Help me compile the ultimate stoner playlist.

November 25, 2007 6:43 PM

Help me compile the ultimate stoner playlist.

I'm looking for songs that sound fabulous while under the influence, not for songs about weed.

Specific musical characteristics that seem to work well are:

1. Dreamy synthesizers and violins
   
   • Air – Mike Mills
   • Zero 7 – Give It Away
   • Air – Another Day
   • Lindstrom – I Feel Space
2. Mind-blowing guitar solos
   
   • The White Stripes – Ball and Biscuit
   • Queen – I Want It All
   • Jimi Hendrix – Red House
3. Chilled, loungy tunes
   
   • Thievery Corporation – Transcendence
   • Leggo Beast – Version
   • Nightmares on Wax – You Wish
   • DJ Shadow – Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain
4. Gradual building of tension towards a climax
   
   • Massive Attack – Group Four (last 4 minutes)
   • Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
   • The Beatles – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
   • Air – Run
5. Ethereal female vocals
   
   • Cat Power – Willie
   • Portishead – It's a Fire

I would be great if you could embed a little sample of your suggestions! This can be accomplished easily by pasting the code in the last.fm embed this track box in your comment. Thanks a lot!

posted by koenie to media & arts (71 comments total)

Hm, it seems the embedded player didn't come through in the final post, even though it worked in the preview ...
posted by koenie at 6:44 PM on November 25, 2007

old school:

Traffic - Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
Vanilla Fudge - You keep Me hanging On
Larry Coryell - The great Escape
Quicksilver messenger Service - Fresh Air
Spirit - Uncle Jack
posted by jonmc at 6:58 PM on November 25, 2007

Pink Floyd. Why don't you have any Pink Floyd? I think pretty much the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon would work here.
posted by schroedinger at 6:58 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

I made exactly this mix some years back. Here's the playlist I came up with (it was an enormous hit with my stoner buddies)

1. Portishead - Mysterons
2. Lamb - Trans Fatty Acid (K&D Session)
3. Frank Zappa - Watermelon In Easter Hay
4. Jefferson Airplane - Good Shepherd
5. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Don't Come Around Here No More
6. Pink Floyd - Julia Dream
7. Harry Nilsson - Poli High
8. Phish - Fee
9. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
10. Beck - Debra
11. Prince - Paisley Park
12. Beastie Boys - High Plains Drifter
13. De La Soul - Bitties In The BK Lounge
14. R.E.M. - King of Birds
15. Smiths - How Soon Is Now
16. Cure - Six Different Ways
posted by Banky_Edwards at 6:59 PM on November 25, 2007

Eric Burdon and War, "Spill the Wine"
Brewer & Shipley, "One Toke Over the Line"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:01 PM on November 25, 2007

Old school:

Grateful Dead (the original stoner band)
Pink Floyd (Geat Gig in the Sky, One of These Days)
Led Zeppelin (Lemon Song)
Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida*)
Uriah Heep (Sweet Lorraine)
Deep Purple (Space Truckin' live version*)

*the only song on an album side (~20 minutes long)
posted by Doohickie at 7:06 PM on November 25, 2007

(good call on the War and Beetles songs!)
posted by Doohickie at 7:07 PM on November 25, 2007

I'm here to help.

There isn't a sample on last.fm, but here's youtube of In the Court of the Crimson King. Dreamy synths, ominous lyrics with an open-ended story, bizarre guitar effects, whistle solo.

From a similar time-frame, Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath. Very laid back with nice guitar solos.

Skipping ahead a few decades, there is Shampoo Suicide by Broken Social Scene that starts in a groove and builds and builds over four minutes.

I could say more, but I have to go make some ginger snaps.
posted by otolith at 7:13 PM on November 25, 2007

In the Pink Floyd vein, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (either one) from Wish you Were Here is great for category #4.

Seconding Led Zeppelin, it's not a stoner mix with it. Dazed and Confused is nice, again for #4.

