In need of more doom-jazz along the lines of Bohren & der Club of Gore

February 13, 2014 10:37 AM

I've been listening to pretty much nothing but Bohren for about a week, and need more music in a similar vein: extremely slow and at least somewhat jazzy. Details regarding what I already know/like below the fold.

Bohren is pretty much my perpetual jam at the moment. I love all the albums, but have especially been enjoying the extra-glacial pacing of the last few albums (roughly Geisterfaust up to the present). I need more of this sort of thing: [very] slow, dispassionate, jazzy (for some value of the word jazzy), moody (yeah, I know that's sort of at odds with "dispassionate"), having a nocturnal/crepuscular vibe (and bonus points for an actually vibraphone), cinematic/sprawling/evocative.

Artists I already know/like that scratch this itch
- Angelo Badalamenti (faster than what I'm looking for, but the right feeling)
- Barry Adamson (yes, I realize that the short answer to this question may be "go watch some Lynch films")
- The Necks
- Earth, from "Hex" onwards
- Tindersticks, specifically the "Trouble Everyday" soundtrack
- Shivaree's "New Casablanca"

Things that may spring to mind, but don't work: Morphine (love them, but too much energy); Mazzy Star (again, great, but I want slower), Cowboy Junkies (a little too pop).

I'm more looking for instrumentals, although vocal tracks with a seriously chill delivery would work (I'm envisioning something like Neko Case/Anna Calvi/Rufus Wainright on a morphine drip).

Thanks in advance for any recommendations, and if you have any ideas for non-music art (films/visual arts/whatever) that seems to fit this theme, I'd love to here about them. And on preview, thanks for bearing with all the parentheses; I really need to work on cutting back...

posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

I'm not sure either of these will scratch your itch, but check out Kayo Dot and Bergraven.

Bergraven, Till Makabert Väsen - sort of like black metal mashed with Angelo Badalamenti.
Kayo Dot, Blue Lambency Downward - like jazz nerds celebrating the apocalypse.
posted by The Michael The at 10:50 AM on February 13, 2014

Julee Cruise did two albums of her own with Badalamenti/Lynch with the soundtrack songs you know and others you don't. They often get overlooked.

Harold Budd has a few that might work for you. The only ones coming to mind right now are Music for Three Pianos and the White Arcades.

Portico Quartet? Some will be too fast, but some are slow and definitely cinematic. They use a hang, which sounds a bit like kettle drums.
posted by K.P. at 10:53 AM on February 13, 2014

Some possible suggestions in this thread.
posted by theodolite at 10:54 AM on February 13, 2014

How about Supersilent's 6 or Ulver's Perdition City?
posted by Backslash at 11:14 AM on February 13, 2014

Best answer: The Mount Fuji Doom Jazz Corporation & their alter ego, The Killamanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble...

their bandcamp (with all 15+ of their releases), has been down for a while, but this is who you want if you like Bohren (who i love as well)
posted by TwilightKid at 11:17 AM on February 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

What about some Norma Winstone?
posted by Going To Maine at 1:38 PM on February 13, 2014

It's not jazz, but since you list Tindersticks, etc, try Thee Silver Mt Zion. Here's a good track: There Is a Light

And I would be remiss not to mention Swans
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:40 PM on February 13, 2014

Kilimanjaro dark jazz ensemble
Red Snapper (not quite what you're looking for, but fantastic - Prince Blimey for preference)
posted by Sebmojo at 1:42 PM on February 13, 2014

Oh, also - Psychic, the album by Darkside from this past year (Golden Arrow)
posted by Going To Maine at 2:36 PM on February 13, 2014

Lots of stuff on ECM Records is like this (some of my favorites come from Tord Gustavsen Trio).

There's a reddit (i know i know) about this specifically: /r/jazznoir
posted by softlord at 7:13 AM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Bark Psychosis - Pendulum Man

Tom Waits - Rainbirds

Circle - Miljard LP

Aidan Baker - Candescence (not really jazzy, but good)
posted by amb at 8:54 AM on February 14, 2014

Seconding Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation & Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. Also, Kammerflimmer Kollektief is a bit in that direction, too.
posted by klausness at 7:04 PM on February 15, 2014

On more of the techno/ambient tip, you might want to investigate Gas, Tim Hecker (perhaps a bit too busy), Stars of the Lid (perhaps a bit too spare), and The Caretaker (endlessly looped, crackly fragments of 1930s jazz records).

Those are all a little chancy, but I'd double down on softlord's recommendation that you check out ECM records.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:10 PM on February 15, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions; there's some good leads here. Especially liking Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation and Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble.

Another group that I discovered while poking around these links that definitely fits the bill: Heroin and Your Veins
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 11:32 AM on February 21, 2014