Albums Like "Alchemy - An Index of Metals"?

[rcarlberg]

One of my favorite favorite favorite albums of all time is David Sylvian's "Alchemy - An Index of Metals" (1985). The combination of large percussion, droning background, and layered overdubs is sublime.


I've been looking for more music like this ever since. So far the best examples I've found are:

• The Beast (Soundtrack) by Mark Isham (1988). Very similar in feel to Sylvian.
• Plight & Premonition (1988) and Flux + Mutability (1989) by David Sylvian & Holger Czukay. Some similarities, though not as gorgeous all the way through.
• My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Brian Eno & David Byrne (1981). Rather than drones the songs are built on rhythmic beds, but the idea is similar.
• The Catherine Wheel Soundtrack by David Byrne (1981). Almost an extension of MLitBoG with very similar techniques and source material.
• New Maps of Hell (1992) and several others by Paul Schütze. Closer to A-AIoM than most anything else I've found.

Since almost anything you can think of is available in spades out there in the real world, I thought I'd ask here. What else should I be checking out???

[Dave (in MA)]

Do you have Camphor and the 2 disc Gone To Earth?

[rcarlberg]

Ordered Monday and am picking up Gone To Earth this afternoon (used to have it on LP). Will look into Camphor, thanks!

[Jay.Dee]

Just a few off the top of my head...

Peter Gabriel - "Passion"
Prince - "N.E.W.S."
Otomo Yoshihide & Tatsuya Oe - s/t
Murcof - "Versailles Sessions"
ES - "Sateenkaarisuudelma"
Tape - "Luminarium"
José Cicuta - "Santa Afirmación"

And then of course you have Brian Eno's vast solo discography, Cluster/Harmonia (Eno+Cluster stuff is classic), Talk Talk's last two albums and many more.

[rcarlberg]

Good call on Camphor.

[mozo-pg]

I own David Sylvian's "Alchemy - An Index of Metals" but haven't spun it in ages. Will try to remember to pull it out tonight. No vocals on the sample the OP provided but that can't be true to the whole album.

Overall, I love almost everything by Sylvian, including his work with Fripp. I would have like to see how Sylvian fit into King Crimson. A bit off topic but what the hell.

[Dave (in MA)]

I don't have it, but wikipedia says Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities only came out on cassette, or on CD in Japan only. Is that true?

edit: checks Amazon, it's on CD. Only a few copies.
edit 2: goes back to Amazon, 1 copy left; bought it.

[Dave (in MA)]

Over the last few days people have been updating the Sylvian wikipedia article, claiming that he's never going to release anything new again, and that he's left the music industry, claiming "social media" as a source. Nothing on FB or Twitter that I can find.

[The Crimson King]

Maybe you're confused, OP? An Index of Metals is a multi-part Fripp/Eno composition on their album Evening Star. It's the most terrifying music I've ever heard. Seriously it disturbs me.

[rcarlberg]

Maybe you're confused, OP? An Index of Metals is a multi-part Fripp/Eno composition on their album Evening Star.

Mia Culpa! You're right

[Spiral]

Yes, this is a great one. It's hardly been out of my rotation for very long in the years since I first upgraded to CD with the remaster series (nevermind how long that's been). Similar stuff?

Jon Hassell: particularly Maarifa Street and Hassell/Eno's Fourth World v.1: Possible Musics (there's even a similarity in the title).

Archetribe: I've long since given up hope for more new releases (it was a one-man project and he's largely drifted to more ambient stuff), but the two under this name are exquisite.
https://archetribe.bandcamp.com/

Steve Roach & Jeffrey Fayman: Trance Spirits. The percussion's busier than the others above but the vibe is similar. Roach's own Dreamtime Return is sort of the flipside, including some of the tribal rhythm but much lighter & dreamier overall.

Gabriel's Passion is a masterpiece, but definitely in a different zone. I'd say Long Walk Home is much closer to Alchemy.

[FrippWire]

Give Mickey Hart/Rhythm Devils "The Apocalypse Now Sessions" (from the film) a sample and see what you think. I find it to be similar to the Eno/Hassell suggestion above except maybe a little less ambient/drone and more "jungle". Definitely large percussion.

