Duster is a band that inspires obsession. Part of this is the nature of the music: calm, knowing, purposeful—basically all the aspects of something that would normally inspire religious fervor if the thing itself wasn't sadboy music. But the other part of this is that there are just so many layers to their discographical onion. Duster may have only released four proper albums (so far), but that only scratches the surface of what's out there to discover. To this end, let me be your guide. As your guide, I invite you to experience everything for yourself, but I will provide some light editorialization to help point in certain directions.
I will note that this list of songs does not list every single release (or "release") related to Duster. Some are redundant, some are live recordings of minimal note, some recordings are sliiightly different versions of tracks that appear elsewhere, and then there's the pandemic thing which is going in the memory hole along with every other pandemic-specific thing. Furthermore, many of these "releases" overlap to a significant degree. I have addressed this by numbering/bolding the most relevant release and then noting why it is excluded from this "canonical" count elsewhere. And finally, if you're a Duster fan that has stumbled upon this and happen to notice that something is missing, let me know (but be cool about it).
DUSTER LPs
STRATOSPHERE (1998) - Starting with the magnum opus because that's where I started on some random Saturday night in January 2020 (great timing I know). Already wrote about this here, and although that piece is more about the pandemic, I think that is an appropriate frame for this album lol
2. Heading for the Door
3. Gold Dust
4. Topical Solution
5. Docking the Pod
6. The Landing
7. Echo, Bravo
8. Constellations
9. The Queen of Hearts
10. Two Way Radio
11. Inside Out
12. Stratosphere
13. Reed to Hillsborough
14. Shadows of Planes
15. Earth Moon Transit
16. The Twins/Romantica
17. Sideria
CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENT (2000) - Uneven when compared to its predecessor, but there's still a few all-time classics here. The Seattle airport parking structures have never sounded so beautiful
19. Operations
20. Diamond
21. Me and the Birds
22. Travelogue
23. The Phantom Facing Me
24. Cooking
25. Unrecovery
26. The Breakup Suite
27. Everything You See (Is Your Own)
28. Now It's Coming Back
29. Auto-Mobile
DUSTER (CAT ALBUM) (2019) - The most bombastic of their proper releases with the fullest sound. The trade-off is that it sacrifices a bit of charm when compared with the lo-fi classics. But hey, charm is overrated
31. I'm Lost
32. Chocolate and Mint
33. Summer War
34. Lomo
35. Damaged
36. Letting Go
37. Go Back
38. Hoya Paranoia
39. Ghoulish
40. Ghost World
41. The Thirteen
TOGETHER (2022) - The least essential of their formal releases, even though ending on a song called "Sad Boys" is the most Duster thing possible
43. Retrograde
44. N
45. Time Glitch
46. Teeth
47. Escalator
48. Familiar Fields
49. Moonroam
50. Sleepyhead
51. Making Room
52. Drifter
53. Feel No Joy
54. Sad Boys
DUSTER EPs
TRANSMISSION, FLUX (1997) - The first proper Duster release. Appropriately, it is the purest distillation of their sound, inasmuch as they have a single "sound"
56. Fuzz and Timbre
57. My Friends Are Cosmonauts
58. Closer to the Speed of Sound
59. Stars Will Fall
APEX, TRANCE-LIKE (1998) - OK maybe this is the purest distillation of their sound. I dunno, music criticism is made up
61. Four Hours
1975 (1999) - Their most underrated release. Touches on every strength and finishes in a little over 20 minutes...what's not to love?
