10mo ago

What are the most mindblowingly creative, inventive, or otherwise otherworldly albums you know of?

One of my favorite things to do while stoned is listen to albums that are really unique, artful, and/or jam packed with soul and energy, as in that head space music just hits completely differently and it just lends to me finding a deep love and appreciation for the art of music. What're some of your favorites?

117 comments

Delton 3030 is a rap opera set in the dystopian future. Amazing album start to finish.
Interstellar 55555 is an animated story for daft punks Discovery album which is a banger on its own. Once you watch the movie you never hear the album differently.
Green Day’s American Idiot is a concept album that was good enough to turn into a real musical.
- Yeah, very much the first deltron album, it rocks. Second one has some good inter-track bits and a few good songs, but the first one, phew.
- Love me some Del.
  Now you got me listening to Mistadobalina
  Also for anyone interested check out Hieroglyphics they're amazing.

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.
I once got really stoned and fell asleep while listening to it on a loop. I had all these insane dreams where I was walking through a pitch black jungle. I could feel all this stuff, the different textures of plants, the ground under foot, animals brushing by in the night, but I couldn't see anything: a totally non-visual dream. It wasn't scary, just super weird. Never experienced anything like it before or since.
- Did this one Halloween night in college. It was terrifying.

Oh, man, so many. There’s the obvious like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or Rush’s 2112, but Rust in Peace by Megadeth is superb, In Step by Stevie Ray Vaughan as well. Muse, however, has a few albums that are incredible, especially when you’re in the headspace to pick out little details. Their Black Holes and Revelations album is a banger from front to back, Simulation Theory is Velvety and interesting, Drones is jarring in a very good way, and The Resistance is harmony-rich and beautiful.
Also, I’m not familiar with the whole album, but the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane has one of the best vocal performances ever.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King.
It's just exploding with creativity and craftsmanship throughout the album. The opening tune (21st Century Schizoid Man) was unlike anything anyone had ever heard at the time it was released, and there's honestly still not much like it out there. And the transition to Moonchild after it is equally mind-blowing just for the contrast alone. The title track remains one of the most incredible things I've heard.
Zappa also has a lot of good candidates for this list. I'm soft for Freak Out, where the madness started, but some might argue something like Joe's Garage is a better example.

Mr Bungle - California and Disco Volante are unique and quite a trip.
- Fantomas - The Director's Cut is another good one to add on to these.
- Egg!
  Egg, oh an egg comes out of a chicken
  Egg, oh a chick comes out of an egg
  Egg, oh an egg comes out of a chicken
  Egg, oh a chick comes out of an egg
  Egg, oh an egg comes out of a chicken
  Egg, oh a chick comes out of an egg
  Egg, oh an egg comes out of a chicken
  Egg, oh a chick comes out of an egg
- Oh man. California is a masterpiece. Musicianship is top notch, with so many different moods and styles, it's like they had enough ideas to make 3 albums but somehow managed to cram everything into one.
- Did not expect disco volante in this thread.

I love Röyksopp Profound Mysteries. There are several albums. The songs with Susanne Sundfør are amazing.

Deltron 3030
- 卄乇ㄥㄥ　ㄚ乇卂卄　乃尺ㄖㄒ卄乇尺

no one's mentioned Tool - Lateralus
pretty much anything by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters, or Thrust
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
- I am not familiar with Sunn O))) but given your other tastes I want to check them out
  
  I saw Sunn and Godspeed You Black Emperor at different times in the same venue (Brooklyn Masonic Temple) and they were both the best show and the worst show I've ever seen in my life, respectively. Walked out halfway through Godspeed, it was so bad. Anyway, Sunn O))) rocks

Days of Future's Past by the Moody Blues, the one with the London Symphony.
I haven't done it in a long time, but I used to turn out all the lights and lay on the floor and listen to this album from start to finish, it's so good.

I haven't used Lemmy to promote myself until now, but check me out: www.thassodar.com
All my songs have no words, vary from chill to drum and bass, and I've been making them for about 4 years. My most recent EP is primarily chill, and my SoundCloud has the latest 4 tracks I put out last month.

Not really a specific album but check out Lorn in general.
Burial - Untrue
Odesza - Summers Gone
Easy Star All Stars - Dub Side of the Moon
Culprate - Deliverance
Most of these fit into the inventive, otherworldly or both kind of vibe.
- As a studio, Ninja Tune is very interesting.
  Here's one of my favorite Lorn tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEBIsUsvheA
  
  Weigh me down is awesome! I really like 555-5555

Savage sinusoid - Igorrr
- Cheval is a whole assortment of vibes
- Not Spirituality & Distortion?