[Dave (in MA)]

Mia Culpa! You're right

Mea








: )

[rcarlberg]

Mea

No, it was all Mia's fault, I swear!

[rcarlberg]

Good call on Archetribe. Downloading now.

Have the Mickey Hart & Jon Hassell already -- agree they're great.

[Jay.Dee]

Gabriel's Passion is a masterpiece, but definitely in a different zone. I'd say Long Walk Home is much closer to Alchemy.

For me Gabriel's "Passion" is as close to Sylvian's "Alchemy" as one can get. Same mysterious shamanistic spirituality, same improvisational feel and similar organic melange of acoustic and electronic sounds.



I was bewildered and astonished when I listened to "Alchemy" for the first time at an early age while hitch-hiking abroad. A very reserved woman who gave me a lift in an mountainous region played it in the car, then suddenly asked me if I had any place to sleep and offered to take me to an unspecified area off the main roads where I would be able to pitch my tent and enjoy the views. I did not say no, and that long ride in silence, uncertain of the destination, with a gorgeous scenery around soaked in the evening's fading light and THAT ethereal music was one of those moments in life I will never forget.

Unfortunately it was a limited cassette release (and pre-Internet times), so I could not locate the album for many years, but it only helped it grow and thrive in my imagination. And when it finally appeared on CD it thankfully turned out to be as thrilling as I had remembered it.

So like the OP I have been looking for similar sounds since that adventure, although my principal focus is on the mysterious air that could bring me back to the car, the silent driver and our shared journey into the unknown.

[Mascodagama]

rcarlberg, not sure if these are quite in the same wheelhouse, but I think there's a chance they may resonate. See what you think.

From Midori Takada's album Alice Through The Looking Glass:



From Lino Capra Vaccina's album Antico Adagio:



Two fantastic records that I wouldn't want to be without.

[Dave (in MA)]

My CD of Alchemy arrived this afternoon. Quite nice; I might have preferred it without the taped vocals, brilliant use of Hassell and Wheeler. I might have the new beginning of a Sylvian binge in the offing.

[rcarlberg]

I might have the new beginning of a Sylvian binge in the offing.

In addition to "Camphor" I downloaded "Rain Tree Crow" and "When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima" and "Uncommon Deities" and accidentally bought a second copy (for $2.99) of "Gone To Earth" because my first one was misfiled.

[battema]

Got this via Wayside over the weekend; it is closer to the Apocalypse Now side but does mix electronics and mostly tribal percussion/chants. I'm rather enjoying it:

https://soave.bandcamp.com/album/rob...plete-sessions

[Dave (in MA)]

In addition to "Camphor" I downloaded "Rain Tree Crow" and "When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima" and "Uncommon Deities" and accidentally bought a second copy (for $2.99) of "Gone To Earth" because my first one was misfiled.

Is either one of them the reissue of the original with the 2nd disc of instrumental pieces?

The other day I was looking for a CD that I was assuming I'd misfiled. After about 45 minutes I found it behind the TV. #$^#* cats.

When I mentioned binge I just meant a period of listening to what I already have.

[Jay.Dee]

I downloaded "Rain Tree Crow"

I love that one-off Japan reunion. I once had a C90 with their only album on one side and Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden on another. It was one of the best matched twofers in my (long gone) cassette collection.

[rcarlberg]

Is either one of them the reissue of the original with the 2nd disc of instrumental pieces?.

No, sadly they're both the 13-track single disc edition. But I did download the instrumentals only disc off YouTube and burn a copy. Includes the four short instrumentals left off the reissue.

[rcarlberg]

Got this via Wayside over the weekend; it is closer to the Apocalypse Now side but does mix electronics and mostly tribal percussion/chants. I'm rather enjoying it:

https://soave.bandcamp.com/album/rob...plete-sessions

Say, that *is* nice. When I first read this I thought it was Robert Musso, whose "Absolute Music" (1989) is so good.

[Dave (in MA)]

No, sadly they're both the 13-track single disc edition.

Well, in #2 I was talking about the version with the instrumental CD included.