimmering drones, and a spectral vocal here and there -- but it does feel like the most fully realized version of the project's vision.

Track listing:

1. Furbearer

2. Goodnight, Sweet Rabbits

3. The Crops That You Tend

4. Whichever

5. We Are All Hopeful Farmers

6. Mountain Wine

7. Snowballs for Reuven

8. Grow Your Hair

9. Duet

10. When I Look at Your Face, I See Timothy

Find the ones you hate and hold them tight

You should also hear:

Es - Kaikkeuden kauneus ja käsittämättömyys (2004)

Fursaxa - Alone in the Dark Wood (2007)

Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld (2004)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Ghost - Ghost (1991)

You know what I absolutely love? Albums that start with their longest, least accessible track. As opposed to the prevailing idea that you have to immediately grab a listener's attention or you'll lose them, it says: "This is our house. You're absolutely welcome here, but we're not gonna put on airs." Such a baller move. Other examples that spring to mind: Get Up with It by Miles Davis, ...Is Eternal Life by William Hooker, and Northsuite by Velvet Cacoon.

Anyway, this one's another request, and as long as y'all keep asking for great shit that I'm stoked to revisit, I'm happy to deliver. Ghost truly is one of the greatest psych bands to have ever graced this wretched planet, and from its amorphous, free-jazz-leaning opener to uptempo psych rock to its haunting psych-folk closer, Hypnotic Underworld is for sure one of their best.

Track listing:

1. Hypnotic Underworld: God Took a Picture of His Illness on This Ground

2. Hypnotic Underworld: Escaped and Lost Down in Medina

3. Hypnotic Underworld: Aramaic Barbarous Dawn

4. Hypnotic Underworld: Leave the World!

5. Hazy Paradise

6. Kiseichukan Nite

7. Piper

8. Ganagmanag

9. Feed

10. Holy High

11. Dominoes - Celebration for the Gray Days

Pastures who used to be green

Perish in white seas

That even embrace

The slumbering trees like border marks

You should also listen to:

Osamu Kitajima - Benzaiten (1976)

Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ (2009)

Tucker Zimmerman - Tucker Zimmerman (1972)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Tucker Zimmerman - Ten Songs (1969)

Another one from the old (and I do mean old) request pile. Second album, right on par with the first. Warm, homespun, stoned outsider folk.

Track listing:

1. Another Normal Day

2. Freeway

3. A Friend Like You

4. Left Hand of Moses

5. No Love Lost

6. She's an Easy Rider

7. Amusement Park

8. Back on the Road Again

9. Canary Island Rain

10. Keep That Fire Burning

It's just another normal day

The madman's on the town and it looks like rain

There's a movie goin' down

And all but one of us is goin' insane

You should also check out:

Andy Zwerling - Spiders in the Night (1971)

Loren Auerbach & Bert Jansch - After the Long Night (1985)

Fursaxa - Alone in the Dark Wood (2007)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Fursaxa - Mandrake (2000)

Spectral psych-folk composed of mostly wordless vocal laments and minimalist acoustic figures. A desolate forest trail lined with the spirits of the damned. Free/name your price via the Stench Ov Death bandcamp.

Track listing:

1. Intro

2. Lunaria Enters the Blue Lodge

3. Bells of Capistrano

4. Drinking Wine in Yarrow

5. Black Haw

6. Clé Elum

7. Alone in the Dark Wood

8. Nawne Ye

9. Sheds Her Skin

10. In the Hollow Mink Shoal

11. Rattling the Calabash

12. Birds Inspire Epic Bards

13. Of Tubal Cain

We will conquer this wilderness. It will not consume us.

Also listen to:

Isengrind - Golestan (2007)

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Negative Chambers (2017)

Arthur Verocai - Arthur Verocai (1972)

A classic of hazy, jazzy Brazilian folk rock. If you're looking for laid-back tunes for a warm summer day, this is exactly it. However, I'd guess that a good chunk of my readers are already familiar with this little slice of heaven, considering that it really made the rounds back in the golden age of mp3 blogs and has been reissued multiple times over the past decade. I'm mostly posting this so that I can relive one of my favorite memories from my recent vacation in Mexico, which this record soundtracked: sunbathing and swimming nude while everyone else except my wife was running errands (we're not a "let's get nude together" kind of crew.) I set a timer for half an hour when they left, figuring they'd be gone at least half an hour, and I had literally JUST put my swimsuit back on when the front door opened.

Track listing:

1. Caboclo

2. Pelas Sombras

3. Sylvia

4. Presente Grego

5. Dedicado a Ela

6. Seriado

7. Na Boca do Sol

8. Velho Parente

9. O Mapa

10. Karina (Domingo no Grajaú)

You were right on time

More greatness from Brazil:

Marcos Valle - Marcos Valle (1974)

Milton Nascimento - Minas (1975)

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Negative Chambers (2017)

A collaboration between Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson. On their own, both artists tend towards experimental drone, but this collaboration finds them generating a fascinating, utterly transfixing take on ritualistic, instrumental psych-folk that's as transportive as it is mysterious. Drone still figures heavily into the equation, of course, but it's a fully organic drone filled with chimes, zither, gimli, and more.

