David Holmes - David Holmes Presents The Free Association (2002)

Some sweet trip-hop courtesy of a group headed by great Irish producer David Holmes, and powered by the dual vocal attack of Pati Yang and Sean Reveron, which plays kinda like a chilled-out take on the metal 'beauty-and-the-beast' template and reminds me a bit of early Tricky. Very true to the original form of the genre -- which, many of their contemporaries seemed to have forgotten, wasn't all that far removed from hip-hop -- but with a colorful, psychedelic sound that still sounds inspired today.

Track listing:
1. Don't Rhyme No Mo
2. (I Wish I Had A) Wooden Heart
3. Le Baggage
4. Free Ass O-C-B
5. Somedays
6. Everybody Knows
7. Pushin' a Broom
8. La Dolce Vita
9. Paper Underwear
10. Whistlin' Down the Wind

Singin' with the dolphins
Dancing with the starfishes
Ridin' the unicorns

If you like this, try:

Depth Charge -
Nine Deadly Venoms (1994)

The Bug -
Tapping the Conversation (1998)

Steven Halpern & Georgia Kelly - Ancient Echoes (1978)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Steven Halpern - Spectrum Suite (1976)
Georgia Kelly - Seapeace (Music for Harp) (1978)
Steven Halpern & Dallas Smith - Natural Light (1984)

Quietly stunning new age sounds from synth-man Steve Halpern and harpist Georgia Kelly. Filled out with a bit of flute and haunting, wordless vocals. I put this on the other day at the record store, and I'm just sitting there vibing when my coworker asks what we're listening to. I say, "Oh, just a little new age, you know," cause I'm the only one who works there who likes new age so I know she doesn't give a shit about either artist and she goes, "Oh, nevermind, I thought it was the Zelda soundtrack."

Track listing:
1. Ancient Echoes
2. Apollo's Lyre
3. From Eleusis
4. Sand Dance
5. Tarashanti
6. Dharma Duet (Part One)
7. Dharma Duet (Part Two)
8. Crotona
9. Ode for Orpheus
10. Sphinx Synergu
11. Ceremony
12. Temple Priestess
13. Oracle at Delphi

Emanations from eternity

You should also listen to:

Constance Demby -
Sunborne (1980)

Kay Gardner -
A Rainbow Path (1984)

Altar of Perversion - From Dead Temples (Towards the Ast'ral Path) (2001)

Mind-blowing, cosmic Italian black metal. A cerebral, psychedelic masterpiece of a debut LP from a criminally slept-on band. And while I'm on them, I highly, highly recommend checking out their newest album, as (spoiler alert) it has a really good shot at the #1 spot on my year-end list. Top five, for sure, unless 2018 suddenly becomes the greatest year for black metal since 1994.

Track listing:
1. Shteitanhas
2. The Wisdom of Evil
3. Aeongrave
4. Behold the Altar of Perversion
5. Necromantia Sexualis
6. Burningcoldvoiddemon
7. From Dead Temples

The timeless spirit, who's guided us in the past
Blows cold winds from a place of no stars

You're also gonna wanna hear:

Vassafor -
Vassafor (2007)

Invehertex -
Hacia el Vórtice (2015)

Crebain - Night of Stormcrow (2003)

Epic, pissed-off solo US black metal. Drum machines, buzzing guitars, and heavily distorted vocals. "I like everything you post except the black metal" is the "I like everything except for country" of this blog, but y'all can't stop me.

Track listing:
1. Night of the Stormcrow
2. I Live to Kill
3. Darkness Be My Bride
4. By Our Talons Heaven Shall Fall
5. Time to Die
6. Cries of My Motherland
7. Winds of Fury

The fire burns in my brain
I have the need to kill
I want to see the blood
To cut the flesh with steel

Other bands that I discovered via their splits with Leviathan:

Blackdeath -
Saturn Sector (2001)

Sapthuran -
... In Hatred (2005)

GWAR - America Must Be Destroyed (1991)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
GWAR - Hell-O (1988)

Peak GWAR right here. Inspired by various brushes with censorship -- including Dave Brockie's arrest for "disseminating obscenity," which I guess is legal jargon for "waving a massive prosthetic alien dick around on stage"  -- GWAR came with their most offensive material to date. A concept album revolving around the band's own gleeful depravity, a fascistic morality squad, and a massive, destructive monster created by injecting a T-Rex egg with crack.

They also lean hard into their satire of rock n roll in general, including "Rock N Roll Never Felt So Good", a cock rock send-up about having sex with and murdering a 13-year-old "quadriplechick," and "The Road Behind", which takes on those awful ballads about how tour life sucks that have always struck me as whiny and a bit insulting to fans, making the only good one in the process.

