Kenny Wheeler • David Friedman • Jasper van 't Hof - Greenhouse Fables (1992)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
John Taylor, Norma Winston, & Kenny Wheeler - Azimuth (1977)

Kenny Wheeler - Deer Wan (1978)

That album cover really is awful, huh? I suppose the actual art itself isn't so bad, but those fonts, and the overall composition? It looks like a self-help book about how bipolar depression can effect your marriage or something.

Which is a shame, because the music is positively gorgeous ambient jazz.  Wheeler's trumpet/flugelhorn, Friedman's vibraphone, and van 't Hof's piano make for beautiful, contemplative bedfellows, effortlessly combining and dispersing, allowing for a sense of dynamic and movement even as the volume rarely goes beyond a gentle murmur.

Track listing:

1. Zambon

2. Everybody's Song but My Own

3. Truvib

4. Greenhouse Fables

5. Farm

6. Salina Street

I follow to the edge of the earth

And fall off

You should also listen to:

Bill Frisell - In Line (1983)

Eberhard Weber - Pendulum (1993)

Yume Bitsu - Yume Bitsu (1999)

Jammy space/post-rock from good ole Portland, OR. Gathering clouds of droning distortion; chiming, almost krautrock-like cleans; keyboards/samples/tape loops (I'm not really sure at times); the occasional murmur-y vocal; and the strange sense of floating in mid-air yet feeling hopelessly weighed down.

Track listing:

1. Team Yume

2. I Wait for You

3. Surface I

4. Truth

5. Surface II

6. The Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg

Like amputees

We wander aimlessly

And nothing sets us free

If you like this, listen to:

Light - Turning (1996)

Landing - Oceanless (2001)

Reggie and the Full Effect - Greatest Hits '84-'87 (1999)

To start, I'd like to share the crooked path that I took last night to listening to Greatest Hits '84-'87 for the first time in a number of years: A contestant named Suzanne Goldlust, who I'm arbitrarily routing for, wins Jeopardy! (I'm a few episodes behind) → Start singing "Susanne" by Weezer → Go to the kitchen to make brownies, listen to "Susanne" → "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" → Return of the Rentals → "Holiday" by the Get Up Kids → Greatest Hits '84-'87.

I was 17, a junior in high school, and had been dating this girl for over a year -- which in high school relationship time is practically a lifetime -- when she cheated on me, then dumped me before school, in the rain, on her birthday. After a couple weeks of me crying, writing terrible poetry, and generally moping around, my Mom took me to Record and Tape Traders and told me she'd buy me a CD of my choice, hoping to cheer me up. I had heard some of Greatest Hits '84-'87, and even though my initial reaction had been to hate it, when I saw it on the shelf, it called to me.

Friends, this record completely turned me around. It didn't just speak to my broken heart, my insecurities, and my profound teenage yearning: it translated them into the biggest, brightest, catchiest hooks I'd ever heard. (Kinda like that line about cocaine in Walk Hard: "It turns all your bad feelings into good feelings!") The language, which clearly was simplistic by design -- all "girl"s and "boy"s and "you"s and "heart"s and "never"s and "run away"s -- made it even more potent, as did the rich, shimmering synths, which sounded lifted directly from "Friends of P". Plus there were a bunch of dumb, fun sketches. I became obsessed, and played it over and over at home and in my friends' cars, as we all came to memorize and sing along to every goddamn word. Thus began our emo phases.

Some less personal background info for those who don't already know: Reggie and the Full Effect is the emo-power pop solo project of James Dewees, who played in Coalesce (that's him on drums), the Get Up Kids, and a bunch of other bands. Greatest Hits '84-'87 is, obviously, a joke name, as it was recorded in 1998 with two other Get Up Kids, then released the following year. It's the project's first album. Dewees is punker, cooler, and nicer than you. This record usually sounds cloying/grating to new listeners, and I get it. It's still my heart.

P.S. Thanks everyone for all the kind words on my last post. It truly means a lot to me, even coming from (sometimes anonymous) strangers on the internet.