Track listing:

1. Cornelian Cities

2. Orchid Sedation

3. Turn Roots in Iodine

4. Aspirations

5. Ceramic Relic

6. Libra Index

7. Desacrelasation

8. Format and Formalize Desire

The one reborn

Other nodding classics:

Pelt - Ayahuasca (2001)

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

Vieo Abiungo - Blood Memory (2010)

Related:

Tokyo Bloodworm - Tokyo Bloodworm (2007)

Dark but colorful instrumentals from American musician William Ryan Fritch. Lands somewhere between freak folk and neoclassical, with some Afrobeat and Indian elements for good measure. There have got to be upwards of 20 different instruments are on this thing, and impressively, Fritch plays them all.

Track listing:

1. Borne Harshly

2. Nervous Laughter

3. In a Wash or Haze

4. White Faced Rotted Teeth

5. Cote d'Ivoire

6. Gaunt Wolves with Buzzard Beaks

7. Rust and Bile

8. Sweat. Thick Like Blood or Honey

9. Parading on Broken Glass

10. Red Earthen Mouths

11. Rain Like Burnt Sugar

12. Fugue

13. Blood Memory

Feast before harvest

If you like this, check out:

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

Helena Espvall - Nimis & Arx (2006)

Aspidistrafly - I Hold a Wish for You (2008)

Beautiful, earthy, texturally rich sounds from a Singaporean duo. Angelic vocals, shimmering drones, field recordings, plaintive acoustic guitars, reverberating keys, and feather-light percussion. My birthday was on Friday so I celebrated by going to the bar and drinking way more tequila than I should have, then I spent Saturday nursing an all-day hangover and, relatedly, a sprained ankle. Then yesterday I had some friends over and was given three bottles of tequila. Needless to say, I'm nursing hangover #2 today. I Hold a Wish for You made me feel less awful for a second.

Track listing:

1. Candlescape

2. Moonlight Shadow

3. Common Colors in the Air

4. Sampling Atmosphere

5. On the Summer Solstice

6. Porcelain Sky Wink

7. Sui

8. Endless Dreamless

Language of flowers

You should also hear:

Eluvium - Lambent Material (2003)

Islaja - Palaa Aurinkoon (2005)

Isengrind - Golestan (2007)

Haunting ambient-psych-folk-drone from French musician Solange Gularte. Guitars, cello, jangling percussion, various woodwinds, keyboards, wordless vocals.

Track listing:

1. Morgenstern

2. Virgin Rain Fog

3. Cum Mortuis en Langua Mortua

4. All Tiny Animals

5. Perseid Meteor Shower

6. Convicta et Combusta

7. N'ed'el'a

8. With Its Mouth to the South & Its Tail to the North

9. Path of Ice

10. How Deep Is the Mud?

11. Golestan

12. Perchtmilk

Dead horses by the sea

You should also hear:

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

Elm - Bxogonoas (2008)

Robin Scott - Woman from the Warm Grass (1969)

Related:

M - The Official Secrets Act (1980)

Before he became M, new wave one-hit wonder, Robin Scott was just Robin Scott, verbose folk rock singer given to psychedelic flights of fancy. This is sadly the only record he ever did in this style, but if you're into this kinda thing, it's a real gem.

Track listing:

1. The Sailor

2. Song of the Sun

3. The Sound of Rain

4. Penelope

5. The Day Begins

6. Woman from the Warm Grass

7. I Am Your Suitcase Lover

8. Mara's Supper

9. Point of Leaving

10. The Purple Cadger

I could have been a cunning wizard with spells at my command

Or perhaps a sailor's son with tales of far-off lands

I could have been shipwrecked, broken on your sands

But no, I'm just the lucky one who's fallen in your hands

More along these lines:

Duncan Browne - Give Me Take You (1968)

Rex Holman - Here in the Land of Victory (1970)

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)

Elm - Bxogonoas (2008)

Ritualistic drone from Jon Porras, who is probably known best as a member of Barn Owl (along with Evan Caminiti.) Dark and psychedelic, with acoustic instrumentation and an organic approach that points towards the more abstract realms of psych folk.

Track listing:

1. Dawn Unveils the Golden Thread

2. Offerings

3. Arboreal Lace

4. Blackened Horizon

5. Trails Lined with Turquoise and Silk

6. Guaquy

7. Warm and Still the Ground Keeps Our Frozen Hands

8. The Desert Speaks at Sundown

9. Lift Our Eyes to the Swelling Tides

Waves break into beams of light

If you like this, listen to:

Ben Reynolds - Earth and Space Magics (2005)

Steven R. Smith - Owl (2008)

Charalambides - Market Square (1995)

Related:

Christina Carter - Bastard Wing (2003)

Heavily sedated drone/psych/folk. Consists almost entirely of warped, at times out-of-tune guitars and lonely, drifting vocals. Seemingly largely improvised. The sound of nodding off. (Not making any assumptions about the musicians involved, just a description of the sounds they made.)

