Various Artists - Someplace You Cannot See (2024)

This is a mix that I made when I was really, really going through it, probably in late April of last year. Unlike the last mix I posted, this one I really put some time into, piecing it all together into two suite-style, 46-minute sequences in Garageband over the course of a few days. It's pretty depressing, obviously, but I was in desperate need of an outlet, and it's definitely one of the best mixes I've ever made. There's a ton that I could write about why I chose each track on here, but y'all have already heard enough about my grief, so I'll just let you enjoy it however you like.

(To be clear: this is two 46-minute tracks.)

Safely floating away

My lantern dim

With a wick I didn't light

I never even asked for light

Includes songs from:

Michael Stearns - Floating Whispers (1987)

Andy Partridge & Harold Budd - Through the Hill (1994)

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

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

Songs of Green Pheasant - Songs of Green Pheasant (2005)

Growing - His Return (2005)

Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier (2007)

Snowman - Absence (2011)

ÄÄNIPÄÄ - Through a Pre-Memory (2013)

Related:
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Ø - Tulkinta (1997)
Mika Vainio - Onko (1997)
Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) (1998)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
Khanate - Things Viral (2003)
Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

Abstract, experimental drone-doom from OPIUM HUM favorites/all-out brilliant artists Stephen O'Malley and Miki Vainio. Dissonant, downtuned guitars, minimal programmed drumming, scraping horror-movie strings, walls of drone and harsh noise, punishing electronics, and, occasionally, some pretty unsettling vocals. Without a doubt, Through a Pre-Memory comes off as an extension of Khanate.

Track listing:
1. Muse
2. Toward All Thresholds
3. Mirror of Mirror Dreams
4. Watch Over Stillness / Matters Principle

Impassable fears

You should also hear:

Ascend -
Ample Fire Within (2008)

Circle of Eyes -
Circle of Eyes (2011)

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

Related:
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) (1998)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
Khanate - Things Viral (2003)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

Stephen O'Malley goes psych-folk, kinda. It's drone, for sure, but instead of crushingly loud amp worship, you get a lush tapestry of harmonium, chimes, singing bowls, acoustic guitars, mandolin, and banjo.

Track listing:
1. Duel Ravens
2. Guenevere of the Ganges
3. Black Snow, Blood Mountain
4. Aurgelmir

Visions of shadows that shine

Similar vibes:

In Gowan Ring -
Love Charms (1994)

Ilyas Ahmed -
Speaking of Shadows (2006)

Khanate - Things Viral (2003)

Related:
O.L.D. - The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak (1993) + Formula (1995)
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) (1998)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name (2006)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

Deconstructed, minimal drone-doom mastery. The first time I ever heard Things Viral was at a bar in Florida, and I remember thinking that it was the most fucked-up music I'd ever heard playing in a bar. Drawn-out, dissonant, half-distorted chords, humming feedback, razor-sharp drums, and legendarily unhinged vocals from Alan Dubin.

As well-known as they are, I've always felt that Khanate doesn't get enough credit. To me, the entirety of their output is some of the most advanced, unsettling heavy music in existence, yet tons of people act as though the only really good thing they ever did is the self-titled. BULL. SHIT. Things Viral, and their other two records for that matter, are as anxiety-inducing and terrifying as any horror movie, and that's a pretty remarkable achievement.

Track listing:
1. Commuted
2. Fields
3. Dead
4. Too Close Enough to Touch

I'm gonna put you under
Under an open field

You should also listen to:

Otesanek -
Otesanek (2004)

Bloody Panda -
Summon (2009)

Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) (1998)

Related:
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

After Thorr's Hammer and before Sunn O))), there was Burning Witch. Extended repeated cycles of warped, punishingly heavy riffs, sharp, hard-hitting drums, and a vocalist who alternates between ritualistic singing and a deranged shriek. A triumph of drug-addled misery. One of my top 10 doom metal albums, hands-down, even though it's technically a compilation of two EPs.

