Bas B. Broekhuis - The Escher Drawings (1991)

Arpeggiating synths, ambient washes, and motorik drums. I'm currently on a Berlin School bender -- Germans just have a way with synthesizers -- so get ready for lots like this in the coming weeks.

Track listing: 7 songs, titled Parts 1-7

Across shimmering waters

More, more, more!:

Michael Hoenig -
Departure from the Northern Wasteland (1978)

Robert Rich -
Geometry (1991)

Robert Schröder - Brain Voyager (1985)

Some Berlin school nerdery for y'all. 95% synths, with a bit of acoustic guitar here and there, as well as some haunting vocals on one track. Apparently, Brain Voyager is the soundtrack to some unGoogleable movie called Glücksgedanken. I'm hella high on legal weed, there's a cat in my lap, and I'm rocking some choice space music, which is to say: sometimes, life is good.

Track listing:
1. Brain Voyager
2. Lost Humanity
3. Frozen Breath of Life
4. Invisible Danger
5. Glücksgedanken
6. Love Symphony
7. Slaves of Civilization
8. The Inside of Feeling

Harmonic ascendant

You'll probably also enjoy:

Jonn Serrie -
And the Stars Go with You (1987)

Al Gromer Khan -
Utopia (1993) + Attar (1996)

Kevin Braheny - The Way Home (1987)

Previously:
Kevin Braheny - Galaxies (1983)

Two long, lush, infinitely soothing synth-worlds in which to get blissfully stoned and lost.

Track listing:
1. The Way Home
2. Perelandra

Lullabies for the hearts of space

Iasos - Crystal Love (1979)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music (1975)

More beautiful, shimmering, New Age nirvana from Iasos. Synths and pianos welcome you to the promised land.

Track listing:
1. Crystal°White°Fire°Light
2. Oh, How Deeply Do I Love You

Cloud prayer

Kitaro - Oasis (1979)

Synth-y new age bliss. Managed to pick myself up a nice case of acute bronchitis in Minneapolis, and am now attempting to simulate happiness using music and codeine cough syrup. Good night, sweet blogosphere.

Track listing:
1. Morning Prayer (Asa No Inori, Rising Sun)
2. Moro-Rism
3. New Wave (Aratanaru Tabiji)
4. Cosmic Energy (Uchu Enerugii)
5. Eternal Spring (Inochi No Izumi, Aqua)
6. Moonlight
7. Shimmering Horizon (Hikari To Kage)
8. Fragrance of Nature (Shizen No Kaori)
9. Innocent People (Mujaki)
10. Oasis

Dawn of the astral

Constance Demby - Skies Above Skies (1978)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Constance Demby - Sunborne (1980)
Constance Demby - Sacred Space Music (1982)

Constance Demby's early works are among the most stately, transcendent music to come out of the New Age movement. Maybe it's her classical training, maybe it's her powerful but restrained vocals, maybe it's her instrument of choice -- hammered dulcimer -- but it feels as though these records actually reached the heavenly heights that so many of her peers merely invoked. Demby's debut album, Skies Above Skies, is, of course, built around her virtuosic hammered dulcimer-playing, and a bit of synthesizer, but features a stronger emphasis on her vocals than would be heard on her next few records.

Track listing:
1. Om Mani Padme Hum
2. Endless
3. Peace of God
4. El Mie
5. St. Francis Prayer
6. Sant Ji
7. God Is

Hidden light shining in every creature

Robert Rich & Steve Roach - Strata (1990)

The first of two excellent collaborative albums from influential ambient/new age artists (and OPIUM HUM favorites) Robert Rich and Steve Roach. Roach's hypnotic, tribal rhythms mix extraordinarily well with Rich's darker, Eastern-tinged melodies, and glacial synth work provides a spacious, enveloping aural landscape. The end result is some of the richest, most evocative music in either one of their discographies.

Track listing:
1. Fearless
2. Mica
3. Forever
4. The Grotto of Time Lost
5. Iguana
6. Magma
7. Persistence of Memory (for Dali)
8. Remembrance
9. Ceremony of Shadows
10. La Luna

Lost landmarks

Jonn Serrie - And the Stars Go with You (1987)

If you liked floating around in space with Michael Stearns, here's an opportunity to get back out there, this time with American composer Jonn Serrie. Synth washes and arpeggios, gently pulsing drums, and numerous instances of twinkly-dinklies.