Track listing:

1. Drunk Guy at the Get Up Kids Show

2. Girl, Why'd You Run Away?

3. Fiona Apple Can Kiss My Black Ass

4. What's Wrong?

5. Props to the Queen of Pop A.K.A. Keep on Climbin' That Velvet Rope Baby

6. Your Girlfriends Hate Me

7. Megan Is My Friend to the Max

8. My Dad - Happy Chickens (Kirksta Party-to-Go Mix)

9. Another Runaway Song

10. Drunk Guy Talks Chemicals to Us at the Get Up Kids Show

11. Your Boyfriend Hates Me

12. Pick Up the Phone Master P

13. Where's Your Heart?

14. Get to the Choppa

15. Better for You

16. Everything's Okay

17. Just a Reminder

18. Brandi's Birthday Song

So long

I finally figured out what was wrong

You should also listen to:

that dog. - Totally Crushed Out! (1995)

Tony Molina - Dissed and Dismissed (2013)

Bruno Spoerri - Voice of Taurus (1978)

Well, I finally graduated. There's still plenty of work on the near horizon, but for now, I'm basking in the afterglow with this piece of weirdo astrological synth dorky-ness. A mountain of synths with a single bespectacled Swiss nerd on top. Plus, a bit of live drumming and saxophone. Speaking of which, "Saxelite" is an undeniable highlight here, so stick around for that.

Track listing:

1. Hymn of Taurus (Taurus Is Calling You!)

2. Galactic Acid

3. Saucers Over Montreux

4. Hallo World

5. Meditation

6. Space Cantata

7. Cosmotoxology

8. Saxelite

9. Quiet High

Moondust will cover you

You should also hear:

Roger Powell - Cosmic Furnace (1973)

Leon Lowman - Syntheseas (1980)

Manfred Schoof - Meditation (1987)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Jasper van 't Hof - Eye-Ball (1974)

Manfred Schoof / Rainer Brüninghaus - Shadows & Smiles (1989)

A curious entry in Manfred Schoof's discography. Airy, synth-heavy, mid-tempo grooves and drifting, reverberating trumpet, at times receding into full, new age-y ambience. Meditation definitely veers very close to smooth jazz, especially on the pillow-y "Timecode". Elsewhere, the title track sounds like something that would have lurked on the back half of Moby's Play, and "Robot" pitches a soundtrack for a PG-13 cut of The Terminator. Strange that it was released as a Manfred Schoof solo album as it is quite clearly a collaborative effort with keyboardist Jasper van 't Hof, the only other musician credited.

Track listing:

1. Meditation

2. Clouds

3. Timecode

4. Robot

5. Silence

6. Zen

Speak to me, baby

In the middle of the night

More smooth sailing:

Carlo Maria Cordio - Shadows and Memories (1979)

Jack DeJohnette featuring Lester Bowie - Zebra (1985)

Louis de Mieulle - Defense Mechanisms (2011)

Super tasty debut solo record from French jazz bassist Louis de Mieulle. Nocturnal, woozy, groove-y jazz-rock/fusion featuring a lot of work with out-of-sync time signatures -- I'm guessing there's a more concise, nerdier way term for that but I don't know it -- and the casually virtuosic drumming of Animals as Leaders' Matt Garstka. If you're a regular reader of this blog, this should be way up your alley.

Track listing:

1. Scapegoat 1

2. Scapegoat 2

3. Electric Cell Mutations

4. Skuld

5. Soundfrieze

6. The Ladybug and the Cockchafer

7. The Taste of Filth

8. Portrait de Famille

9. Solitude

Birth of an idiot

Similar sounds:

Hermann Szobel - Szobel (1976)

Percy Jones - Cape Catastrophe (1990)

Philip Sollman - Something Is Missing (2006)

Minimal ambient drone from a Berlin-based composer/producer, with whom I became familiar via his tech-house duo Pigon. Total tonal immersion. Not for the impatient.

Track listing:

1. Room One

2. Room Two

3. Room Three

4. Room Four

5. Room Five

6. Untitled

A pill for remembering

Further immersion:

Rafael Toral - Sound Mind Sound Body (1994)

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs (2002)

Steve Tibbetts - Exploded View (1986)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Steve Tibbetts - Steve Tibbetts (1977) + Yr (1980)

Steve Tibbetts - The Fall of Us All (1994)

Steve Tibbetts & Knut Hamre - Å (1999)

If you've noticed that I've been even less active than usual on here, it's because I'm putting the finishing touches on my degree, and have been buried alive in a digital grave of spreadsheets, financial reports, essays, and zoom meetings. And as I mentioned on last month's post about new shit I've been listening to, I listen pretty much exclusively to Steve Tibbetts while doing school work -- for real, I have a playlist titled "SCHOOL" that's just Tibbetts' discography in chronological order.

