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.

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.

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.

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

Deltron 3030

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.

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.

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.

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.

Savage sinusoid - Igorrr

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.

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

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of the Moon

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.

Pendulum - Immersion

"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

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland

Can't go wrong with frank Zappa's joes garage experience in my opinion

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?

2112 by Rush

Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom

Sketch by Scattle

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.

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.

Zappa - Apostrophe

Perfect while being stoned

Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump

Beck's Morning Phase

Soft Bulletin By The Flaming Lips

Heaven and Earth by Kamasi Washington

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.

Try Nick Cave & The Bad Seed's Ghosteen.

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 😏

'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)

Oneohtrix Point Never's R Plus Seven

Anything by the Avalanches or The Books

OK Computer

JPEGMAFIA

Tubular Bells for me at the time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains Absolutely fantastic

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.

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.

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