I have only old-school suggestions.
posted by cabingirl at 7:15 PM on November 25, 2007

er, it's not a stoner mix without it. Duh.
posted by cabingirl at 7:15 PM on November 25, 2007

I've never been stoned, but these songs make me feel like I have, so they should work for you:

Procol Harum - Whiter Shade Of Pale
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
posted by amyms at 7:16 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

No mix would be complete without Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf (the extended version).
posted by purephase at 7:19 PM on November 25, 2007

Spiritualized - If I Were With Her Now
Calexico - Sunken Waltz
Remy Zero - Gramarye
Manu Chao - Minha Galera
posted by re.becca at 7:20 PM on November 25, 2007

ELO's Time album (or selections thereof).
posted by theredpen at 7:22 PM on November 25, 2007

Tricky - Suffocated Love
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:27 PM on November 25, 2007

Try some heavy, I'll go easy on you, though, don't worry.

Kyuss - Apothecaries Weight

Queens of the Stone Age - Regular John

Atomic Bitchwax - Forty Five

Isis - So Did We

Subarachnoid Space - C

Pelican - Mammoth

Om - Unitive Knowledge of the Godhead
posted by The Straightener at 7:30 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Uh hello? How is it possible that this conversation has taken place for more than four seconds with nobody saying "Steve Miller Band"?

Fly Like an Eagle would be the classic bong hit, but most anything on this album will do: Take the Money and Run, Jet Airliner, The Stake, Rockn Me...

Possibly, however, I am just very very old.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:37 PM on November 25, 2007

Seconding The Straightener - Isis's Panopticon album, especially the last track, Grinning Mouths. There's a great vid of it on YT if you're curious.

If you like rap, then some good old-school stuff is excellent also - 36 Chambers, or a Biggie album, perhaps.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 7:39 PM on November 25, 2007

My apologies for not following the Last.fm protocol - I'd spend about five hours making links to all these songs - but here's a list anyway:

Dreamy synthesizers and violins

To Rococo Rot & I-Sound, From Dream to Daylight

Mind-blowing guitar solos

Sonic Youth, The Diamond Sea
Television, Marquee Moon
Yo La Tengo, Blue Line Swinger
Yo La Tengo, We're An American Band

Chilled tunes (skimping on the "loungy", per se, but I like these for your intended purpose)

Barbara Morgenstern, Reset
Boards of Canada, In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country
Einsturzende Neubauten, Silence is Sexy
His Name Is Alive, Nothing Special
Low, Violence
Nick Drake, Things Behind the Sun
Passengers, Your Blue Room
Tindersticks, A Night In
To Rococo Rot, Die Dinge des Lebens
Tricky, Ponderosa
Yo La Tengo, Green Arrow
Yo La Tengo, Night Falls on Hoboken
Zero 7, Destiny

Gradual building of tension towards a climax

Engineers, One in Seven
Radiohead, Let Down
Red House Painters, Katy Song
Sun Kil Moon, Duk Koo Kim

Ethereal female vocals

Air, Redhead Girl
Emiliana Torrini, Easy
Future Sound of London, Papua New Guinea
Low, Shame
Massive Attack, Teardrop
This Mortal Coil, Song to the Siren

Entire albums:

KLF, Chill Out
The Orb, UFOrb
Rachel's, Systems/Layers
Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians
Terry Riley, Poppy Nogood & The Phantom Band 'All-Night Flight' Vol 1
posted by mykescipark at 7:44 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Here are some I find enjoyable under the influence, or not.

Waldeck
Kruder & Dorfmeister, (especially the K & D sessions)
a new discovery: Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
The Cinematic Orchestra
DJ Cheb i Sabba
posted by tarantula at 7:48 PM on November 25, 2007

Gradual building of tension? I think of East Hastings by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

I completely agree with Zero 7, Air and Massive Attack.
posted by sian at 7:52 PM on November 25, 2007

I had a great one of these back in the day. I found that I went for less stereotypical stoner music, but I remember my mix being incredible, though I don't remember what was on it really. These are two songs I do remember though:

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (great song to start a mix off with because it just kind of creeps up on you. I still get chills with the intro.)

R.E.M. - Airportman
posted by ND¢ at 7:53 PM on November 25, 2007

Dude. I've got you covered.

The Frigid, Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. TJ Eckleberg, by Yume Bitsu. Just stoner rock for 20 minutes, sooo awesome.

Howrah Station, by Sir Richard Bishop, is the best guitar-ing I've ever heard (acoustic, but still).

Ursa Minor, Ursa Major is my favorite Tarentel song.. just awesome. Long, building stuff.

