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)

Törr - Armageddon (1990)

Czech black/thrash. Lots of heavy, mid-paced evil that can be traced directly to Celtic Frost, with a twist of Venom.

Track listing:
1. Chrám smrti
2. Žal
3. Vra se ke psùm
4. Smlouva s peklem
5. Samota v smrti
6. Král mor
7. Lady Madeline
8. Zlej sen
9. Posedlá
10. Padlý chtíè
11. Armageddon

Made in hell

You should also hear:

Filii Nigrantium Infernalium -
A Era do Abutre (1995)

Sabbat -
The Dwelling (1996)

The Dolphin Brothers - Catch the Fall (1987)

Related:
Japan - Adolescent Sex (1978)
Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Artful new wave/"sophistipop" (I refuse to use that word without mentioning my contempt for it) from Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen of Japan. Honestly, Jansen, who handles vocals, kinda sounds like he's straight-up doing a David Sylvian impression.

Track listing:
1. Catch the Fall
2. Shining
3. Second Sight
4. Love That You Need
5. Real Life, Real Answers
6. Host to the Holy
7. My Winter
8. Pushing the River

Falling down without a sound

You might also like:

Gary Numan -
Dance (1981)

The Wild Swans -
Bringing Home the Ashes (1988)

No Trend - A Dozen Dead Roses (1985)

Probably my favorite No Trend record. A confrontational mess of a breakup record, encompassing post-punk, warped funk, no wave, garage punk, and goth-rock, with Lydia Lunch providing backing vocals, plus some skronking free-jazz sax to round it all out.

Edit: I accidentally deleted someone’s comment instead of approving it. It just said “Thank you” I think. Sorry if that was yours.

Track listing:
1. Karma Nights
2. Your Love
3. Tear You Apart
4. Never Again
5. All of Nothing
6. Good Day Mrs. Hamm
7. For the Fun of It All
8. The Curse
9. Heartache
10. Who's to Say

Your love takes the shape of a puddle on the floor

You should also hear:

Alice Donut -
The Untidy Suicides of Your
Degenerate Children (1992)

Cows -
Sexy Pee Story (1993)

The Orchids - Unholy Soul (1991)

Jangly Scottish indie rock with allusions to 60s psych pop. Unlike the album art led me to believe when this CD arrived at a record store I worked at a few years back, this is not an obscure goth-rock album, so don't prepare yourself for anything overtly dark.

Track listing:
1. Me and the Black and White Dream
2. Women, Priests, and Addicts
3. Bringing You the Love
4. Frank De Salvo
5. Long Drawn Sunday Night
6. Peaches
7. Dirty Clothing
8. Untitled
9. Moon Lullaby
10. Coloured Stone
11. The Sadness of Sex (Pt. 1) / Waiting for the Storm
12. You Know I'm Fine

Picture this
A thousand people
With no eyes
Staring at you

Also listen to:

The Magnetic Fields -
The Wayward Bus (1992)

Rollerskate Skinny -
Shoulder Voices (1993)

Nobukazu Takemura - Child's View (1994)

HELLO, MY MILLIONS OF FANS, I AM BACK. I'd like to tell you that there's been some kind of major event, good or bad, that has prevented me from posting for the past month-plus, but the truth is, I've just been busy, my head's been elsewhere, and I haven't really been nerding out on music too much. And I can't really say whether I'll be posting on here again tomorrow or in another month or so, we'll see. But I can say with certainty that it feels good to strap some headphones on and zone the fuck out, and for whatever reason, this is the first album that I thought to put on. Downtempo electronic tunes -- with elements of exotica/lounge, jazz, fusion, R&B, and hip hop -- from Japan. Enjoy.

Also, I see all of your re-up requests. There are too many for me to tackle right now. Soon, hopefully.

