Phthalocyanine - Navy Warship; (1997)

Here's a fucking weird noisy abstract techno-ish album for you to have an existential crisis to.

Track listing:

1. Jax 57 Or Jist BGIU

2. Navy; 3

3. 1.7

4. Eliditt

5. --> ...

6. Block

7. Fer U 2

8. Com.2

9. Liph; 39

10. West After

Living with lightning in your body

If you like this, listen to:

Philip Jeck - Loopholes (1995)

Black Faction - Internal Dissident Part I (1999)

Twisted Science - Blown (1997)

Heady electronic sounds spanning distorted breaks, echoing downtempo quasi-grooves, and uneasy noise/ambient spells, with very little in terms of anything approaching melody. However, if you're like me, you've listened to White Zombie's La Sexorcisto about 500 times, and you'll recognize that "Beady Eye" shares a sampled arpeggiating drone with "Welcome to Planet Motherfucker" -- anyone know what that's from?

Track listing:

1. Sex, Drugs and Science

2. Bender

3. Beady Eye

4. Bad Head

5. Laptop Swine

6. Theme from Slow Blow

7. Magma Hum

8. Intermission

9. Lube

10. Bad Kabuki

11. Mr Ray Gone

12. Horn

13. Here Come the Pigs

14. Fryed

15. Fin

Woven in the surface

A premonition of a land erupting

A sparkling occasion of a city

Crash down overhead

You should also listen to:

Richard Thomas - Shows and Radios Attract Paint (1998)

Ancient Methods - First Method (2007) + Second Method (2008)

Sean Deason - Allegory & Metaphor (2000)

Detroit ambient techno bliss. I got a bunch of shit done earlier, had a workout, then met my buddy for a couple beers, and now I am laying on my couch, petting my cat, and listening to this record. At some point, this became my idea of a perfect Saturday.

Track listing:

1. Creation

2. Phunk

3. Allegory & Metaphor

4. 2030 AD

5. Ambience

6. Interlude

7. Zig

8. Psybadek One

9. My World

10. Hiphoptrak

11. Another Interlude

12. Allegory & Metaphor (Revisited)

Every now and then there comes a time you must defend

Your right to die and live again

Also listen to:

Ro70 - Ro70 (1995)

Miss Dinky - Melodìas Venenosas (2001) 

François-Eudes Chanfrault - À l'intérieur (Inside) (2008)

I've been known to refer to Inside as the scariest movie I've ever seen, with the caveat that my viewing experience was very much enhanced by context. After finally giving it a rewatch a couple weeks back, the jury may be out, but I'm not retracting my statement. I can say for sure that it is insanely brutal. 

Also, the soundtrack's great. Very subtle and minimal. Dark synths, serrated drones, pulsing rhythms, elegiac chamber pieces. There's an extended dialogue-free sequence near the end of the movie where a bunch of terrible things happen without any dialogue, and it's soundtracked entirely by a two-chord synth figure. It's sick as fuck. Go watch it if you can find it -- I torrented it.

Track listing:

1. Arctic Love

2. Memories, Part I, II, & III

3. Dark Beats

4. Discovery

4. Low/High

5. Memories (Redux)

6. Memories (Final)

7. Square Pads for an Eternal Dawn

Open the door, Sarah.

More scary shit:

Jay Chattaway - Maniac (1982)

Mark Korven - The Witch (2016)

Aquila - Observations on the Loss of Culture (1996)

Techno/trance/abstract electronic with a dark, heady vibe from Australian producer Matthew Thomas. Great headphone listening. 

Track listing:

1. Culture

2. Museum

3. Identity

4. Knowledge

5. The Impossibility of Isolation

6. Ritual

7. Progress

Spacial interaction

You should also listen to:

Floatpoint - Beam Error (1995)

Jetone - Autumnmonia (2000)

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)

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)

Proem - Negativ (2001)

I'm up too early on a Wednesday morning, felt like a perfect time for some IDM. If you've listened to a lot of IDM, you kinda know the drill here -- gauzy, melancholic synths vs. static-y, glitchy beats -- but Negativ is an excellent distillation of this style.

Track listing:

1. Below Me Reds

2. Cold Water (Flat)

3. Running with Scissors

4. Long Distance Tiara

5. Protobella

6. Pretty Song for Alyssa

7. Take Your Pants Off

8. Bolt Action Aardvark

9. Pears in Evening Wearz

10. Access Mike (Failure to Connect)

11. Negativ Reinforcements

12. Skylup

13. Bolt Action Aardvark (Brothomstates Remix)

Go to sleep you little creeps

If you like this, you'd like:

Arovane - Atol Scrap (2000)

Funckarama - Solid State (2001)

Titonton Duvanté - Voyeurism (1999)

A bit of funky, acid-warped bedroom techno from producer/DJ Titonton Duvanté. Great mix of punchy, 808-driven, low-key bangers and downtempo cool-downs. In making this post, I discovered that he's doing a set tomorrow in Portland, but if you think I'm going to a DJ set that starts at 10 (at night?!), at which I am meant to dance, you're out your gotdamn mind. You kids have fun.