And a lot of the songs here, like the Comets on Fire, Spiritualized, and Secret machines tracks are great.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:06 PM on November 25, 2007 [2 favorites]

Longer form:
Terry Riley: In C
Husker Du: Reoccurring Dreams
Ash Ra Tempel: pick a side off an early record, either bone crushing guitar freakout or synth space landscape
KLF: Chill Out (seconded)
P. Glass: koyaanisqatsi

Chilled but driven:
Deodato: Thus spake Zarathustra
Roberta Flack: Gone Away (written by Donny Hathaway)

Baked:
Sabbath: Planet Caravan (seconded)
Butthole Surfers: Cherub or 22 going on 23

Contemporary:
Boris
Growing
OM (and Sleep)

Vocals / not so abstract:
Beach Boys: Surf's Up
Rush: Jacob's Ladder
Mamas and Papas: Got A Feelin'

Super recognizable / grounded (use wisely):
Freur: Doot Doot
Eno: most songs from Before and After Science (or tons of his other records)
Fleetwood Mac: Gold Dust Woman (creepy! A heck of a way to end an album)
Scott Walker: some of the more intimate tunes

Curve ball:
Eric B. and Rakim: Follow the Leader (perhaps tricky to place in a mix - perhaps not - but such an amazing track - relentlessly smooth vocals and crazy imagery = "...let's travel at magnificent speeds out through the universe/ what can you say as the earth gets further and further away/ planets are small like balls of clay..."
posted by asparagus_berlin at 8:06 PM on November 25, 2007

Sorry, I should have mentioned, those are at my own mp3 blog.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:10 PM on November 25, 2007

put on some headphones blaze up and listen to endtroducing, dj shadow. actually do that and listen to it while walking around lower manhattan. preferably while walking a dog. surreal, as long as you can get smoked out and walk a dog in the city without bumping into people or getting hit by a car. maybe find a park.
posted by fumbducker at 8:14 PM on November 25, 2007

Any Mogwai, but "Superheroes Of BMX" might do rather well.
posted by Aztekker at 8:30 PM on November 25, 2007

In Dark Trees - from Before and After Science - Eno
I'd go old school on ya and just say the whole second side of the album but...

Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
always worked for me

Where is my Mind? - Pixies

Karma Police - Radiohead
posted by readery at 8:44 PM on November 25, 2007

Old but great
It's a Beautiful Day -- the whole darn album
Gotta have Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
Beatles-- lots, but She's so Heavy works well Revolution #9 if you're in the proper mood
posted by cccorlew at 8:45 PM on November 25, 2007

Seconding One of These Days by Pink Floyd.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:46 PM on November 25, 2007

How about some classic 90s hip hop? Pharcyde?
posted by anthill at 8:49 PM on November 25, 2007

Chuck a bit of Mars Volta in there if you wan't things to go a bit haywire. It has that effect on me and I don't even smoke.
posted by robotot at 8:57 PM on November 25, 2007

Eric's Trip
Elevator To Hell
Elevator Through
Elevator
The Unintended
Rick White
posted by Reggie Digest at 9:15 PM on November 25, 2007

I'll add to this once I get home, but for now:

The Greenhornes - Unnatural Habitat
Anything by My Bloody Valentine will do, but especially Only Shallow
LCD Soundsystem - Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up
Sneaker Pimps - Six Underground
Blur - She's So High
Yo La Tengo - Let's Be Still
Radiohead - The National Anthem

While I'm here, I'll nth Music For 18 Musicians.
posted by thisjax at 9:15 PM on November 25, 2007

Oh, and it hurts a little to be the guy to suggest them, but Radiohead and Tool were always in the CD changer back in my day.
posted by Reggie Digest at 9:21 PM on November 25, 2007

"22 Going On 23"? That song's terrifying. The whole Locust Abortion Technician record gives me the willies. I like it, but....it's really fucking evil.

"Out My Way" and "Bucket Head" by the Meat Puppets
"Good Guys and Bad Guys" by Camper Van Beethoven
"Rubber Room" by Porter Wagoner for sheer weirdness
"Lizzy" by The Melvins. Actually, pretty much anything by The Melvins.
Thirding Isis, a great band
"A Head With Wings" and "Cure For Pain" by Morphine
"Dopesmoker" by Sleep is an hour-long stoner wankfest
"Gold Day", "Piano Fire", and "Baby's On The Sun" by Sparklehorse
"Astral Weeks" and "Sweet Thing" by Van Morrison
"Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" by the Velvet Underground
"Misunderstood" by Wilco