Track listing:

 -Disc One-

1. Think About

2. Those Who Walk

3. We Live Like Pigs

4. Namaste / Lightning Walk / Hours / And So Danced the River

5. Bankrupt

 -Disc Two-

1. House with Three Sides

2. Silvatica

3. Saratoga Reel

4. Indianola

5. Magnolia at Last

6. Someday You'll Get Yours

It's too late to think about this

Similar listening:

Jessamine - Jessamine (1994)

Badgerlore - Of Things Too Sorrowful to Be Reminded of, and Things Too Beautiful to Possess (2003)

Bobby Callender - Rainbow (1968)

A low-key masterpiece of mystical psychedelia and baroque pop from the relatively unsung Bobby Callender. Weightless clouds of sitar, tabla, harpsichord, strings, and more gather and hover like angels over Callender's hazy vocals.

Track listing:
1. Rainbow
2. Nature
3. Sade Masoch
4. Purple
5. Mother Superior
6. Autumn
7. A Man
8. I'm Just High on Life
9. Symphonic Pictures
10. Raga Man [bonus]
11. The Story of Rahsa & D'ahra [bonus]

The two of us have just
Climbed the highest mountain

You might also like:

Annette Peacock & Paul Bley -
Dual Unity (1972)

Clivage -
Mixtus Orbis (1979)

B.J. Cole - The New Hovering Dog (1972)

Strange, often haunting, outsider-sounding (I think it's the vocals) prog/psych/folk rock from pedal steel master B.J. Cole, featuring members of King Crimson, Pentangle, and more. One of many albums that I've been waiting to post until I feel that I can do them justice with a proper writeup, but as the years roll by, I realize that it's just not gonna happen so I might as well just post 'em. Just read about it at Aquarium Drunkard.

Track listing:
1. The Regal Progression
2. Now You Seem Them, Now You Don't
3. The Cold Mountain Mariner
4. Up on the Hill Where They do the Boogie
5. You're Probably Lost
6. Five Pieces for Steel Guitar & Percussion
7. I Know Now
8. The East Winchley Tango

When you miss them, they're about

You might also enjoy:

Jerry Berkers -
Unterwegs (1972)

Pekka Pohjola -
Keesojen Lehto (1977)

Kay Gardner - Mooncircles (1975)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Kay Gardner - A Rainbow Path (1984)

Beautiful, nature-loving, gynocentric (I just learned that word) folk with an abstract, psychedelic bent and some lovely, baroque string-and-piano arrangements.

Track listing:
1. Prayer to Aphrodite
2. Changing
3. Beautiful Friend
4. Moon Flow
5. Wise Woman
6. Inner Mood I
7. Touching Souls
8. Inner Mood II
9. Lunamuse

There's a woman in the moon
There's a woman in the sea

If you like this, you should hear:

Bridget St. John -
Ask Me No Questions (1969)

Mossy Davidson -
Northwind Calling (1977)

Bosse - Echoes of the Forgotten (2008)

Deeply mournful instrumental neofolk. Uneasy drones hover over stark acoustic guitar figures. Winter was already getting me down, then I had a major fuck-up come to fruition last week, so expect sporadic, morose posting, if any.

Six tracks, titled "I" through "VI"

And everybody's leaving
Everybody's kneeling
When all that's left to want is
One good reason
One good reason
For this to be left to doubt

You'd probably also like:

Six Organs of Admittance -
For Octavio Paz (2004)

Footpaths -
Footpaths (2012)

Loren Auerbach & Bert Jansch - After the Long Night (1985)

Haunting folk rock from the potent duo of Loren Auerbach and Bert Jansch, who later married, and eventually died of cancer within two months of each other. Five songs and just under half an hour of breathtaking, melancholic beauty.

Track listing:
1. The Rainbow Man
2. Frozen Beauty
3. Christabel
4. So Lonely
5. Journey of the Moon Through Sorrow

They've got so many prison bars in their head

Similar sounds:

Bridget St John -
Ask Me No Questions (1969)

Mossy Davidson -
Northwind Calling (1977)

Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth (2009)

Quietly stunning, minimal folk from Seattle artist Jesy Fortino. I'm sure that the word "meditative" comes up every time someone writes about Life on Earth, but given her beautiful, abstract musings and minimal yet immersive, spacious sound -- a single acoustic guitar, Fortino's voice, and room noise account for about 98% of what you'll hear -- it really does fit. A record without clear antecedent or peer, and one of my favorites of the past 20 years.

Track listing:
1. Eyes Like Ours
2. Development
3. Slow Motion
4. Dreamer
5. Time Takes
6. Young God
7. Life on Earth
8. CM
9. Tiger Mountain
10. Twilight Property
11. Outside

The world is leaving
Where has it left you?
The world is leaving me too

Also listen to:

Six Organs of Admittance -
For Octavio Paz (2004)

Songs of Green Pheasant -
Songs of Green Pheasant (2005)