Mysterious & Surreal Music Albums
From the chaotic and apocalyptic to dark, reimagined Slovak animated movie scores, you are guaranteed to find some pretty interesting music albums exploring the internet. So today, I invite you to travel with me once again as we explore 6 mysterious & surreal music albums.
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6) アバドン (Abaddon) - Perfect Fake
アバドン (Abaddon)’s 2024 release of Perfect Fake is a glitch-orchestrated electronic album that utilizes sugary chops for a truly hypnotizing experience. As you’ll see through the first track onward, micro-bites of sound are repetitively layered to create unique melodies, and comparing this to similar projects that twist, bend and break their source material to create this erratic sound, Perfect Fake feels intentional through each moment; Chops aren’t just wonky or thrown into there for the sake of making it sound experimental; アバドン (Abaddon) creates blocks of emotive personalities through these imaginative, purposeful malfunctions as I like to call them.
The album creates a dark, cavernous atmosphere at times due to the way samples are pitched and layered; and other times they are sort of overly bright and hyper manufactured in a way that makes the sound design almost feel sugary if that makes sense… There’s even an aquatic feel to them, tracks like “☆You Will Never Be Good Enough☆” and “ARE YOU EVEN REAL” immediately remind me of that same dystopian mood found on projects like 世界大戦 OLYMPICS by death’s dynamic shroud, or the punchy track “Humanity Lost 心” reminiscent ofthe settings on I’ll Try Living Like This or the sound collaging environments of projects like 👁点击と👁 (I Click With My Eye) by 👁 🗨📲. I do not want to just compare this to similar works though, as Perfect Fake is genuine and unique in its own way; the tracklist contains different moods from song to song and doesn’t lock itself into one type of emotion or feeling.
Constantly enigmatic, Perfect Fake finds a perfect home over at Geometric Lullaby label that specializes in these dark, mysterious album releases. It was also paired with this gorgeous 180g limited edition vinyl release, now long sold out. Also a quick little bonus side note, another アバドン (Abaddon) release that I found myself obsessed with for a bit was ブルー (blue). Energy wise this is completely different from Perfect Fake, with only 3 tracks that feature these unbelievably beautiful and haunting classical, ballroom-esque pieces, ultimately showcasing アバドン (Abaddon)’s diverse range in their discography.
5) Claire Rousay - The Bloody Lady
Based on an old folk tale, the trippy 1980 Slovak animated film ‘The Bloody Lady’ follows the story of a noblewoman accused of murdering hundreds of girls and women, allegedly bathing in their blood hoping to remain eternally young. The film begins like a classic Disney fairy tale, but eventually takes a dark turn toward tragedy.
In 2023 after moving to Los Angeles, electroacoustic composer Claire Rousay would begin crafting a reimagined score for the film. Upon completion, Rousay would present an 11-track album that wanders through the themes, feelings and energy of the film's multilayered nature.
Sounds are incredibly delicate yet prominent; Rousay has developed a magnificently moody ambient score that includes field recordings from forests and local bars during her visit to the castle of Elisabeth Bathory, whom the folk tale of the Bloody Lady is based upon. Each track is atmospherically sharp with an ominous feeling that brews through layers of granular VST synths, piano, pitched-down violin, and those aforementioned field recordings.
For the inaugural performance of Rousay’s reimagined score, a screening of the film alongside Rousay performing the score live would take place at a film festival in Belgium, and is noted as giving a new light and life to the over 40 year old film. The album has also been released on vinyl and CD, with as of the making of this video, only 1 single CD remaining on the Bandcamp page for the release. The packaging features the colorful yet disturbing illustrations found in the film.
4) Donald McRonald - Food Court 無線接続 - (Bonus Edition on Celadon Plaza)
“This morning I had consumed a McDonalds breakfast, but listening to this album made me realize that it was Ronald who had consumed me.”
- Robosenshi (Bandcamp comment)
A McDonald’s-themed Mallsoft album is what we have here on the release Food Court 無線接続 by Donald McRonald. Originally released digitally in 2020 on the Florida based Adeptus Minor label, this interestingly quaint and distant audio project placing you center stage of a food courtin the 90’s was reinvigorated back in 2023 on the Celadon Plaza label under the “Combo Meal Edition” which includes 2 bonus tracks: “Food Court Hallucinations” and “Bonus Menu”.
I am a sucker for relaxing and dusty sounding Mallsoft projects, and Food Court 無線接続 is as appetizing as it gets. For those who don’t know, Mallsoft is a subgenre of Vaporwave that focuses on comforting sounds and samples blasted with reverb, all to create a grand, atmospheric feeling as if you are in a department store or mall. With Food Court 無線接続 specifically, visions of being alone late at night in a Mall food court come to life in a dreamlike scenario where it’s way past closing hours yet every single food joint is open and ready to take your personalized order. And you know you’re gettin’ a Big Mac.
Food Court 無線接続’s hazy sound texture makes the nostalgic feelings on this project hit an all-time high, it’s a short listen but packs a colorful yet subdued punch with smooth jazz samples slowed down and cooked to the perfect crisp. Foggy, lonely horns emphasizing the emptiness in tracks like “Please Recycle!” and crunchy basslines on tracks like “Fountain センターピース” for a little bit of funk to satisfy any hunger.