And then there's Bach, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and the slow drip of a leaky faucet into a dirty mug echoing through a quiet house. All of which have sounded excellent to me while stoned.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:37 PM on November 25, 2007

pretty much anything by ozric tentacles

Ozric Tentacles – Strangeitude

just about sums it up... the "aaahhhhh..." at 6:32 or thereabouts pretty much says it all.
posted by joeblough at 10:16 PM on November 25, 2007

I'm gonna go with some newew shit cause for me, that's what's its all about. all these other people seem way too nostalgic about getting stoned (so i'm guessing its been awhile). are you really still listening to the steve miller band and the pharcyde? jeez how long until you've heard what they have to say.
It sounds like you don't like rap, so i'll stay away from there.
anyway, I like this album california by Michaela Meliana. File under Gradual Buildup. Here's a track that seems good (just bought it today): Convention .
MIA is the shit, maybe you'll like it. Not really ethereal but feminine voice: Paper Planes
File under chilled. Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica
I love this song from Beirut's last album. This song is beautiful (is that a category?) Postcards from Italy
Guitary? Spoon--don't you evah
Chilled? Magnetic Fields -- The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure or I don't want to get over you
Just to add something old--I guess this would go under Build up or maybe ethereal female David Byrne and Brian Eno--Regiment
Just to go with the nostalgia tip, I haven't thought of this album in years. Skip hop and wobble-- Here on Earth
good night
posted by alkupe at 10:23 PM on November 25, 2007

Ah, sweet memories of (barely) working as a line cook at Pluto's restaurant in Victoria, taking huffs off the bong with the dishwasher (and then getting yelled at by the waitstaff for being too stoned to cook on Saturday night rush).

My favourite stoner music from that time was:

The Verve - Storm in Heaven
Pornos for Pyros

But usually I would get so stoned that the music wouldn't make any sense, which was fun.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:30 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Tool, 10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)
Banco de Gaia, 887 (Structure)
Prince performing While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Freaky Chakra, Blacklight Fantasy
Man With No Name, The Breech
Minilogue, Inca
Transit Kings (Orb side project), The Last Lighthouse Keeper
Explosions In The Sky, Lonely Train

I'm in the middle of uploading a few of these to http://mike.teczno.com/img/stoner-music/.
posted by migurski at 10:45 PM on November 25, 2007

Dutch band FOCUS song Hocus Pocus
posted by hortense at 11:00 PM on November 25, 2007 [2 favorites]

Dred Zeppelin covering Kashmir. Seriously, nothing beats a reggae band covering Zeppelin with an Elvis impersonator on lead vocals.
posted by Manjusri at 11:07 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

German band Can future days
posted by hortense at 11:34 PM on November 25, 2007

About 75% of the music I listen to could be considered weed music, though I've never yet listened so affected, so this is somewhat conjectural.

Hooverphonic made what I consider a neglected classic with their 1996 debut, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. The first two tracks, Inhaler and 2Wicky, are completely perfect. After that album they switched singers and have since slid steadily and inexplicably into boring showtunes-tinged pop, but almost every track on that first album is incredible. They all fit at least one of your categories. Renaissance Affair and Eden are a couple of tracks to check out from their patchy (to be kind) subsequent records.

Radiohead have their share: definitely check out Meeting in the Aisle, a sadly little-known downtempo masterpiece. Also, Sit Down Stand Up (category #4) and Paranoid Android (#2--most mind-blowing guitar solo of recent decades, possibly ever). The mellow Talk Show Host is known by fans as one of their greatest songs, but often missed by others because it wasn't on an album. Besides the main version off the Street Spirit single, there's also a well-liked, trip-hoppier remix by Nellee Hooper on the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack (often just labeled "Talk Show Host"; it's not the radical Black Dog remix). Also might want to check out the minimalist guitar solo Hunting Bears, and definitely Nude off the new album.

Tosca - Chocolate Elvis, Suzuki, Busenfreund. These are from the first two albums, after which they got a lot more dub, which probably makes better stoner music, but I don't think they're as good in general.

So, let's see. Original Bedroom Rockers by Kruder & Dorfmeister. UNKLE Main Title Theme by UNKLE (really by DJ Shadow since he pretty much did all the music on that album). Dayvan Cowboy by Boards of Canada.

Going a little further out into IDM, Xtal by Aphex Twin and Montreal by Autechre are great.