Track listing:
1. Warning Signs
2. Stillborn
3. History of Hell
4. Sacred Predictions
5. Country Doctor
6. Tower Place
7. Sea Hag

I showed you my big mistake

You will also like:

Boris -
Amplifier Worship (1998)

Buried at Sea -
Migration (2003)

Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)

Experimental/drone/dark ambient/that kinda thing from a trio consisting of Aaron Turner, Stephen O'Malley, and James Plotkin. Music for staying up late and drifting from reality to reality.

Four untitled tracks

Dark and quiet
We go into quiet time

You'll also like:

Axolotl -
Oranur (2005)

Evan Caminiti -
Psychic Mud Shrine (2009)

Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

Related:
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Ascend - Ample Fire Within (2011)

Pitch-black drone-doom euphoria. Aside from a few samples, this is pure, earth-shaking guitar drone, in raw, (professional) demo-sounding form. Make sure that you're high on drugs, then turn this up as loud as possible and let it slowly enwrap you like a funeral shroud.

Track listing:
1. Holy Water
2. Peacock Angel
3. Power Nurse

It took the night to believe

You will also be into:

Otesanek -
Ontesanek (2004)

Sink -
The Process (2008)

Sarin - Nihilist (1996)

Related:
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
KTL - 2 (2007)

Sarin was a short-lived noise duo consisting of Stephen O'Malley and (near-future Burning Witch vocalist) Edgy 59. Given the formidable body of work that O'Malley has amassed, it should come as no surprise that Sarin's sole release, Nihilist, is a dynamic, inspired, and unforgiving piece of anti-music. It's not groundbreaking, but it's great. I don't know exactly what's being used to create these sounds, so I'll just describe what I hear: shrieking feedback, rumbling, clattering, oscillating, droning, sputtering, distorted radio transmissions, sheets of static.

Track listing:
1. Tektoniks
2. 6:66
3. Red Army
4. War of the Worlds

Longed for a knife
An edge to lay bare entrails
Free brain and heart
A release from what is inside
Cut-out tongue and sex
A sharp blade to cleanse impurity
The so-called spirit world soon out of this miserable corpse

More along these lines:

Vidna Obmana - The Ultimated
Sign of Burning Death (1985)

Brighter Death Now -
The Slaughterhouse (1993)

Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)

Related:
KTL - 2 (2007)
Ascend - Ample Fire Within (2008)

By request, here's some Sunn O))). I couldn't decide on just one album, so fuck it, we're doing two.

Their first official LP, ØØ Void can be thought of as the Sunn O))) manifesto. In four songs and just under an hour, ØØ Void lays out the sonic foundation upon which the band would build virtually all of its output -- absurdly heavy, downtuned guitars playing sinister riffs, over and over, very slowly, and at times lapsing into extended sections of pure, torso-rumbling, low-frequency feedback, all percussion-free. At a proper volume ("Maximum Volume Yields Maximum Results" reads the sleeve), it seems to take on a physical presence in the room. It's the evil flipside to the transcendent Earth 2, an album along with which ØØ Void forms the twin peaks of pure drone-doom records.

Track listing:
1. Richard
2. NN O)))
3. Rabbit's Revenge
4. Ra at Dusk

A spectral spirit kingdom rise
In stormscreens
Covered by eyes
Night emits its shadow
There is no difference
Between the ravens
They have come for me
They will come to me

Next: Although it's a live album, Dømkirke is, to me, one of the band's most essential recordings. Recorded in a Norwegian cathedral -- and in the wake of the massive artistic breakthrough that was Black One -- Dømkirke featured all-new material powered by (in addition to the usual wall of guitars) pipe organ, electronics, and powerful, at times operatic vocals from Attila Csihar of Mayhem. A crushing, enveloping, ritualistic performance.

Track listing:
1. Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself in Clouds?
2. Cannon
3. Cymatics
4. Masks the Ætmospheres

Out from the chambers
And horizons will open for me
The face of the earth
Will be to know black silence
For I saw them march for the lights

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