However, what's truly extraordinary about this man's music is that not only does it hold up extremely well to both casual and close listening, but I never seem to tire of it, regardless of the countless hours I've spent with it. So here's one of my favorites of his. It's second only to The Fall of Us All in his discography in terms of sheer volume levels and intensity of performance, which means you're in for propulsive tribal percussion, dramatic vocals, and Tibbett's inimitable guitar stylings/feedback manipulation.

(Pro-tip: For even more, check the comments section on the The Fall of Us All post.)

Track listing:

1. Name Everything

2. Another Year

3. A Clear Day and No Memories

4. Your Cat

5. Forget

6. Drawing Down the Moon

7. The X Festival

8. Metal Summer

9. Assembly Field

Mind dust

Somewhat similar listening:

Michael Shrieve & Steve Roach - The Leaving Time (1988)

David Torn - What Means Solid, Traveler? (1996)

Exitmusic - Passage (2012)

Glistening, ethereal post/indie rock for sad lovers. Sigur Rós by way of Brooklyn. Everything I'm listening to right now sounds like it was made to be played in stadiums. I believe that a lot of the hype around this band revolved around the fact that its two members were/are married, and one of them (Aleska Palladino) was Angela on Boardwalk Empire, but none of that has anything to do with Passage's ability to make you feel like you're levitating.

Track listing:

1. Passage

2. The Night

3. The City

4. White Noise

5. Storms

6. The Wanting

7. Stars

8. The Modern Age

9. The Cold

10. Sparks of Light

I'll vacuum the spaces

Used to separate me from you

You from me

Death from birth

If you like this, try:

Auburn Lull - Cast from the Platform (2004)

Air Formation - Nothing to Wish For (Nothing to Lose) (2010)

Crawl - Earth (1995)

The 90s saw no shortage of bands worshipping at the altar of Godflesh, and I'd be lying if I said Crawl wasn't in that number. But crucially, Crawl injected plenty of death metal energy into the dystopian industrial wasteland, which sets them apart and fucking rules. As found in an albums folder in my Music app labeled "SHUPS", which is short for "pushups", obviously.

Track listing:

1. Skinned

2. Servant

3. Womb

4. I Believe

5. Machines Way

6. Emotional Cage

7. Soundless

8. Gray

9. Release

Malignant cancer of the ecosystem

Also listen to:

Pitch Shifter - Industrial (1991)

Meathook Seed - Embedded (1993)

Cable - Down-Lift the Up-Trodden (1996)

First album by these British indie rockers. Chaotic, grunge-y post-hardcore with a sense of playfulness and melody that keeps things fun even as they descend into full-on noise rock on a song called "Murdering Spree". Had a real hard time picking which of this band's albums to post, as they only have three and they're all great, so why not start from the beginning?

Track listing:

1. New Set of Bruises

2. Choice

3. Blindman

4. Hydra

5. Seventy

6. Murdering Spree

7. Sale of the Century

8. Oubliette

9. Give 'Em What They Want [bonus]

10. Dead Wood for Green [bonus]

We're here to watch you fall

If you like this, listen to:

Shudder to Think - Get Your Goat (1992)

Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight (2000)

DEAR_SPIRIT Tells You About 5 More New Records That He Likes

As some of you surely know, I don't post download links to brand new albums, with the obvious exception of albums that the artists themselves have made available for free download. As none of you know -- unless you've been spying on me, you weird pervert -- practically all I've been listening to is new stuff. And Steve Tibbetts while I do school work. So instead of yet another Steve Tibbetts record, these are 5 more recent favorites, and if you like one of them, please consider buckling down and actually buying it.

Scowl - Psychic Dance Routine

The first track on Psychic Dance Routine is a flaming, head-on collision of 'traditional,' circle-pitting hardcore and hooky pop-grunge à la Veruca Salt. The rest of the EP fleshes out that dichotomy in spectacular form. It's a blatant swing towards accessibility and a wider reach, but it's also easily my favorite thing this band has done.