63. Memphis Sophisticate
64. The Motion Picture
65. And Things (Are Mostly Ghosts)
66. August Relativity
67. Want No Light to Shine
DUSTER OTHER
CAPSULE LOSING CONTACT (2019) - The big compendium that, along with the new album, helped spur the Duster renaissance. This has everything released before their breakup in 2001 plus a few other stray goodies, including the sublime title track
Heading for the Door
Gold Dust
Topical Solution
Docking the Pod
The Landing
Echo, Bravo
Constellations
The Queen of Hearts
Two Way Radio
Inside Out
Stratosphere
Reed to Hillsborough
Shadows of Planes
Earth Moon Transit
The Twins / Romantica
Sideria
Get the Dutch
Operations
Diamond
Me and the Birds
Travelogue
The Phantom Facing Me
Cooking
Unrecovery
The Breakup Suite
Everything You See (Is Your Own)
Now It’s Coming Back
Auto-Mobile
Orbitron
Fuzz and Timbre
My Friends Are Cosmonauts
Closer to the Speed of Sound
Stars Will Fall
Four Hours
Light Years
68. Capsule Losing Contact
69. East Reed
70. And Things Are Mostly Ghosts (Version Over Dose Mix)
Irato
Memphis Sophisticate
The Motion Picture
And Things (Are Mostly Ghosts)
August Relativity
Want No Light to Shine
71. Haunt My Sleep
72. Peyote
73. Something That I Need
74. What You're Doing to Me
75. Faint
76. The Hours
REMOTE ECHOES (2023) - If you like the random tracks from Capsule, boy have I got some good news for you. There is a ton of random Duster music floating around the internet, a smattering of which got a proper release just last year. I say smattering because this is not necessarily the best of these random tracks but because it is a good representative sample. Half-finished intrigues, slightly lesser tunes, and a re-mix (pre-mix?) of one of their best songs...it's all here baybee
78. Cigarettes And Coffee
79. The Weed Supreme
Untitled 59 ("Haunt My Sleep" on Capsule Losing Contact)
80. I Know I Won't
81. Moon In Aries
82. Glue
83. Testphase
84. Lost Time
85. Strange
86. The Mood
87. Country Heather
88. Untitled 84
89. Darby
TESTPHASE, TAPE ONE (1997?) - Another unreleased YouTube album with the same mixture of unique tracks and things released elsewhere. This contains the entirety of the informal/limited release Christmas Dust, so I've just rolled that up here
Track 2 ("The Mood" on Remote Echoes)
Track 3 ("Moon in Aries" on Remote Echoes)
Track 4 ("Cigarettes and Coffee" on Remote Echoes)
Track 5 ("Country Heather" on Remote Echoes)
103. Track 6 (probably titled "Bon Voyage")
104. Track 7
105. Track 8
106. Track 9
107. Track 10
108. Track 11
109. Skulls (Misfits cover)
EXPERIMENTAL DUST (???) - Yet another one of these. This is my favorite overall collection of such tracks, but YMMV
110. Untitled
Untitled ("The Weed Supreme" on Remote Echoes)
Untitled (62) ("Before the Veil" on Remote Echoes)
Untitled (59) ("Haunt My Sleep" on Capsule Losing Contact)
111. Cut
112. Diamond (Demo) (I think this is better than the track on Contemporary Movement so I declare it canonical)
Testphase (same title on Remote Echoes)
113. Cooking No More
114. Instrumental
Untitled (60) ("Traces" on CA)
115. Instruments 1
116. I Am The King
ON THE DODGE (1996?) - Another one! A bit more jagged than the others (if that is even possible), but with a few bangers nonetheless. Note that the last four tracks are improperly labeled with song titles from Calm because of the artwork
117. Headstone Next Door
118. Lullaby
119. Distance
Glue (same title on Remote Echoes)
Darby (same title on Remote Echoes)
120. Lucky
121. The Tribal Life
122. Dead Horse
123. Quiet Frontier
124. Crossed the Tracks
Arlington Sunset ("Lost Time" on Remote Echoes)
Wild and Free ("I Know I Won't" on Remote Echoes)
Sign Crushes Motorist ("Strange" on Remote Echoes)
125. The Vacancy (presumably not the title)
RANDOM SONGS (various) - A few singles, a few loose tracks, what have you
126. Untitled (73) (???) - The only track off of a fake unreleased album that appears to be a "Duster" track. That's canonical enough for me
127. Interstellar Tunnel (2019) - Released around the time of their s/t, but not included on the s/t. Might be a joke? Regardless, it is a song
128. What Are You Waiting For (2019) - Another unreleased single from the time of the s/t release
129. Hell's Breaking Loose (2019) - A final unreleased song from the s/t. This one actually slaps
VALIUM AGGELEIN
THE BLACK MOON (2020) - A re-release of the Duster crew's experiment with Kosmiche that combines the original album Hier Kommt Der Schwartze Mond with a bunch of other tracks. Wrote this up here when it was re-released
131. Liftoff In Stereo
132. Trial By Fire
133. The Clouds Will Drop Ladders
134. Triumph Of The Metal People
135. Frequency Converter
136. Birth To Death In Slow Motion
137. Dream Scientist
138. Bird Wings
139. Nudists
The Landing (same title on Stratosphere)