Celadon Plaza would release 2 cassettes of this album, which I actually have one of them in my collection that they sent me a while back; the obi strip on a cassette is always a nice touch and I did do an unboxing of everything they sent over including some really great vinyl releases so check that video out if you want to see some more awesome physicals from a label who has really brought us some solid releases over the past couple years.
3) 魚魚 (Fishes) - 海洋探査 (Ocean Exploration)
Beautifully smokey and garnished with a minimalistic Frutiger Aero touch, 海洋探査 (Ocean
Exploration) by 魚魚 (Fishes) is the delicate aquatic experience we all crave, through sound. I love fish tanks, who doesn’t; all the textures, terrains and wild colors seemingly in slow motion as your eyes fixate on each individual piece in a tank… and that is this album.
Released in May of 2024 on the ever so fitting Underwater Computing record label, the relaxing, hypnotic experience of staring at a bright lit aquarium exhibit in a dark corridor comes to life in reverb soaked tracks like “coral reef” and “lucky starfish”, where the audio design creates a soundscape reminiscent of being just deep enough underwater where the sounds above the surface are perfectly bubbly and muffled; not too deep but maybe like a good 3 or 4 feet underwater where you can still make out some of the sounds above. Some tracks will take you a bit deeper than others like “mariana trench” which is heavy and bellowing with stretched drone undertones and isolated piano keys swimming nearby.
The tracklist pairs perfectly with that album art, a colorful photo of a couple fish just vibin’ out and loving life. Like I said before, sounds feel deep, smokey but constantly soothing and relaxing. If you’re looking for an ambient journey that feels underwater at all times, check this gem of a project out.
Underwater Computing did release a cassette and minidisc of the album, both long sold out. I would love to see this get the vinyl treatment one day, This would definitely fit on a single LP but splitting this up into a 2xLP to give it some gatefold packaging would bereally sweet, I’m sure there is a lot you can do with that. Just give me a full gatefold with a bunch of little fishes, coral, and throw a little crab in there too and yeah… take my money.
2) Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Gift Songs
Through 5 tracks alone, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s Gift Songs manages to be compelling and transformative despite its minimal and subtle tones delicately panning through this just over 40 minute release. Constructed with a complexity of instrumentals like organs, pianos, guitars and hyper focused textures, the album generates an audio picture of the seasons found in the Hudson Valley in update New York where he resides with his family.
This arpeggiating piano paired with everything alongside on the opening 20 minute track “The Milky Sea” gives the album so much movement, it feels as if you are gently sailing down a calm river, appreciating all of the sights, smells and sounds found alongside you in nature. There are 3 “Gift Songs” that follow, all losing that arpeggiating and grainy-texture effect that originally gave the album so much movement, delivering a nice break to maybe sit in the sun for a bit and recollect your thoughts. And, it all ends with “The River Flows Two Ways”, a grandiose, warm drone track that stretches out organs to create an angelic or rising effect that leaves you floating, waiting to make a decision on what to do next… an audio crossroads presented to you through the tracks title.
The album was given two vinyl releases, the Cobalt Blue vinyl is long sold out but the Black vinyl is still available for purchase for anyone looking to add some extremely meditative, relaxing and thought provoking electronic ambient work to their music collection. That deep, vivid blue is breathtaking and matches the albums powerful quality in sound design; like I mentioned earlier, the album is a delicate journey but it is impossible to deny its presence as an almost angelic, mystifying source of power holding your hand through its 5 tracks. Enjoy getting lost in this beauty of a release.
1) Locrian - The Crystal World
Similar to an earlier entry in this video that was created akin to a previous story, The Bloody Lady, Locrian’s The Crystal World is a crushing, apocalyptic sound experience titled after a sci-fi novel from the 60’s that explores the story of a physician sent to a remote African outpost, only to find a strange phenomenon occurring in the jungle: crystallization, along with everything that the jungle touches.
This release and its connection between the sounds, artwork, and story is impeccable; everything works together so wonderfully and in sync; bleak colors and sights flood the mind throughout the entire listening experience of this album. Locrian builds such a dark setting through multilayered instrumentals and textures, combining all things black metal, noise, power electronics and more. Tracks like “Triumph of Elimination” are simply horrifying; distorted textures and a screaming voice guide you through this barren wasteland. The over 10 minute long “Elevations and Depths” goes quite the opposite direction with bright design and sharp feelings throughout. The Crystal World constantly sees the Chicago experimental music group play with textures and tones to bring you to a world losing life right before your eyes, especially through the final, grueling track “Extinction” which is just over 53 minutes long.
Originally released in November of 2010, the album now has a 15th anniversary remaster which I highly recommend you check out. A limited edition LP was also released alongside the remaster, pressed on a metallic silver and gold vinyl with a lyric sheet and band photo postcard added to the packaging.
For those addicted to finding adventures through sound, ones specifically where you feel like you can almost touch the jagged, harsh terrain simply by hearing what is coming through your headphones, The Crystal World is an immersive ride from start to end.
Your Vaporwave Valedictorian