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of the Moon
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.
Pendulum - Immersion

The concept album Hospice by The Antlers is excellent.
Set in New York City's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which the second track is named after, Hospice tells the story of a relationship between a hospice worker and a female patient suffering from terminal bone cancer, their ensuing romance, and their slow downward spiral as a result of the woman's traumas, fears, and disease. The story of her deterioration also serves as a metaphor for an abusive relationship. Frontman Peter Silberman has been reluctant to divulge explicit details regarding the meaning of the record, and the extent to which it is autobiographical.
I'm not a very emotional person, but I feel the highs and lows quite profoundly. I think it's the music pairing perfectly with Pete's voice—which is almost acted/in-character at times—and the lyrics. Always appreicate a good concept album and this is a favourite.
- This is sooo sad and so good. I love this album, it's really incredible.
- The part in Atrophy with the sounds of glass breaking evoke broken bones and searing pain, just as the patient would be feeling, is so amazing.
  "I'd happily take all those bullets inside you and put them inside of myself."
  And then:
  "Someone, oh anyone. Tell me how to stop this
  She's screaming, expiring, and I'm her only witness."
  That song is so sad.
  So many good lyrics though:
  "And told me something that I didn't know that I wanted
  To hear that there was nothing that I could do to save you
  The choir's gonna sing and then this thing is gonna kill you"
  
  I love lyrics in Wake, the realisation of what he went through and now it's over. And without noticing, the music builds into unleashing so much by this point...
  Don't be scared to speak
  Don't speak with someone's tooth
  Don't bargain when you're weak
  Don't take that sharp abuse
  Some patients can't be saved, but that burden's not on you
  Don't ever let anyone tell you you deserve that
- I discovered this album while working for a hospice equipment rental company. It helped me understand the emotions of people going through such intense loss. It's beautiful and ugly at the same time. It somehow manages to capture the full spectrum of emotions of that experience. This is one of the great albums of this millennium. I don't know how the artist captured it so well, but I hope he found some relief from his hospice experience by creating that album. 10/10.

A Love Supreme - John Coltrane, Kind of Blue - Miles Davis, Doolittle - Pixies, Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips, Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest, Radiohead - OK Computer

Can't go wrong with frank Zappa's joes garage experience in my opinion
- Not if you're into appliances with marital aids stuck all over them

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland

"Koan Sound - Led By Ancient Light" is a journey from start to finish. I sat in my dark living room stoned a while ago and listened to the album from front to back and it brought me across the universe and back

Apex by Unleash the Archers.
It’s a power-metal concept album, telling the story of an immortal being cursed to carry out the wishes of their summoner - in this iteration, “the Matriarch” - to kill her three sons so she may also gain immortality. The lead vocalist’s range is unlike anything else I’ve heard. It is incredibly well done.
Deloused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta
I don’t have any way to describe this. It’s eccentric and awesome. The drums and guitars are powerful and delicious. Where were you when exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed?

Zappa - Apostrophe
Perfect while being stoned

2112 by Rush

Back in grade school we had a teacher who played us 'Stan Freidberg Presents The United States Of America!" It's an old comedy alboum full of silly songs about the Founding Fathers. Certainly mindblowing, creative, and unique.

Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom
Sketch by Scattle
- I was gonna say Ys rather than Have One on Me
  
  I know I love Ys so much

AMAROK by Mike Oldfield. Not just the music itself (it's quite a trip), but the story of its development:
He was under contract for Virgin to produce another long form album, but he and Branson had a falling out. Regardless, Branson threatened legal trouble if Oldfield didn't go through with it. He was hoping for a record with radio-friendly hits like "Shadow on the Wall" and "Moonlight Shadow" that could be peddled to radio stations.
So Oldfield composed AMAROK. It contains one single track, spanning the entire length of the 60+ minute album. That way, Branson couldn't simply lift any tracks and use them as singles.
But wait, there's more! Since Oldfield knew that if he did this, Branson would simply make a selection of excerpts from the album and use those as singles. This had been done before while they still got along or even before he signed with Virgin, so they knew it could work, cfr the "Incantations", "Ommadawn", "Hergest Ridge", ...
The "Amarok" track is... a special kind of composition. It's by no means bad - it's actually pretty great from a technical standpoint. But what you decidedly cannot do, is attribute it to any specific genre, nor easily mark the beginnings and endings of the different "tracks" comprising the record.
Thus, Oldfield won this battle and Amarok was pretty much impossible to use for radioplay. I still enjoy it to this day though.
- Thank you for this.

Try Nick Cave & The Bad Seed's Ghosteen.

Live at the Old Quarter, Townes Van Zandt. Townes at the height of power, and before the years took too much of a toll, a live album including just the perfect amount of chatter and ambience to give an impression of what the night was like, the goofy dad-humor blending into some of the best American songs ever written. I won't argue that he was better than Dylan, but I prefer him, and with a slightly different lyrical style he was absolutely worthy to be mentioned in the same breath.
- I don't know this specific recording but I love his music since I first heard it in The Big Lebowski. I learned to play Dead Flowers too. Will give this a listen, cheers
  
  I actually enjoy his buddy Guy Clark a little more, and respect him very nearly as much, but Guy is just a little more country and didn't have quite that same level of soul-deep hurt that you need to really cross genres as a "beautiful loser" icon.

Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump
Beck's Morning Phase

I always enjoy listening to Bringing Down the Horse by the Wallflowers.
Hard to tell if it’s actually good or just nostalgia, because it’s the first album I ever bought as a kid.
Doggystyle is always a good listen all the way through too.
- It's good

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
"Closer" popularly known as "The 'I Wanna Fuck You Like an Animal' Song", is just the tip of the iceberg. Admittedly it's a pretty big tip 😏
- That album also featured Adrian Belew (of Zappa, King Crimson,Talking Heads) on "textured synth guitars."

Octavarium by Dream Theatre. Its a whole album themed around the number 8.
Also pretty much any album by Muse, but if I had to narrow it down I would say my favorite from them overall is Absolution, followed by Black Holes and Revelations.

Tubular Bells for me at the time.

I'm not sure about mind-blowingly inventive but check out Mcbaise.
heres my favorite song by them right now:
https://youtu.be/n11j73OYqOY?si=GQp83Zin3QNwAuo7

'Spirit of Eden' by Talk Talk
One of the Godfathers of ambient.
It was so avant garde and unlike any pop or rock at the time that the tiny minds at their label thought they were delivering a shit album to get out of their contract.
(Edits in bold)
- Brian Eno was doing ambient in the 70's and coined the name, but otherwise I agree that Spirit of Eden is incredible.
  
  True enough. Edited.

If you want something really out there, Lifa by Heilung is a spiritual journey. They call their music "amplified history," and its ritualistic tribal/folk music inspired by pre-christianity era northern Europe. Took me a while to get accustomed to it at first but once it clicks it is transcendent. Also this was their first live performance ever which is mindblowing.
- An updated version of the ritual is coming soon!

I've always had a soft spot for the album Medulla by Bjork. If I'm not mistaken it was made entirely with mouth sounds. Has a really unique feeling to it.
- Nice pick, it's a very unique album for sure. Oceania has got to be one of her greatest vocal performances ever.
- Oh I listened to this as a kid but never knew about the mouth noises thing ! I can barely remember the music too. I should give it a fresh listen with 20 years' perspective

Soft Bulletin By The Flaming Lips
Heaven and Earth by Kamasi Washington

Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains Absolutely fantastic
- truly a unique and complete experience, from beginning to end.

Oneohtrix Point Never's R Plus Seven
Anything by the Avalanches or The Books
OK Computer
JPEGMAFIA
- How many hours, per day, would you say you spend on RateYourMusic?
  
  First I've heard of it

Check out shpongle and tipper

This is a weird one, but I'm going to say Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team. It has the vibe of kids playing on a playground in the 80s and 90s. Like, double Dutch jump rope, neon colors, excited chatter... Pure, innocent joy. It isn't actually about any of those things, but the way the band uses samples, lots of trumpet (the most triumphant instrument), and the sung/rapped/chanted/cheered vocals really make it feel like that. It's not experimental though, these are catchy, banger pop songs. One of my favorite albums of all time.

Swans - The Seer

Bear with me: Beiguan music.
It's traditional Chinese music with tinny horns, drums and symbols. Close your eyes and imagine a temple procession slowly and loudly passing by, puppets, costumes, dancers, musicians, firecrackers, the smell of street food and general din of human enjoyment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iohWrjSVnb4
If you want something less chaotic, a gamelan orchestra is like rain decided to hold a soiree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEWCCSuHsuQ
And then when you're ready to feel the waves break over your soul, it's time for Taiko drumming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZagsLrNzg3I

Public Service Broadcasting - Race To Space.
Go! (From the album)
The whole album is just them playing music to sound bytes from the space race era.

The consequences album by Godley and creme. I don't think I've ever found another fan haha

The dwarf fortress soundtrack slaps so much harder than it has any right to
https://youtu.be/W2Df3_k9PGM?si=H7nKAV94ixSLNJZU

Alek and the Drummer - May a Lightning Bolt Caress You

Deep Forest

Laurie Anderson Mister Heartbreak https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Heartbreak

KOAN Sound - Polychrome. Everything these guys do is amazing but I feel like this album in particular has an unmatched vibe.

Veil of Imagination by Wilderun

DJ Krush: Code 4109
DJ Shadow: Endtroducing
Works of art

Music by Cavelight by Blockhead. My fav stoned album of all time, probably.

Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape

I discovered Hirasawa Susumu through his work on the Paprika soundtrack and later his other albums thanks to the magic of Youtube. I'm not even sure how to describe it, it's a whole world. There's this album (Kyusai no giho). I'm not a big fan of japanese music otherwise, but this ? I've never heard anything remotely like this. And it seems so coherent, so... mature, in a way.
Great idea for a thread btw, will have to peruse the replies
- His Paprika soundtrack is integral to the movie. The opening theme where we see how she travels is phenomenal - the imagery plus the music is such a perfect one-two munch it makes me tear up.
- As someone with extensive experience with sleep deprivation, I can say with confidence that Parade sounds exactly like the seam between consciousness and sleep.
  
  I find your remark pretty spot-on. Have you actually watched Paprika ?

Waltari - Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in Deep C
One of the first collaborations of a metal band with a classical orchestra. That kind of stuff became more commonplace later, but this mix of death metal, classical music and all kinds of other influences remains unique to this day.

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