140. Under The Mountain
141. Sonar
142. Mercury
143. The Valium Machine
144. Spies
145. V
146. Inside The Static Cult
147. Then, In 2060 A.D.
148. Alum Rock
149. Interruptor
150. Slower
151. Excerpt From Mount Hamilton
152. 96
153. Spark Collector
EIAFUAWN
BIRDS IN THE GROUND (2006) - Clay Parton's solo work during Duster's lengthy hiatus is great in its own right. A little more whimsical than Duster, but fundamentally in the same vein, and with the same economy of songwriting
155. No More Like That
156. Birds
157. The Voice Of Music
158. Bees
159. The Coffin Was So Light I Thought It Might Float Away
160. Good God Y'all
161. Secret Gypsy Language
162. On A Peoplemover
163. Two Thousand Twelve
164. The Drunk Pilot And The Romantic Passenger
165. Modulator Hustle
CANAAN AMBER
CA (2023) - A five-track EP with a bunch of bonus tracks that represents Canaan Amber's equivalent of EIAFUAWN. The EP portion (the first five tracks) is fairly uninspired but the bonus tracks contains some of the very best of the old "Duster" bootlegs
CALM
CALM 12" (1995) - Just a real nice blast of guitar tone from the immediate predecessor to Duster. Hey look the song titles are just the entirety of the lyrics
200. Slide The Needle In Under Blue Skin I Took A Picture So I Still Can Burn You
201. The Spirits Fall Upon The Wheel To Turn The Spokes With Angel Grace When I Am Gone With Broken Wings The Spirits Fall To Take My Place
202. Demons Reloading Such A Beautiful Disease Trigger Pull This Trigger
203. Silk Wrapped Hands In A Masquerade Even When Things Are Picture Blue I Keep It Under My Pillow Now Just In Case Theres Nothing Left To Do Outrun Myself
204. Be Still / We Will Live Like Thunder
CALM 7" (1996) - More scattered a la the Duster bootlegs. Still kinda fun
206. Wild and Free
207. Sign Crushes Motorist
208. The Vacancy
MOONRAKER (1996) - More substantial than the 7" but less bombastic than the 12"
210. Scientists & Saboteurs
ROLLING THUNDER DEMO (???) - Basically foreshadows all three of the subsequent Calm releases, which is all you can ask of a demo really
212. Untitled 2
213. Untitled 3
214. Rolling Thunder
MOHINDER
O NATION, YOU BLEED FROM MANY WOUNDS, 1896 (1993) - Yeah, so now we're to the point where we're a little too far afield from Duster plus it's clear these are 18-year-olds learning how to play music, and while there are examples of that that work for me, this is not that. Still, it's a little fun to hear a faint hint of what would come later
216. Run
217. Give
218. Inhuman Nature
219. Numb
220. Of Sound Mind
221. 101
HELVETIA
Jason Albertini's band. It's pretty good...and extremely prolific. If you want to go through and catalogue all of that be my guest.
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