Variable Unit - Handbook for the Apocalypse (2003)

Future jazz/hip-hop fusion for weirdos and freaks trying to survive in a world that's hell-bent on ending itself. The kind of truly excellent, utterly obscure album that makes me even more suspect of the inexplicably popular titans of our pop/hip-hop landscape.

(If anyone has a higher quality rip of this, please post a link in the comments.)

Track listing:

1. Towers Open Fire

2. Handbook for the Apocalypse

3. War Again

4. Not One of Us, All of Us!

5. I Am on a Journey to My Soul, But the Police Just Pulled Me Over

6. We Are at War

7. Hologram Network

8. Shake the Cosmic Dice

9. Gas and Violence

10. Walking with My Son

11. Transcending Terror

12. Killing Time

13. Beyond Babylon

Books and bullets don't go crazy

Men and trigger fingers do

You might also enjoy:

Justin Warfield - My Field Trip to Planet 9 (1993)

The Hive - Working with Sound (1997)

Machinedrum - Now You Know (2001)

First album by Machinedrum, one of the more influential figures in the world of glitch hop. Fragmented vocal samples, rich synths, and sharp, bass-heavy beats coalesce into some positively massive grooves.

Track listing:

1. Big Booty Hose

2. Wishbone Be Broken

3. Drums of Steel

4. Hello My Future

5. In Between

6. Thanks Very Much

7. My Visuals

8. Monique

9. Hihowareyoudoingiamfine

10. Reel Cleer

11. Fury

12. Are I

13. Liquid Thursday

14. Jewlea

Time turned over itself

You might also like:

Nobukazu Takemura - Child's View (1994)

Red Snapper - Prince Blimey (1996)

Spectre - The Illness (1995)

Horror-flavored instrumental hip-hop/dub/illbient, a microgenre that I should probably know more about. Downtempo beats, dub-y bass-lines, and hella samples.

Track listing:

1. Mayday/Nightstalker

2. Megablast

3. Spectre Meets the Psycho Priest in the Temple of Smoke

4. The Sound

5. The Other Side

6. Evil Dub

7. 9th Secret Rule of the Order

8. Danse of the Dead

9. Minions of Set

10. The Illness

11. Intermezzo

12. Elephant, Mosquito

13. Crooked

I've heard strange things happen around here

You'd probably also enjoy:

The Bug - Tapping The Conversation (1998)

Phil Western - The Escapist (1998)

Hive - Working with Sound (1997)

An album of stoney instrumental trip-hop that gets further and further out as it goes on. Nothing like some crackly jazz samples, funky bass-lines, echoing vocal snippets, and skittering beats to kick off a day of eating mushroom chocolates, listening to music (obviously), watching 80s slasher flicks, and at some point putting together this big-ass backyard cover/swing thing that my wife bought the other day.

Track listing:
1. (All Over) The... Prelude
2. Fallout
3. Mood Swings (Act I)
4. Steps into the Light
5. Sphaira
6. Mood Swings (Act II)
7. A Suspended Greeting
8. Practice in Stillness
9. Dreaming Belize
10. Vaya Con Dios (A Suspended Mix)

Inside the hive

Similar vibes:

Depth Charge -
Nine Deadly Venoms (1994)

Mad Doctor X -
Picnic with the Greys (1997)

Mad Doctor X - Picnic with the Greys (1997)

Loose, super-chill, but vivacious instrumental hip hop/trip hop from a dude who I first heard as a member of the London Funk Allstars. Nothing I say here will capture the essence of this record better than that album cover, so I'll leave it at that.

Track listing:
1. Intergalactic Throwdown
2. Giant Steps
3. Real Heavy Science
4. Hyperion
5. Nemesis
6. Instamatic
7. Nuts
8. Junkie's Flashback
9. I Was a Teenage B-Boy
10. Mad Molecules
11. A Tribute to Bruce Banner: Gamma Rays/Don't Make Me Angry
12. Supernatural Jazz
13. Zen Gnostics

It's time I got back to the good life

You'd also enjoy:

David Holmes -
Presents The Free Association (2002)

Nujabes -
Metaphorical Music (2003)

dälek - Deadverse Massive Vol. 1: dälek Rarities 1999-2006 (2007)

Mind-blowing, noise-infused experimental hip-hop from this perennially underrated duo. Shit fucking SLAPS. One might think that a rarities collection wouldn't be the best entry point to an artist's discography, but 1) you can't go wrong with dälek, 2) it was my entry point, 3) it's amazing, and 4) it's what I'm listening to right now, so take it or leave it.

Track listing:
1. Megaton (Deadverse Remix)
2. Angst
3. Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself, Then Ruin Me (Deadverse Remix)
4. Vague Recollection
5. Desolate Peasants
6. Rouge (Deadverse Remix)
7. 3:46
8. In This City (Deadverse Remix)
9. Music for ASM
10. Streets All Amped
11. Ascension
12. Maintain
13. Back to Burn

Freedom through violence

You might also enjoy:

Pharoahe Monch -
Internal Affairs (1999)

Supreme Cuts & Haleek Maul -
Chrome Lips (2012)

Land of the Loops - Bundle of Joy (1996)

Sample-happy instrumental hip-hop/trip-hop. Though it doesn't sound futuristic like it used to, Bundle of Joy remains as delightfully scattered, stoned, and vibrant as ever.