Finally, this is as good a time as any to present my theory that the deaths of Dave Brockie and David Bowie -- or, as future history books will call it, "The Fall of the Two Davids" -- opened up our reality for the endless parade of absurd horrors that is present-day America. The end of The Colbert Report might have something to do with it, too, I'm not sure. But Oderus, wherever you are, you were right: America should have been destroyed years ago.

Track listing:
1. Ham on the Bone
2. Crack in the Egg
3. Gor-Gor
4. Have You Seen Me?
5. The Morality Squad
6. America Must Be Destroyed
7. Gilded Lily
8. Poor Ole Tom
9. Rock N Roll Never Felt So Good
10. Blimey
11. The Road Behind
12. Pussy Planet

Necro-bestial anal butt sex

Other Beavis and Butthead favorites:

White Zombie -
Four EPs

Pantera -
Power Metal (1987)

Black Death Ritual - Profound Echoes of the End (2005)

Related:
Prevalent Resistance - Eternal Return (2008)

Punishing Finnish black metal featuring past and present members of Horna, as well as a shit-ton of other great bands. Fucking goddamn this band was so good. Full-tilt, ripping, but precisely controlled chaos, with tight performances all around and raw, impenetrable production that comes off like a best-case-scenario rehearsal recording. It's really too bad that this project seemingly fizzled out after just the one album, as there was TONS of potential here.

Track listing:
1. Underneath
2. Cease the Triumph of Light
3. Desolate and Dead
4. I Bleed Thy Black Blood
5. Temple of Black Holocaust
6. Inner Siege
7. Preferred Solitude

Orgy of destruction unleashed
In the glare of the fullmoon

Also listen to:

Manticore - Bowels of the Holy
Anoint Us in Evil (2003)

Black Devotion - Ceremonial
Rituals of Demonic Chaos (2013)

Azure Ray - November (2002)

Beautifully sad, strikingly heartfelt slowcore/indie folk. A six-song EP -- five originals and one Townes Van Zandt cover -- that I listened to on practically a daily basis when I was 20-21. Makes me think of my old friend and bandmate, with whom I listened to this EP many times, who passed away in November of 2009 -- particularly the title track, and especially when the lyric "So we're speeding towards that time of year/To the day that marks that you're not here" crushes me in its gentle, cooing palm.

Track listing:
1. November
2. For the Sake of the Song
3. No Signs of Pain
4. Just a Faint Line
5. I Will Do These Things
6. Other Than This World

I'll just sit and stare at my deep blue walls
Until I can see nothing at all
Only particles, some fast, some slow
All my eyes can see is all I know

More along these lines:

Lullaby for the Working Class -
I Never Even Asked for Light (1997)

Damien Jurado -
Ghost of David (2000)

Majestic Downfall - Temple of Guilt (2009)

Epic US death/doom. Lots of melodic, mid-paced stuff à la Rapture/early Katatonia, but it's not overly polished, as a lot of disciples of those bands tend to be.

Track listing:
1. Temple of Guilt
2. Unexpected
3. Swallow: Pride
4. Failure
5. Bleeding Sun

Light came in
And all turned black

If you like this, you should hear:

Anathema -
The Silent Enigma (1995)

Cryptal Darkness -
They Whispered You Had Risen (1999)

Junji Hirose + Otomo Yoshihide - Silanganan Ingay (1989)

Well kids, due to the anxiety med withdrawal that's making my head feel like there's an electricity gremlin rattling around inside of it, I'm completely wired. So, how 'bout a spazz-y, free-form clusterfuck courtesy of two Japanese experimental musicians? I know I'm not sleeping.

Track listing:
1. Noise from Far East
2. The Time to Live and the Time to Die
3. 1.2.3.4.
4. 6 and 14 Wave
5. Black and Blue
6. Green Bicycle
7. Intolerable Fellow
8. Short Tune
9. Mob?
10. For T.T.
11. Crying Sky
12. #7
13. Jalan
14. Don't Be Late!
15. Rip

I wanna get up and do my thing

Let the insanity roll:

Royal Trux -
Twin Infinitives (1990)

The Focus Group -
Sketches and Spells (2004)

Pekka Pohjola - Keesojen Lehto (1977)

Related:
Sally Oldfield - Water Bearer (1978)

Excellent, epic prog/jazz-rock from Finnish composer Pekka Pohjola. I first heard this record in the form of a 1981 reissue, found in a bargain bin, that gives top billing to Mike and Sally Oldfield -- both of whom are featured throughout the album -- and, to my eyes, made Pohjola's name look like the name of the album. Thus, for years, I thought that this was Pekka Pohjola by Mike and Sally Oldfield. Whoopsy-doozle.