Track listing:
1. Phases of the Moon
2. For Tomorrow (Childlike Mix)
3. Ivory Tower
4. Searching
5. Another Root (Menelik's Rap Mix)
6. Rill
7. Crescent (Monika's Universe Mix)
8. The Future with Hope (Sample and Hold Mix)
9. Time and Space
10. Pastral Waltz
11. Ill at Ease
12. Let My Fish Loose
13. Science Fiction (Menelik's Rap Edit Mix)
14. One Blue Moment (No Talk Remix)
15. Serene
16. The Lake of the Winter

A sign

You'd probably also like:

Red Snapper -
Making Bones (1998)

Nujabes -
Metaphorical Music (2003)

Terje Rypdal - Lux Aeterna (2002)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Terje Rypdal - Bleak House (1968)
Jan Garbarek with Terje Rypdal - Esoteric Circle (1969)
Terje Rypdal - Terje Rypdal (1971)
Terje Rypdal - After the Rain (1976)
Terje Rypdal, Miroslav Vitous & Jack DeJohnette - S/T (1979)
Terje Rypdal - Descendre (1980)
Terje Rypdal, Miroslav Vitous & Jack DeJohnette - To Be Continued (1981)
Ketil Bjørnstad, David Darling, Terje Rypdal & Jon Christensen - The Sea (1995) + The Sea II (1998)

A breathtaking work of jazz-informed contemporary classical that's unlike anything else I've posted by Mr. Rypdal. Some of the most haunting, sublime sounds he's ever made.

Track listing:
1. 1st Movement - Luminous Galaxy
2. 2nd Movement - Fjelldåpen
3. 3rd Movement - Escalator
4. 4th Movement - Toccata
5. 5th Movement - Lux Aeterna

No, they couldn't believe it was you
But I knew

Also listen to:

Steve Tibbetts -
Northern Song (1982)

Zbigniew Preisner - Diaries of Hope (2013)

Pouppée Fabrikk - Rage (1990)

Pissed-off Swedish EBM. The core sound consists entirely of drums, synth-bass, and vocals, with some subtle atmospheric elements added here and there, making for a minimal, punk-leaning sound.

Track listing:
1. Retrospect
2. Circumcision
3. Shapeshifter
4. Distraction
5. Incinerage
6. Death
7. Keine Zukunft
8. Youth
9. Selfdestruct
10. No Way Back
11. Watch Your Sex

Dismembered quietly

You should also listen to:

The Klinik -
Face to Face (1988)

Placebo Effect -
Galleries of Pain (1992)

Patologicum - Hecatomb of Aberration (2003)

Polish grind-y brutal death. Simplistic, extremely heavy guitars, formless gutturals, sloppy drumming, and a few long-ass horror movie samples, including one from Bad Taste.

Track listing:
1. Extremely Deforminded
2. Rectal Love
3. Bloody Adventures
4. Castration Anxiety
5. Massive Neck Injection by Infected Junkie
6. Vaginal Pus(sy)
7. Hacken-Creutzfeld Jacob
8. Famous by Urge
9. Tragedy in Supermarket
10. No Meat, No Eat
11. Condemned to Rot
12. Genital Vapor
13. Against Tolerance
14. Pavulon Ambulance

A walk among the corpses
Fills my heart with pride

You'd also like:

Dead Infection -
A Chapter of Accidents (1995)

Chainsaw Dissection -
Malodorous Decomposition (2005)

Autumn - The Hating Tree (1997)

Perfect goth-rock. Lush guitars, muscular rhythm section, soaring lady vox, and an enveloping, nocturnal atmosphere. Happy Halloween month, by the way. Due to my life being a pile of shit, I won't be cranking out the spooky hits as I have in previous years, so make sure to go through the archives for previous Octobers if you want more.

Track listing:
1. How It Came to Be This Way
2. A Waiting Time
3. Even Now
4. ...Of Moondrop Tears
5. Desert Winds of Jezebel
6. Resurrection
7. Oceans
8. The Well
9. Atrophy
10. Seconds
11. The Hating Tree

When candles and incense are not enough
To dispel the death I die every day

Listen to these, too:

This Ascension -
Tears in Rain (1989)

Static Movement -
Visionary Landscapes (1999)

A-Soma & the Unlightened - Nothing Comes to Mind (1999)

Dark, extremely strange music. Synthesized orchestral arrangements, classically-inspired acoustic guitars, surreal poetry, some moments resembling deconstructed new wave, and generally unsettling vibes. I've been wanting to post this for years, but the prospect of actually having to describe it has been daunting. So in the interest of the greater good, I just decided to half-ass it, like always.

EDIT: Apparently A-Soma is not an alias for Nemo Jones, so I have deleted that bit. I got that information from Discogs but enough of you seem certain that it's wrong that I'm gonna believe y'all. Thanks to those of you who were able to convey this information without being fucking dickheads about it.

