Lard - The Last Temptation of Reid (1990)

No one seemed to give a shit when I posted Pure Chewing Satisfaction a while back, but I'm gonna keep at it. Lard is Ministry as fronted by the ever sarcastic and satirical Jello Biafra -- a combination that works way better than you might think -- and both of their LPs are classics of thrash-y, politically-inclined industrial metal. At times, The Last Temptation gets a little too wacky for its one good, but the metal bits are killer.

Track listing:
1. Forkboy
2. Pineapple Face
3. Mate Spawn & Die
4. Drug Raid at 4 A.M.
5. Can God Fill Teeth?
6. Bozo Skeleton
7. Sylvestre Matuschka
8. They're Coming to Take Me Away
9. I Am Your Clock

Hair by mail
Tit jobs for teens
Go broke appearing rich
Searching for rosebud in the fire
Pop stars fingers in the fans
The therapist you wish you had
Crucifix or lubricant
Government by fad

Manes - Under Ein Blodraud Maane (1999)

Symphonic black metal at its finest. Dark, dramatic, and deranged. Cheesy keyboard abounds. From what I understand, Manes got really weird after this, their first full-length, so if you like it, delve into the rest of their discography at your own risk.

Track listing:
1. Min Trone Star Til Evig Tid
2. Maanes Natt
3. Uten Liv Ligger Landet Ode
4. De Morke Makters Dyp
5. Under Ein Blodraud Maane
6. Til Kongens Grau De Dode Vandrer

We found nothing

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

Modern English - Mesh and Lace (1981)

Why didn't someone tell me that Modern English is so good?? I mean, I've always loved "I Melt with You" (and anyone who claims otherwise is lying) but I had no idea they were so legit. Released from the hallowed halls of early 80's 4AD, then re-released in '92 with over half an hour of additional, album-worthy material, their debut Mesh and Lace is a first-rate piece of dense, driving, atmospheric, noisy, anxious post-punk that is approximately 400x better than I expected it to be. It's totally self-serious, a bit pretentious, and smacks of goth-y melodrama, but to me, these are not problems.

Track listing:
1. Gathering Dust
2. 16 Days
3. Just a Thought
4. Move in Light
5. Grief
6. The Token Man
7. A Viable Commercial
8. Black Houses
9. Dance of Devotion
10. Smiles and Laughter
11. Mesh and Lace
12. Tranquility
13. Home
14. Swans on Glass
15. Incident

The pressure's on, no time to lose

Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ (2009)

RTZ is a collection of early Six Organs of Admittance (aka multi-instrumentalist Ben Chasney)'s 4-track recordings, culled from various splits, EPs, and the like. Seven songs, and just under two hours of music. Deftly picked acoustic guitars, swirling atmospherics, soaring electric solos, Chasney's haunted vocals, and too many other instruments and sounds for me to bother listing. Arguably Six Organs' most challenging and intensely psychedelic release.

Track listing:
1. Resurrection
2. Warm Earth, Which I've Been Told
3. You Can Always See the Sun
4. Punish the Chasms with Wings
5. Redefinition of Being
6. Creation Aspect Earth
7. Creation Aspect Fire

Distance between here and never

Maxayn - Maxayn (1972)

Debut LP from funk/soul group Maxayn (they took their name from lead singer, Maxayn Lewis.) Includes cover versions of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter". So, so good.

Track listing:
1. Trying for Days
2. Song
3. You Can't Always Get What You Want
4. Jam for Jack
5. Gimme Shelter
6. Let Me Be Your Friend
7. Doing Nothing, Nothing Doing
8. Beloved

It was hard for us then
And it's hard for us now

Fennesz / Sakamoto - Cendre (2007)

A gorgeous collaboration between experimental electronic noisemaker/guitarist Christian Fennesz and the great Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano, in which Fennesz's textural sounds provide the perfect backdrop for Sakamoto's sparse, stately melodies. Equal parts longing, melancholy, anxiety, and tranquility.

Track listing:
1. Oto
2. Aware
3. Haru
4. Trace
5. Kuni
6. Mono
7. Kokoro
8. Cendre
9. Amorph
10. Glow
11. Abyss

Lost in the humming air

Burning Spear - Studio One (1973)

Great first LP from reggae legend Burning Spear. Booming bass, tinny percussion, a thick instrumental mix, reverb-y vocals, and not too much Jah talk, which, I think we all can agree, can get old pretty quick.