Listen/buy.

Nicole Dollanganger - Married in Mount Airy

Vignettes of doomed romance, addiction, abuse, suicide, and murder via dark, surreal, undeniably Lynch-ian Americana. Dollanganger's dreamy, almost child-like voice and guitar are at the core of every song, but they're encased in layered, pitch-shifted sonics that have an unsettling, almost alien-sounding sheen. Fans of Ethel Cain should find a lot to love here.

Listen/buy.

Tujiko Noriko - Crépuscule I & II

Tujiko Noriko has been making excellent IDM/experimental pop/other electronic sounds since the turn of the millennium, and it's truly criminal that I have never posted about her on here. Her latest, Crépuscule I & II is an expansive double album of immersive, cavernous ambience: drifting, reverb-drenched synths, the odd scattered, slo-mo rhythm, and Noriko's whispery intonations.

Listen/buy.

Derhead - The Grey Zone Phobia

Dense, eerie black metal with a massive, all-consuming sound that suggests both the yawning cosmos and the crushing cacophony of urban sprawl -- quite appropriate for an album that purportedly encourages the listener to "contemplate the contrast between reality and the inner self." Labyrinthine but not overwrought, frightening singular but not self-consciously so. Undoubtedly some of the best black metal in recent memory.

Listen/buy.

Baaba Maal - Being

A seamless fusion of Senegalese desert rock and half-time electro-pop groove. Maal's vocals would be mesmerizing in virtually any context, but over distorted rhythms and subwoofer-knocking bass-lines, there are moments of true transcendence. Practically impossible to listen to at anything less than max volume.

Listen/buy.

Keren Ann - La Disparition (2002)

Downtempo, melancholic French folk pop/chanson from the eternally pensive Keren Ann. Fingerpicked acoustic guitars, wavering strings, barely-there percussion, jazzy pianos, and muted horns provide a lush, autumnal backdrop for Ann's warm, whispery voice. It's all extremely easy on the ears. As much as I love this record, I actually thought of it as a result of my previous post due to its inclusion of one of the earliest instances of intentional AutoTune abuse of which I'm aware: the trip-hop flavored outlier "La corde et les chaussons".

Track listing:

1. Au coin du monde

2. Le sable mouvant

3. Les rivières de janvier

4. La corde et les chaussons

5. Surannée

6. Ailleurs

7. L'illusioniste

8. La tentation

9. Mes pans dans la neige

10. Le chien d'avant garde

11. La disparition

Restons ici, le soleil est moins pâle, le vent moins sidéral

L'eau est bleue, bleu foncé, tu t'endors

Also listen to:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Khalil - The Water We Drink (2017)

The sound of Auto-Tuned pop/R&B stuttering, faltering, collapsing, and being fed through a digital wood chipper. Never heard anything else quite like it. A Posh Isolation joint. I remember thinking this record was gonna be a big deal with us nerds but as far as I can tell I was wrong, as I don't remember hearing/seeing anyone talking about it and it was surprisingly hard to track down a good rip for the purposes of this post. 

Track listing:

1. Trapper

2. Rest My Head Against a Wall of Water

3. Gigds

4. Submit So Deep

5. Estate Straight Line

6. Herat

7. Always Wanted to Ride in a Place Like This

8. Natures Envy

9. Sculpture No Solid

10. The White Hoodie I Wear Because I Love You

I've been looking for your touch

You should also hear:

M.E.S.H. - Piteous Gate (2015)

KÁRYYN - The Quanta Series (2019)

Vic Stevens' Mistaken Identities - No Curb Ahead (1997)

Dark-tinted jazz-rock/fusion led by drummer Vic Stevens. Discordant guitars, fretless bass courtesy of Percy Jones -- for about half the album, anyway -- some saxophone here and there, surprisingly (given that the groups's formed around a drummer) restrained drumming, and a whole lotta tasty, dated keyboard voices.

Track listing:

1. Useless Humans

2. The Sun Rises in the East

3. No Curb Ahead

4. Do the Do That You Do

5. I Travel Alone

6. Would You Like to Dance

7. Answers

8. A Party of Five

9. Buy the Weigh

Peaceful anxiety

If you like this, try:

Nicky Skopelitis - Ekstasis (1993)

Scott McGill - The Hand Farm (1997)