Track listing:
1. Oivallettu Matkalyhty
2. Kädet Suoristavat Veden
3. Matemaatikon Lentonäytös
4. Pääntaivuttelun Seuraukset, Osa 1: Sulamaan Jätetty Kipu
5. Pääntaivuttelun Seuraukset, Osa 2: Nykivä Keskustelu Tuntemattoman Kanssa
6. Varjojen Varaslähtö

Come go with me

Also listen to:

Maneige -
Les Porches (1975)

Picchio dal Pozzo -
Picchio dal Pozzo (1976)

Spring Heel Jack - There Are Strings (1995)

Debut album of stoned, dub-flavored drum n bass from this long-running English duo. SHJ first appeared on my radar about a decade and a half ago when I picked up the excellent Bombscare EP -- a collaboration with Low -- but I only got around to checking them out recently. Great stuff. Digging that vaporwave-y album art, too.

Track listing:
1. Only You
2. Masquerade Dub
3. Flying Again
4. Oceola
5. Where Do You Fit In?
6. Derek
7. There Are Strings
8. Colonnades
9. Lee Perry, Pt. 1
10. Day of the Dead

This time your lips won't be afraid

You should also listen to:

Meat Beat Manifesto -
Subliminal Sandwich (1996)

Klute -
Casual Bodies (1997)

Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs (1980)

As Hall & Oates enjoyed their first string of hits, Hall sidestepped and made an art rock record, colored by the woozily beautiful guitars of Robert Fripp. And it's not just a curio -- it's fucking topnotch stuff. The first song and a half lull you into a false sense of accessibility, then, midway through "Something in 4/4 Time", the wall of Fripp guitars hits, and you realize this is not just another pop/rock record. This back-and-forth continues throughout the record. Recorded in 1977 but -- as is tradition for any great experimental record by a mainstream artist -- shelved by those damn money-blinded record company fat-cats.

Track listing:
1. Sacred Songs
2. Something in 4/4 Time
3. Babs and Babs
4. Urban Landscape
5. NYCNY
6. The Farther Away I Am
7. Why Was It So Easy
8. Don't Leave Me Alone with Her
9. Survive
10. Without Tears

They're all sacred songs
They're not easily won

You would probably also enjoy:

Mick Ronson -
Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1974)

Dwight Twilley -
Twilley (1979)

Cam Newton - Welcome Aliens (1980)

Energetic, playful jazz-rock/fusion helmed by guitarist Cam Newton. Herky-jerky time signatures and intricate, busy playing help to create a sense of constant forward propulsion, even during more laid-back moments.

Track listing:
1. Heroic Proportions
2. Water Baby's Chant
3. In the Temple of the Falling Leaf
4. Cumulus Waltz
5. Welcome Aliens
6. Recent Developments
7. The Theme
8. Up the River

Whirlpool

If you like this, listen to:

Out of Focus -
Four Letter Monday Afternoon (1972)

Passport -
Looking Thru (1974)

Storming Darkness - Sin-Thesis (2008)

Russian black metal. Some really great, inspired guitar work here, but it's the kind that you really have to give a close listen to appreciate. The kind of album whose DL link I'm gonna have to re-up in six months because you people need a bunch of clicks and whistles with your black metal. But, as before, consider this: we all love a nice, fancy meal with a bunch of stuff on the side and charred this and creme fraiche and all that shit, but sometimes, you just want a really well-cooked steak. And that's what Sin-Thesis is: a really well-cooked black metal steak.

Track listing:
1. V. & R. / Supreme Murderer Moral
2. Weaved of Worms
3. Awakening in Sin
4. Steps for Hell
5. Black Night of Soul / Eschatological Hallucinations
6. Necrofaith Song / Voiceless Decadence
7. Black Rapture and Furious Hunger of Darkness!
8. Sufferings in a Dreadful Passion
9. Return to Mother Night

For the fruitful horizons of flesh
On the way to Satanic revelation

More like this:

Nattsvargr -
Vinterblod (2010)

Malediction -
IX Sorcerers (2011)

Icarus - Six Soviet Misfits (2003)

A two-disc compilation of EPs from English duo Icarus. Abstract, drum-n-bass-rooted sounds with skittering, jazz-y percussion, dark, reverberating atmospheres, and some flashes of glitchy harsh noise. Withdrawal's giving me hella brain zaps, which in turn is making me relate hard to music like this.

Track listing:
   -Disc One-
1. UL-6
2. Borichaen Pintack
3. Deutshe Oper
4. Benevolent Incubator
5. Despair
   -Disc Two-
1. Nine Fresian
2. Dolphin Lylic
3. Kipperkun Scratch
4. Xot Zioks
5. Skate Glug
6. Elephant Kiosk

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More like this:

Richard Thomas -
Shoes and Radios Attract Paint (1998)

Black Faction -
Internal Dissident Part 1 (1999)