[This is the 2002 CD reissue with additional tracks and reworked sequencing.]

Track listing:

1. Foreplay

2. Taste Test

3. Bedpost

4. Favorite Position

5. Innuendo

6. Double Entendre

7. Remember

8. When We Used To.....

9. Boudoir

10. Novice with No Vices

11. Rugburn

12. Afterglow

I wanna say all those things

That would be better unsaid

You should also listen to:

Mr. Oizo - Analogue Worms Attack (2000)

Luke Vibert - Lover's Acid (2005)

Tricky - Nearly God (1996)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Tricky & Gravediggaz - The Hell E.P. (1995)

Dark, impressionistic, trip-hop-adjacent magic from one of the true geniuses of the genre. The strangest and most abstract entry in Tricky's discography, Nearly God has been relegated to relative obscurity, due in part to the aforementioned strangeness, and because as far as I can tell it hasn't been reissued in any form, including on digital/streaming platforms. It also probably didn't help that he chose to release it under the moniker Nearly God instead of Tricky. I'm hoping that its lack of commercial availability means that no one's gonna bother lodging a copyright complaint because no one's actively making money off of it. Guest collaborators/vocalists include Björk, Neneh Cherry, Terry Hall, and, as always, Martina Topley-Bird.

Track listing:

1. Tattoo

2. Poems

3. Together Now

4. Keep Your Mouth Shut

5. I Be the Prophet

6. Make a Change

7. Black Coffee

8. Bubbles

9. I Sing for You

10. Yoga

11. Judas [bonus]

11. Children's Story [bonus]

I can vibe to anything

So I have to hide from everything

More along these lines:

Laika - Sounds of the Satellites (1997)

Anja Garbarek - Smiling & Waving (2002)

Asura - Asura (2010)

Ambient IDM from an LA artist who seemingly hasn't recorded anything under this alias since. Downtempo beats and bright melodic elements (synths, guitar, vocals, horns) partially obscured, and at times completely subsumed in a warm, vinyl-crackling-like haze.

(Not to be confused with the French ambient trance project.)

Track listing:

1. Asura I

2. Peptine

3. I Saw You in Vice (Anenon Birthday Remix)

4. Orrorin

5. Asura II

6. From the Beach

7. Manzanita

8. Voxels

9. Asura III

10. Her Tearing

11. Timber

12. The Eleventh

13. Feathers

This night comes out of both of us

You should also be listening to:

Saule - Saule (2002)

The Village Orchestra - Et in Arcadia Ego (2005)

Matthew Johnson - Ghosts in the AI (2009)

Tech-house with eerie, horror-steeped synths. I'm currently buried alive in school work -- y'all don't even know I'm in fucking 5 classes this term, and they're all hard -- but if I die down here, trust that I will come back and haunt the shit out of the two classmates who skipped our last meeting knowing that we'd still put their names on our document.

Track listing:

1. Ghosts in the AI

2. Technology

3. The Alchemist

4. Technology (Edit)

Cut out windows and doors

It is the empty space which makes the room useful

Also listen to:

Horror Inc. - Horrorama EP (2003) + I Plead Guilty (2004)

Padded Cell - Night Must Fall (2008)

Cakebuilder - Decks n' Demons (2006)

Horror-themed, EBM-fueled breakcore from Distorted Memory mastermind Jeremy Pillipow. Blown-out breakbeats, thick-ass synths, distorted vocals, and production that positively demands to be played at speaker-blowing volumes.

Track listing:

1. Book of the Dead

2. Savage

3. Necron the Hell God

4. Demoni

It deals with demons and demon resurrection and those forces which roam the forest and dark bowers of Man's domain.

If you like this, listen to:

Xylocaine - Experiment in Fear (1995)

Fïx8:Sëd8 - Humanophobia (2005)

Jega - Spectrum (1998)

Expansive, genre-omnivorous electronic music from UK producer Jega. Breakbeat, IDM, drum n bass, instrumental hip-hop, and downtempo all pop up throughout, but warm, crystalline synths secure a certain level of sonic cohesion through the chaos.

Track listing:

1. Phalanx

2. Kid Sista

3. Muzical Chairz

4. Red Mullet

5. NIA

6. DMC

7. Brad's Garden Maintenance

8. German

9. Intron.ix

10. Mai

11. Pitbull

12. Gemini

13. Ephem

14. Bikini Ski Boat

15. Manic Minor

Super, modern, intelligent

You might also enjoy:

Alec Empire - Generation Star Wars (1994)

Nobukazu Takemura - Child's View (1994)

School of Emotional Engineering - School of Emotional Engineering (2004)

The only album by this short-lived project, which mostly served as a live vehicle for experimental composer Ben Frost's solo material. An evocative, textural collision of classical minimalism, drone, and abstract post-rock. It's kinda fucked up that this is the first Ben Frost record I've posted.