That's all I got off the top of my head.
posted by abcde at 11:44 PM on November 25, 2007

Songs that sound good under the influence.

Man, if you're under the right influence, they allllll sound good :)
posted by DrtyBlvd at 2:22 AM on November 26, 2007

global communication - 76:14
posted by juv3nal at 4:24 AM on November 26, 2007

Going a little further out into IDM, Xtal by Aphex Twin and Montreal by Autechre are great.

If you're keen on aphex twin, the 2 disc Selected Ambient Works 2 has a few songs that would be good. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, it doesn't look like last.fm has all the songs there, but the one they call "cliffs" is spectacular (they're actually all untitled).
posted by juv3nal at 4:37 AM on November 26, 2007

Phish's "Wading in the Velvet Sea" comes to mind.
posted by weezetr at 4:43 AM on November 26, 2007

CCR's 11-minute version of Heard it through the Grape Vine.

Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb (and much other from The Wall), although I suspect the target audience for that album is used to a lower pH experience.

Just about anything by Peter Tosh or Bob Marley--reggae goes with weed like gravy and mashed potatoes--<ahem> or so I've heard.

Three Dog Night's Never Been to Spain.
posted by phrits at 5:26 AM on November 26, 2007

"The Dreaming" - Kate Bush

"Treasure" - Cocteau Twins

"Tenacious D" - Tenacious D

All to be listened to, whilst stupidly stoned, in the dark by yourself. Worked for me, anyway (although I often skip the actual song "The Dreaming" because it's very silly).
posted by h00py at 5:45 AM on November 26, 2007

lemon jelly
posted by ames at 7:26 AM on November 26, 2007

(So um I meant the entire albums which is probably not answering the question at all).

So for individual joy, I'd say (Don't Fear) the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult and Come To Daddy - Aphex Twin (it would be good if you could watch the video for the last one as well).

Pleased to be of help.
posted by h00py at 7:29 AM on November 26, 2007

For a dreamy but sinister vibe:
The Velvet Underground – Venus in Furs
To be taken with a tab of Spiritualised and a Mogwai chaser.

And for the noisy bit, I can't believe no-one has suggested:
Queens of the Stone Age – Feel Good Hit of the Summer
posted by tiny crocodile at 8:46 AM on November 26, 2007

tool - third eye. I mean, holy crap.
posted by Chris4d at 8:56 AM on November 26, 2007

Hello, friend. I am a stoner who listens to music. I am, to ape a previous salutation, here to help.

First off, there are two high-on genres that everyone should be familiar with: psych and dub.

Psych comes in many flavors, from the paisley dabblings of "My White Bicycle" and "Sunny Goode Street," to the acid-drenched "Rollercoaster" by the 13th Floor Elevators.

A good starting point is the Nuggets box, which includes stoner classics like "Too Much to Dream" and "Psychotic Reaction."

For dub, you start out with a genre that venerates the collie herb (reggae), then you run it through echos and phasers. I'm more of a King Tubby man than "Scratch" Perry, and Tubby's colab with Augustus Pablo on Ital Dub is probably the best place to start.

I'll post more when I'm home from work.
posted by klangklangston at 12:00 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

A lot of post-rock is great for this.
Explosions In The Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mount Zion, Pelican, Tortoise, Mogwai, and the like.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:18 PM on November 26, 2007

Since, I figure, your goal isn't just to get a mass of suggestions (because you'll eventually hit the "7000 songs to fit on a 60 minute CD" wall), but also to get some endorsement of suggestions already made ("Hey, people have recommended 7000 songs, but these 10 songs keep getting recommended over and over again!"), I won't add anything new, but endorse suggestions made by others:

Terry Riley
Pink Floyd - Anything from Dark Side (but you knew that)
The Orb
Boards of Canada
Mogwai
Phillip Glass - Stuff from Koyaanisqatsi

One thing I notice (and it may have just been your choice of words), but you mention a "stoner" album, and then talk about stuff that would sound good when self-medicating. Some of that stuff will turn out to not be typical "stoner" music. For example, an excellent piece would be Shpongle's DMT (man, I just gave myself chills listening to it again) (note: it builds quite a bit, so don't just listen to the first 30 seconds, but at least the first 3 minutes), but I can't really imagine your standard stoner listening to it.