EDIT #2: Looks like the information on Discogs has been fixed now as well, and since A-Soma had been listed as an alias for Nemo Jones for years now, I'm guessing that it was one of y'all that corrected it. So it looks like there's a happy ending after all.

Track listing:
1. This
2. Train
3. Vortex of Blades
4. Ethyl
5. Dark Sphere
6. Satellite Dance
7. Giant Leaves
8. Draps Bruts
9. Conundrum
10. Sky Face
11. The Canals of Mars
12. The Botanist's Servant
13. Falling Down Holy
14. Frozen Fields
15. Amniotic Shore
16. The Box
17. Scorched
18. Morning Light
19. Mineral Worship

There's no such thing as purity

You'd probably also enjoy:

Eerie Von & Mike Morance -
Uneasy Listening (1996)

The Residents -
Animal Lover (2005)

Abramelin - Abramelin (1995)

Australian death metal. Sounds like they couldn't decide between Florida and Stockholm, so they combined the two, added some subtle-but-crucial progressive elements to cover their tracks, then covered "Cantara" by Dead Can Dance just to be safe. If the part after the little drum break in "Grave Ideals (Nekromaniac)" doesn't have you feeling like the white people in the fancy restaurant in that Chapelle Show sketch with John Mayer, you probably have something wrong with your mosh gland.

Track listing:
1. Misfortune
2. Grave Ideals (Nekromaniac)
3. Spiritual Justice
4. Humble Abode
5. Stargazer (The Summoning)
6. Stargazing (Stargazer II)
7. Depraved Afterlife
8. Invocation
9. Cantara [Dead Can Dance cover]

You'll soon become a part of us

Similar listening:

Inverted -
The Shadowland (1996)

Nominon -
Diabolical Bloodshed (1999)

The Muffs - Alert Today Alive Tomorrow (1999)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
The Muffs - Happy Birthday to Me (1997)

RIP to Kim Shattuck, one of the greatest songwriters ever to grace the world of pop punk. Here's The Muffs' excellent, bittersweet fourth album, in which they largely stick to their established sound while branching out juuuust a bit -- there are a couple of ballads, and "Dear Liar Love Me" is pretty fucking weird. Thanks for all the great music, Kim.

Track listing:
1. I Wish That I Could Be You
2. Silly People
3. Another Ugly Face
4. Prettier Than Me
5. Clown
6. Your Kiss
7. Numb
8. I'm Not Around
9. Blow Your Mind
10. Room with No View
11. Dear Liar Love Me
12. In
13. Jack Champagne

Until you hate you will never know what love is
Until that day you will never feel a thing

You should also hear:

The Queers -
Love Songs for the Retarded (1993)

Matthew Sweet -
Kimi Ga Suki (Raifu) (2003)

Odraza - Esperalem Tkane (2014)

Anxiety-ridden Polish black metal. Angular guitars, linear, intentionally disjointed songs, and vocals that sound more like a sorcerer shouting curses and incantations from on high than anything relating to music.

Track listing:
1. Niech sie dzieje
2. Wielki Mizogin
3. Esperalem tkany
4. Cicha 8
5. Gorycz
6. Prog
7. Tam, gdzie nas nie spotkamy

Abortion of humanity

Also listen to:

Genius Ultor - Nic Co Boskie
Nie Jest Mi Obce (2014)

Tortorum -
Katabasis (2014)

Vanessa Amara - Like All Mornings (2017)

Some of my favorite ambient music in recent memory. Abstracted piano figures and ghostly drones, echoing into empty space through a watery, moderately damaged cassette. Melancholy, tranquil, and utterly haunting.

Track listing:
1. 09-03-2016
2. 28-04-2016
3. 03-03-2016
4. 12-03-2016
5. 05-03-2016
6. 12-04-2016
7. 15-03-2016
8. 27-04-2016
9. 07-04-2016
10. 11-04-2016
11. 01-03-2016
12. 26-04-2016
13. 08-04-2016
14. 06-04-2016
15. 29-04-2016

You're welcome here

You'd probably also enjoy:

Vidna Obmana -
The River of Appearance (1996)

Keith Fullerton Whitman -
Playthroughs (2002)