Track listing:

1. To Be Continued...

2. ... Refrain

3. Falling for Sylvia

4. Of Angel Dust...

5. ... Refrain (Bloodline)

6. Redline

7. She Dreams in Car Crashes

8. Slicing the Skin Between My Toes

Living is a horizontal fall

Also listen to:

Labradford - Prazision LP (1993)

Locrian & Mamiffer - Bless Them That Curse You (2011)

Baxter - Baxter (1998)

Baxter was positioned for crossover success. At the end of the 90s, conventional wisdom was that the future of music was "electronica", a catch-all genre that generally translated to drum-and-bass/jungle/techno/trip-hop with more conventional song structures and vocals. And that's pretty much exactly what Baxter was, minus the techno part. Plus, they had major label backing. But their name was nondescript, their vocalist didn't present herself the way that female musicians were/are expected to, and they didn't really write hooks, so no dice. I ended up finding Baxter/this CD via an add-on deal with the first purchase I ever made from our overlords at Amazon -- another debut album from an also-ran trip-hop artist -- so someone was obviously having trouble unloading copies.

Track listing:

1. Television

2. Fading

3. Love Again

4. I Can't See Why

5. Ballad of Behaviour

6. Political

7. Possible

8. All of My Pride

9. So Much I've Heard

10. Oh My Love

Turn on the lights

And watch me run

You might also enjoy:

A Guy Called Gerald - Essence (2000)

HÆLOS - Full Circle (2016)

Tipsy - Uh-Oh! (2000)

Second album by the great, inscrutable Tipsy. For those unfamiliar, Tipsy pairs electronic/IDM with mountains of samples from old easy listening, exotica, and lounge records. While Esquivel-fueled 'electronica' was fairly popular around the turn of the millennium, Tipsy's dense, manic, unrelentingly imaginative take on the microgenre was unparalleled. Their first record's the classic, if they have one, but Uh-Oh! is equally worthy imo.

Track listing:

1. Hard Petting

2. Papaya Freeway

3. Hey!

4. Sweet Cinnamon Punch

5. Neon Tetra

6. Wig Out

7. Reverse Cowgirl

8. Swallowtail

9. Moisture Seekers

10. Kitty Takes a Ride

11. Fur Teacup

12. Pink Mood

13. Bunny Kick

14. Suez Motel

15. XXXmas

16. Seaweed

17. Zombie's Mood

18. Eclipse of the Sun Virgin

Firecracker

You may also like:

Martin Denny - Forbidden Island (1958)

Stereolab - Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (1999)

Photophob - Your Majesty Machine (2004)

Debut full-length from Austrian producer Herwig Holzmann. Gauzy, emotive synths hovering over glitchy, jagged breakbeats. 

Track listing:

1. The Starlight Eater

2. Her Sexy Circuits

3. Floating Near Zero-Zero-Zero

4. While Venting

5. In the Hands of the Space Pirates

6. Two Beeps Means Yes

7. A Little Lesson in Robotic Love Part 1

8. Anger Reduction Control Center Unit

9. Nav Patrol

10. Brain at -273.14C

11. Nomad's Theme

12. Hired Hunter (Killbot)

13. A Little Lesson in Robotic Love Part 2

All of them? All of them.

You should also hear:

Breakage - This Too Shall Pass (2006)

Erik Levander - Kondens (2008)

Digitonal - Save Your Light for Darker Days (2008)

Lush strings (plus a bit of harp and clarinet) meet downtempo beats and glimmering electronics. The second of just four full-lengths that this collaboration-friendly London project has produced over the course of the last two-plus decades.

Track listing:

1. Ana Kata

2. Silver Poetry

3. Wide-Eyed, Wrapped in Love

4. 93 Years On

5. Nothing Left to Say

6. Emberkreiss

7. A Lighter Touch

8. Gone

9. After the First Death

10. The Beating of Her Heart

Beautiful broken

Similar listening:

Manual - Until Tomorrow (2001)

Tape - Milieu (2003)

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Richard Wahnfried - Time Actor (1979)

Michael Shrieve with Kevin Shrieve & Klaus Schulze - Transfer Station Blue (1988)

Klaus Schulze - Shadowlands (2013)

RIP to Klaus Schulze, the synth GOAT. Schulze changed electronic music, and as a result, the larger musical landscape, by helping to pioneer sounds that would form the basis for not just ambient/progressive electronic music, but trance and techno. He also created some of my all-time favorite records. So to send him off, here's one of them: his very first solo album, and the first one I ever heard. A piece of pure, foreboding, cosmic drone for the ages.

Track listing:

1. Satz: Ebene

2. Satz: Gewitter (Energy Rise - Energy Collaps)

3. Satz: Exil Sils Maria

4. Dungeon [bonus]

Journey through a burning brain

Also listen to:

Tony Scott — Astral Meditation - Voyage into a Black Hole - Part 1 (1988)

Coil - Moon's Milk (In Four Phases) (2002)