Track listing:
1. Welcome
2. Sound System
3. Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain-Bin Mix)
4. Growing Concern
5. Day Late & a Dollar Short
6. I Dream of Ghosts
7. I Confess
8. Help for Your Aching Back
9. Burning Clutch (Five-Speed Dub)
10. Cruisin' for Sentient Beings
11. Mass. Ave. and Beyond
12. Mathematical Park
13. Heidi Cakes
14. Crash Landing on Planet Brooklyn
15. My Head (Leaks)
16. Good-bye

Oooh, that's gonna be nice

You'd probably also like:

Depth Charge -
Nine Deadly Venoms (1994)

Cornelius -
Sensuous (2006)

Depth Charge - Nine Deadly Venoms (1994)

Barring some unforeseen circumstances under which I become broke and desperate, I worked my last shift at the old abandoned record store two days ago, and today I'm getting high and blasting a phenomenal, tragically OOP record of samply-heavy, Kung Fu-themed breakbeat/instrumental trip-hop while eating ice cream for breakfast.

Track listing:
1. Shaolin Buddha Finger
2. Dead by Dawn
3. Bounty Killers
4. Depth Charge
5. Bastard Swordsman
6. Bounty Killers II
7. Daughters of Darkness
8. Goal
9. Hubba Hubba Hubba (What's in the Bag, Man?)

Break your foot tryna kick it how I kick it
Kill yourself tryna live how I'm livin'

Might listen to these next:

Meat Beat Manifesto -
99% (1993)

Richard Thomas - Shoes and
Radios Attract Paint (1998)

Paul Hardcastle - Rainforest (1985)

Dance-y, synth-tastic, instrumental hip-hop and disco. To hear this album while gazing upon the above album cover is to know not just that there is a god, but that he loves us and wants us to be happy. And he may or may not wear windbreakers and play synthesizer.

Track listing:
1. Rainforest (Remix)
2. King Tut
3. Panic
4. Forest Fire
5. Loitering with Intent
6. A.M.
7. Sound Chaser
8. Rain Forest (Original Mix)

Ready ready go

More along these lines:

RAH Band -
Going Up (1983)

Nile Rodgers -
B-Movie Matinee (1985)

Blue Sky Black Death - Noir + Violet (2012)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Blue Sky Black Death & Nacho Picasso - Exalted (2012)

Gorgeous, downtempo instrumentals from SF-based production duo Blue Sky Black Death. Noir + Violet consists of slowed-down, chopped-and-screwed (hence the "violet") remixes of songs from their best non-collaborative album, Noir. Super-chill, textural sounds for being high to.

Track listing:
1. Our Hearts of Ruin (Screwed Up)
2. Sleeping Children Are Still Flying (Screwed Up)
3. And Stars, Ringed (Screwed Up)
4. Farewell to the Former World (Screwed Up)
5. Gold In, Gold Out (Screwed Up)
6. Where the Sun Beats (Screwed Up)
7. Swords from Driftwood (Screwed Up)
8. Sky with Hand (Screwed Up)

Pilot to paradise

You might also like:

MMOTHS -
EP (2012)

Iman Omari -
ESC Vol. 11 (2014)

Iman Omari - ESC Vol. II (2014)

A hazy, more-or-less non-stop mix of heavy-lidded instrumentals by LA producer Iman Omari. Just about as chill as is humanly possible. 25 minutes that just fall off the clock.

Track listing:
1. Small World
2. Mushroom Visuals
3. Jeep Eagles
4. Feels
5. Where Have You Been (Interlude) feat. JaVonté
6. Golden
7. Hillman (Lisa ßonet/1992)
8. Push
9. Deep
10. What Up?/¿Como Estan? (Remix for Quelle)
11. Untouchable feat. JaVonté
12. Designated Driver (Long Live Dilla)

Got my own place

You'll also like:

Nujabes -
Metaphorical Music (2003)

Teebs -
Collections 01 (2011)

Nujabes - Metaphorical Music (2003)

Laid-back, (mostly) instrumental hip hop from sadly departed Japanese producer Jun Seba, aka Nujabes. Heavy on hazy jazz samples, and sporadically featuring guest verses from lesser-known 'conscious' MCs, which at times unfortunately devolves into hater-core -- probably why I, without exception, prefer the tracks without vocals -- but the instrumentals are immaculate enough to more than make up for this shortcoming, across the board. Perfect for lazing about with a special someone, ideally while high.

Track listing:
1. Blessing It (Remix) (featuring Substantial & Pase Rock)
2. Horn in the Middle
3. Lady Brown (featuring Cise Starr)
4. Kumomi
5. Highs 2 Lows (featuring Cise Starr)
6. Beat Laments the World
7. Letter from Yokosuka
8. Think Different (featuring Substantial)
9. A Day by Atmosphere Supreme
10. Next View (featuring Uyama Hiroto on Sax)
11. Latitude Remix (featuring Five Deez)
12. F.I.L.O. (featuring Shing02)
13. Summer Gypsy
14. The Final View
15. Peaceland

Ladies

If you like this, try:

Teebs - Collection 01 (2011)

Teebs - Collections 01 (2011)

Chilled-out, textural beats from LA producer Mtendere Mandowa. Brief and beautiful.

Track listing:
1. Just the Yellow Bits
2. Cook, Clean, Pay the Rent (New House Version)
3. Pretty Polly
4. Jahara
5. Verbena Tea (feat. Rebekah Raff)
6. Your Favorite Weekday
7. LSP (feat. Austin Peralta)
8. While You Dooooo (Extended)
9. Red Curbs Loop (Stuff I Dream About)
10. Yellow More New

Everything in its right place