Track listing:
1. Gentle, the Night
2. Fantasy Passages
3. And the Stars Go with You
4. The Far River
5. Stratos

Pan galactic

Michael Stearns - Encounter (A Journey in the Key of Space) (1988)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Michael Stearns - Floating Whispers (1987)

Take a synth-tastic trip to another dimension with ambient/new age master Michael Stearns. Encounter is, seemingly, a concept album about interdimensional space travel, and for music that's composed entirely of synthesizers, it paints a pretty vivid picture.

Track listing:
1. Encounter: Awaiting the Other
2. Craft: Dimensional Release
3. The Beacon: Those Who Have Gone Before
4. On the Way: Space Caravan
5. Dimensional Shift: Across the Threshold
6. Within: Choir of the Ascending Spirit
7. Distant Thunder: Solitary Witness
8. Alien Shore: Starlight Bay
9. Procession: Sacred Ceremony
10. Star Dreams: Peace Eternal

As the earth kissed the moon

Constance Demby - Sunborne (1980)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Constance Demby - Sacred Space Music (1982)

I've been sick as a dog since late Thursday night. Here are the gentle, cosmic sounds that I'm listening to while awaiting the sweet release of death.

Track listing:
1. The Dawning
2. Darkness of Space
3. Lift Thine Eyes
4. Sunborne
5. One with the Light

Endless

Kevin Braheny - Galaxies (1983)

So I'm not sure who or what started me down this road - I think maybe it was Steve Roach - but apparently, I like music that sounds like this now. Join me, dear reader, on a journey to a place where the impossible is possible, and one can scarcely breathe, struck dumb and paralyzed by the infinite wonder of the heavens. I'm talking, of course, about my seventh grade science class, which is where one could surely hear this music soundtracking an oppressively boring educational video. Features twinkly-dinklies, oohs and ahhs, something that sounds a lot like the THX intro thing, and a number of outrageously dated keyboard voices.

After writing the above, I read on Discogs that Galaxies is the soundtrack to a 'planetarium production.' Close enough.

Track listing:
1. Galaxies Main Theme
2. Starflight 1
3. Ancient Stars
4. Milky Way Rising
5. Galactic Sky
6. Southern Cross
7. Starflight 2
8. Pleaides
9. Starflight 3
10. Winds (Proxima Centauri)
11. Intergalactic Space
12. Ice Forests of Orion
13. Lookback Time
14. Going Home
15. Starflight 4
16. Down to Earth

To be fair, Mr. Lutsko was one of my favorite teachers.

Constance Demby - Sacred Space Music (1982)

Two stunning, meditative pieces by Californian new age composer Constance Demby. Built on the magical, kaleidoscopic sounds of hammered dulcimer, and fleshed out by lush clouds of viola, synthesizers, piano, chiming bells, and angelic vocals, Sacred Space Music is pure, immersive New Age gold.

Track listing:
1. The Longing
2. Radiance

Endless

Steve Roach - Stormwarning (1989)

Re: this post. I just realized that I've posted a bunch of records to which Steve Roach contributed, but none of his proper solo albums. So I'm nippin' that in the bud right now. Stormwarning falls on the more energetic side of Roach's discography (for further listening in this area, check out his first two records, and/or Empetus, courtesy of the Imaginary Radio Station.) It's technically a live album - three long compositions recorded at separate performances - but thankfully, there's no crowd noise to detract from the listening experience. I can't be the only one who hates that.

Track listing:
1. Day One: 5.10.85
2. Day Two: 1.17.87
3. Day Three: 10.2.91 (bonus)

Fever pulse

Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music (1975)

Celestial Soul Portrait, a new compilation of Iasos' early recordings, is out now via Numero - get it here. Also, no new fan should miss out on his awesomely Angelfire-wave website.

Blissful, immersive sounds from this San Francisco-based musician. His debut full-length, Inter-Dimensional Music is an hour long excursion into a pillowy, psychedelic auditory nirvana that's composed largely of drifting synths, but also incorporates guitars, flutes, nature sounds, tape effects, and many other elements into its euphoric haze.

Track listing:
1. Libra Sunrise
2. Formentera Sunset Clouds
3. I Passion You a Leap of Love-Flame
4. Lueena Coast
5. Rainbow Canyon
6. Lagoon Night
7. Siren Shallows
8. Aries
9. Crystal Petals
10. Osiris Bull-Man and Elephant Walk
11. Creation
12. Cloud Prayer
13. Angel Play
14. The Bubble Massage
15. Maha-Splendor

♥ Kratom

Richard Pinhas - Rhizosphere (1977)

Pulsing, arpeggiating space age synthscapes from French musician Richard Pinhas (of Heldon.)

Track listing:
1. Rhizosphere Sequent
2. A Piece for Duncan
3. Claire P.
4. Trapeze/Interference
5. Rhizosphere

Perspective