Track listing:
1. Ethiopians Live It Out
2. We Are Free
3. Fire Down Below
4. Creation
5. Don't Mess with Jill
6. Down by the Riverside
7. Door Peep Shall Not Enter
8. Pick Up the Pieces
9. Get Ready
10. Journey
11. Then a Come
12. He Prayed

Brain food

Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ - Are You Excrements? (2000)

Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ (or C.S.S.O.) are from Japan, as you'd probably guess when, about two minutes into the album, guttural vocals creep in under the wah-wah guitar-driven psych rock party, then all of a sudden, it's straight-up grindcore. It's kinda jarring and wacky, but not self-consciously so -- it feels as though the band doesn't think it's that big of a jump. The rest of the record follows a similar template, adding an ample amount of harsh noise. Dynamic, innovative, and consistently entertaining, Are You Excrements? is one of very few records that both indie rock nerds and grind freaks might be able to agree on.

Track listing:
1. Cosmic Super Strong Ordure
2. Living Dead A-Go-Go
3. Worst
4. Diversion of Former Customary Trite Composition
5. Mental Rape 1 & 2
6. Are You Excrements?

I hope you die in a hotel fire

Lyrinx - Nihilistic Purity (2007)

Muddy, blown-out, extremely effective depressive black metal. Rarely are releases so appropriately and literally named. Put on Nihilistic Purity the next time you peel off all of your skin and replace it with mud and leaves.

Track listing:
1. Tides of Self Destruction
2. Nihilistic Purity
3. Another Life Ready to End
4. Deconstruction of the Will to Live
5. Exit - The Pain of Existence

This is the only way
Can you feel the burden?
There is no other way

If you like this, try:
Cendres - Ungeziefer (2007)
Endless Dismal Moan - Endless Dismal Moan (2004)
Strid - Strid (2007)
Trist - Sebevražední andělé (2007)

Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death (1988)

Spectrum of Death, Morbid Saint's only official full-length, may be the greatest thrash metal album of all time. It's a blown-out, raw, raging riff factory, with insane, incomprehensible solos, vicious, raspy, reverb-soaked vocals, and not a single weak spot. Goddamn, this album kills every time. Mandatory metal listening.

Track listing:
1. Lock Up Your Children
2. Burned at the Stake
3. Assassin
4. Damien
5. Crying for Death
6. Spectrum of Death
7. Scars
8. Beyond the Gates of Hell

Kill the white rabbit before it kills you

KTL - 2 (2007)

KTL is a duo consisting of Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rihberg. Their music is a droning, screaming cacophony that is often truly unnerving to behold.

Track listing:
1. Game
2. Theme
3. Abattoir
4. Snow 2

A corpse on the forest floor

Bowery Electric - Lushlife (2000)

Perfect, nocturnal trip-hop. Drum loops, gauzy synths and guitars, smoky female vocals.

Track listing:
1. Floating World
2. Lushlife
3. Shook Ones
4. Psalms of Survival
5. Soul City
6. Freedom Fighter
7. Saved
8. Deep Blue
9. After Landing
10. Passages

On a bed on top of the sheets
In a room that smells like the sea
You will take your body like a saw to me
Living here at the end of the world

Low - Murderer EP (2003)

This one's real special to me, kids. Slowcore titans Low released this miniature masterpiece between the unfairly derided Trust and the more fairly derided The Great Destroyer. This, combined with the fact that it was a somewhat limited run 10", led to it getting largely overlooked. VERY unfortunate, as it contains some of their finest compositions.

The version of "Silver Rider" on here is, in my opinion, vastly superior to the Great Destroyer version -- instead of shouting its prettiness at you, the song glides along in a stately, widescreen haze of keyboard, patient, buoyant floor tom, and angelic vocals.

The real showstopper, though, is the dramatic, chill-inducing title track, in which vocalist Alan Sparhawk, clearly working through some crisis of faith, speaks directly with God, accusing Him of hiding murderous tendencies, and finally, offering his services as a divine killer for hire. This EP has helped get me through some pretty rough times -- really -- and I hope that, should it be needed, it might do the same for you sometime.

Track listing:
1. Murderer
2. Silver Rider
3. From Your Place on Sunset

One more thing before I go
One more thing I ask you, Lord
You may need a murderer
Someone to do your dirty work

Ralph Towner - Solstice (1974)

More ECM excellence, this time from a four-piece group of ECM heavyweights -- saxophonist Jan Garbarek, keyboardist Eberhard Weber, drummer Jon Christensen, and guitarist/bandleader Ralph Towner. While much of Towner's work is placid and sparse, with Solstice, the full-band sound lends a welcome sense of dissonance and unrest to his compositions, leading to one of his most diverse, dynamic, and memorable outings.

Track listing:
1. Oceanus
2. Visitation
3. Drifting Petals
4. Nimbus
5. Winter Solstice
6. Piscean Dreams
7. Red and Black
8. Sand

Distant hills