And if that is boat floating, then you have the entire genre of psy ambient to work with, and that means another 7000 tracks.
posted by bugbread at 3:15 PM on November 26, 2007

I think these entire albums are great, but I've chosen my favourite songs from each to help you along.

The Cure: Bloodflowers. track 2 Watching me fall.

Television: Marquee Moon. track 4 Marquee Moon.

R.E.M.: New Adventures in Hi Fi. track 1 How the west was won.
posted by mosessis at 7:41 PM on November 26, 2007

Oh, yeah, someone mentioned the Orb! Another great memory was doing 'shrooms, walking around campus, talking with ducks, talking with trees, and then coming down by listening to Blue Room, off of UFOrb.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:33 PM on November 26, 2007

One thing I notice (and it may have just been your choice of words), but you mention a "stoner" album, and then talk about stuff that would sound good when self-medicating. Some of that stuff will turn out to not be typical "stoner" music.

I did not know the word stoner had such a negative connotation. Maybe I should have used 'herbalizer' or somesuch :)

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions!
posted by koenie at 1:10 AM on November 27, 2007

Koenie,

Sorry, didn't mean to imply it had a negative connotation, just that the scope covered by "stoner" sounds (to me) like a subset of the scope covered by "sounds good when high". Not in a negative way.
posted by bugbread at 3:36 AM on November 27, 2007

Ah, now I get it: the subset you're describing is known to me as "stoner rock". English is not my mother tongue though.
posted by koenie at 5:57 AM on November 27, 2007

OK, more (I didn't have time last night, and I'm knocking this together quickly). These are all songs (we'll go through post-punk, proto-punk, shoegazer, dance rock, funk, etc.):

The Gospel Comes to New Guinea— 23 Skidoo
Do the Du— A Certain Ratio
Space Age Ballad— Acid Mothers Temple (you should look into their stuff, especially their cover of Terry Riley's In C)
Motherslug— Acrimony
Crocodile Hand Luggage—African Head Charge
A4—Agata Morio
Sexy Boy—Air
Dehominisation—Alain Gorageur
Ptah, the El Daud—Alice Coltrane
AIR (God's Breath and Seed)—Ambient Temple of Imagination
Yeti—Amon Duul
Deutsch Nepal—Amon Duul II
Seems So—Apples in Stereo
The House on the Hill—Armand Piazzo
Moments in Love—Art of Noise
Let's Go Swimming—Arthur Russell
Hana—Asa Chang and Jun Rae
Dub Fire—Aswad
Death Walks Behind You—Atomic Rooster
Czr (Gelk)—Autechre
Ciencias Sensuais—Azul 79
War on Drugs— The Bad Trips
Mariguana—Banda Love and Peace
Absent Friend— Bark Psychosis
Untitled #1—Baroque Jazz Trio
Bttls—Battles
Bela Lugosi's Dead—Bauhaus
Good Vibrations—The Beach Boys
Twist and Crawl Dub—The Beat
Odessa—The Beegees
Trans-brooklyn Express—Began Ceckic
Republique Guinee—Bembeya Jazz National
Neon Probe—Berlin Blondes
Smoke Marijuana—Big Joe (King Tubby Mix)
Smiling Off (Luomo Mix)—Black Dice
Druganaut—Black Mountain
Planet Caravan—Black Sabbath
Last Club on Earth—Black Strobe
Doctor Please—Blue Cheer
II—The Blue Notes
ETI—Blue Oyster Cult
Blue Sun—Blue Sun
Mars, Arizona—Blues Explosion (DFA remix)
Super Going—Boredoms
Akuma No Uta—Boris
Part 1—Brast Burn
Gamboa—Brazilian Octopus
Heavenly Music Corporation—Brian Eno and Robert Fripp
The Devil May Care—Brian Jonestown Massacre
I Love You—The Buggles
Bunny Lion At Control—Bunny Lion
I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas—Butthole Surfers

That's the A through B of shortlist choices. Back for more later.
posted by klangklangston at 8:40 AM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

a few not mentioned so far:

Funkadelic: Maggot Brain

Raphael Green & Dr Alimantado: Rasta Train (the long version, from Trojan's Roots and Culture box set. Accept no substitute)

Neu!: most of Neu! 75, especially E-music, Seeland, Isi

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme, My Favourite Things

Kevin Burke: Toss The Feathers (medley, from If The Cap Fits, 1975 - the fiddle album at the end of the universe)

