Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Related:
Japan - Adolescent Sex (1978)
David Sylvian & Holger Szukay - Plight & Premonition (1988) + Flux & Mutability (1989)
David Sylvian - Approaching Silence (1999)
David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Rain Tree Crow was all four members of Japan, reunited under a new moniker to signify the more experimental direction that they'd taken. Their one-off album is an absolute masterpiece of shimmering, slowburning art rock, and possibly my favorite album David Sylvian's ever been a part of, which, considering he's one of my favorite musicians, is really saying something.

Track listing:
1. Big Wheels in Shanty Town
2. Every Colour You Are
3. Rain Tree Crow
4. Red Earth (As Summertime Ends)
5. Pocket Full of Change
6. Boat's for Burning
7. New Moon at Red Deer Wallow
8. Blackwater
9. A Reassuringly Dull Sunday
10. Blackcrow Hits Shoe Shine City
11. Scratchings on the Bible Belt
12. Cries and Whispers
13. I Drink to Forget

I put no trust in milestones

You might also wanna hear:

Adrian Belew -
Lone Rhino (1982)

No-Man -
Together We're Stranger (2003)

Alesini & Andreoni - Marco Polo (1995)

Marco Pollo defies easy categorization, so it's not an ideal candidate for one of my half-assed write-ups, but it certainly encompasses a great deal of what this blog is about; there's a bit of new age-y synth ambience, some quasi-tribal drumming, spaced-out sax solos, hints of 90's electronica, even a touch of smokey Twin Peaks jazz. Plus, featured on the album are three of my absolute favorite musicians: Harold Budd, David Sylvian, and David Torn. If only they'd somehow managed to work some black metal in there, then it'd pretty much be Opium Hum: The Album.

Track listing:
1. Come Morning
2. Quinsal La Citta' del Cielo
3. Yangchow
4. The Golden Way
5. Sumatra
6. M. Polo
7. Il Libro Dell' Incessante Accordo Con Il Cielo
8. Maya
9. Buchara
10. Kubilay Khan
11. Samarca
12. The Valley of Pamir
13. Maya (Nocturne Version) [bonus]

Lost in the marketplace
As if half-born

You should also hear:

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

Steve Tibbetts -
The Fall of Us All (1994)

David Sylvian - Approaching Silence (1999)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
David Sylvian & Holger Czukay - Plight and Premonition (1988) + Flux and Mutability (1989)
David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Spacious, shimmering ambient music, with just a hint of uneasy dissonance, from Opium Hum All-Star David Sylvian. Approaching Silence compiles three songs that Sylvian composed for two separate installations, one of which (the title track) features Robert Fripp. Someday I'll get around to posting some of Sylvian's more rock-ish material -- Dead Bees on a Cake, maybe -- but after an absolutely insane last couple of weeks of classes, I'm feeling the relaxation vibes pretty hard.

Track listing:
1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice
2. Epiphany
3. Approaching Silence

The shining of things

David Sylvian & Holger Szukay - Plight & Premonition (1988) + Flux & Mutability (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Two gorgeous, ambient collaborations between David Sylvian, formerly of Japan and one of my all-time favorite musicians, and Holger Szukay, formerly of Can. Plight & Premonition is pure, haunting ambient, while Flux & Mutability has some percussion and a sense of gentle, queazy euphoria that wouldn't sound out of place on an 80s ECM record.

Track listing:
-Plight & Premonition-
1. Plight (The Spiraling of Winter Ghosts)
2. Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel)
-Flux & Mutability-
1. Flux (A Big Bright Beautiful World)
2. Mutability (A New Beginning Is in the Offing)

Every color you are

Japan - Adolescent Sex (1978)

Japan's first album combines the strut of glam and the nervous energy of post-punk, then runs it through a smooth sheen of new wave and funk. Apparently the band disowned this record, but I'm definitely not alone in thinking it's their best.

EDIT: Re-upping the link in 2020, I feel like I have to mention that I no longer think this is their best record. I still love it, but this versus Tin Drum? Gimme a break.

Track listing:
1. Transmission
2. The Unconventional
3. Wish You Were Black
4. Performance
5. Lovers on Main Street
6. Don't Rain on My Parade
7. Suburban Love
8. Adolescent Sex
9. Communist China
10. Television

Your mouth is open wide but your body's too soft

David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Droning guitars, snippets of feedback, and fractured synthesizers provide an anxious backdrop for Sylvian's haunted lyrical musings on the dissolution of love. If the music reminds you of Christian Fennesz, it's because he's all over this album.

Track listing:
1. Blemish
2. The Good Son
3. The Only Daughter
4. The Heart Knows Better
5. She Is Not
6. Late Night Shopping
7. How Little We Need to Be Happy
8. A Fire in the Forest

Do us a favor
Your one and only warning
Please be gone by morning