REM: Flowers of Guatemala

Cale and Riley: Church of Anthrax
posted by pilgrim at 9:16 AM on November 27, 2007

I have to recommend The Tragically Hip if no one has. Their older stuff anyways.
posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya at 3:52 PM on November 27, 2007

Man, if you're under the right influence, they allllll sound good :)

Ha, I saw that one coming :) However, I dare you to listen to a song like Run, for example: imagine it resembling the feeling of being reintroduced into your mother's womb :P
posted by koenie at 3:11 AM on November 28, 2007

Has anyone mentioned Dinosaur Jr yet? 'Cause, yeah... Guitar solos, among other awesomeness. Anything J Mascis touches, really.

Kyuss. The Smalls.

Any permutation of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and/or Young.

Animal Collective. Ariel Pink. Final Fantasy.

Dreamy synths: M83. Kraftwerk (earlier the better IMO).

Ethereal female voices? Cocteau Twins.

...and anything remotely shoegazey.
posted by Reggie Digest at 3:43 AM on November 28, 2007

Although the likes of "Zep!" and "Steve Miller!" were excellent for raucous laughter, I feel as if we must move on.

First off, there are two high-on genres that everyone should be familiar with: psych and dub.

It took this many comments to get to the basics? Of course it had to be klang to lay it out, thank you kind sir.

Here's a great AskMe from last year focusing on Dub/Reggae, I picked up a lot of great tips from there and it'd be worth your time to look it over.

Personally, I'm more of a Scratch fan, but that's rather irrelevant.

Lee "Scratch" Perry
King Tubby
Scientist
Mad Professor

Any combination of those artists & producers, "vs" albums included.

My personal favorite is "Dub Take the Voodoo out of Raggae" Lee Perry & Mad Professor probably followed by the album featured as Radio KJAH in GTAIII "Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires"

Acquire all the Trojan "%100" Dynamite Box Sets, you will not be dissapointed.

Acquire everything on this Pot Culture page, for your own good. You'll pick up a lot of bonus tracks if you get the right compilations, which are also referenced when available. Some of these are in the Dynamite sets as well, but only a few.

You also need Toots & The Maytals, Anthology at the very least if you're feeling lazy.

Anything by Ray Charles

Queue all of this up in a 500 track playlist, load up your hash pipe and.... yummm!

Thievery Corporation stuff is also OK, they are on a few Lounge compilations that aren't too bad for easy, contemporary listening...

I like to throw on some Herb Alpert, Satchmo, Miles Davis, etc as well but I usually don't listen to that for 4 hour chunks at a time, especially while doing other tasks.

I also enjoy Orbital, all of their albums are pretty sick with varying degrees of positive/menacing vibrations themed on each disc, I have sat around and listened to Lush, Halcyon, The Girl with the Sun on Her Head, Belfast on loop for incredible stretches. Boards of Canada is the most interesting sound since them, IMO. That's about it out of the techno/psych meme for me though, I'm really more of a dub fanatic when thoroughly baked.

Not a big fan of jam bands, no recommendations there. Although I have seen The String Cheese Incident, Umphreys McGee, etc and although they seemed to have young and intoxicated audiences, I couldn't name any album in this style off the top of my head.

You're going to need a bigger CD.
posted by prostyle at 10:18 AM on November 29, 2007

I'm late to the party but I can't let this thread go by without recommending "Primal", the last song on Slowdive's Just For a Day.

Yes, all shoegaze sounds great under the influence. But this particular track builds up to a certain point, then kicks in an extra layer of guitars with some crazy reverb effects virtually guaranteed to produce an almost physical reaction in your brain. I've seen an entire room full of people, in the right frame of mind, introduced to this song, and watched everyone react at exactly the same moment. I've never come across any other song that does what this one does...
posted by Gortuk at 10:30 AM on December 5, 2007

3 Ethereal experimental sound Records

- Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks [You will feel like you are floating even without the substance] Link

- Fennesz - Venice [scratchy atmospherics] Link

- Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultrviolet [ambient noise] Link
posted by Rashomon at 3:16 PM on December 6, 2007

OMG, i really, truly cannot believe there is not more beck recommended here.

odelay and midnight vultures (not to mention later works) are freaking AMAZING stoner music, IMHO.
posted by gcat at 10:52 PM on February 21, 2008