In My Dreams Everything's Orange: The Psychedelic Music Thread

[Gribbz]

This is the place to discuss all things Psychedelic. I've been on a huge kick lately and the genre is slowly becoming a favorite of mine. I'm also considering Austin Psych Fest in 2013.

Who are some of your favorite psychedelic bands? Discuss.

These have been getting a lot of play from me lately:

[gaypalmsprings]

[amyzzz]

Can I throw Dungen in here? Isn't there another thread for this? (I don't care)





And Tame Impala

[gaypalmsprings]

[Gribbz]

Amy, I haven't listened to Dungen but I'll be sure to check them out.

[amyzzz]

WHAT??? You must join my cult.

In other news, I can't stop listening to Tame Impala this past week or so.

[stuporfly]

The Black Angels are phenomenal live.

Here's a few fairly recent favorites under the vast psychedelia umbrella...


Shapes Have Fangs - Like the Black Angels, they're from Austin and are veterans of the Psych Fest. Their debut, Dinner in the Dark, is pretty terrific.


Hopewell - I know Jason a little bit (he's got another band, Common Prayer, who are also phenomenal), and am definitely into Hopewell. He's been a part of Mercury Rev, too.


All Night Radio - Two dudes from Beachwood Sparks ditch the Gram Parsons vibe and head for outer space. They recorded just one album (Spirit Stereo Frequency), but it's well worth seeking out.


Woven Bones - Brooklyn-based, but I think connected to the Black Angels in some way or another. ETA - After a bit of further "research," it appears they may also be from Austin, and are either living in Brooklyn now or their Facebook page is totally fucking wrong.


The Make-Up - There's certainly quite a bit of psychedelia in what these Washington, DC legends did (and do - They're playing ATP in Asbury Park!)


Wooden Shjips - Weirdness from San Francisco.


The Bavarian Druglords - Pretty much a one-man operation. Syed is a good dude making some good music.

The Psychedelica compilations on Northern Star Records offer pretty cool intros to loads of contemporary psych bands.

[bmack86]

Tame Impala definitely my favorite young psych band right now. Amy, check this out:

[Gribbz]

Nice, Crispin. I'll check those out when I get home.

The Black Angels are phenomenal live.

Their Coachella set was fantastic. One of my favorites of the weekend.

Tame Impala definitely my favorite young psych band right now. Amy, check this out:

Whoa. My favorite MA song. Thanks!

[bmack86]

Yeah dude. That was from the first time I saw them, and it was such a shock to hear that.

If you guys haven't seen them live, make a concerted effort to do so. They were HUGE>

[Gribbz]

Yup. I loved their Coachella set.

Pretty good quality on this one:

[Mugwog]

Coachella 2005: The Fiery Furnaces amazed me while I was on my first paper eating adventure. It seemed like they never stopped playing the psychedelic keyboard throughout their set.

[bmack86]

Oh, that set was so psyched out. I don't know if they still do that, but those medley sets, where they'd veer between songs from throughout their catalog without stopping, were so great.

[greghead]

Yes! I'm only familiar with a lot of old 60s psych stuff, I'm really looking forward to perusing this thread.

[dorkfish]

[dorkfish]

Also, psychedelic music is hard for me to pinpoint as a genre, because a ton of bands just use the washed out fuzz, non-standard instruments and complex song structure forms nowadays.

[spence]

I really hope this thread doesn't die. Tame Impala and the Black Angels have been the majority of the psych I have been listening. I have listened to Phosphene Dream dream a ton of times. Does anyone have a recommendation for another Black Angels album. I also discovered Black Mountain when the FYF lineup came out.

[stuporfly]

Both Passover and Directions to See a Ghost are worth a listen, and so are their EP's. The Black Angels have been pretty solid from the beginning.

[bmack86]

Also, psychedelic music is hard for me to pinpoint as a genre, because a ton of bands just use the washed out fuzz, non-standard instruments and complex song structure forms nowadays.

I tend to think of psych as broadly falling into two categories: either (1) song-based tracks with unusual instrumentation, fuzz, vocal harmonies or other things that suggest expansive headspace (The Beatles/Zombies/Elephant Six school) or (2) the improv/drone/free-form based groups that rely more on expansive song structures, repetition and improvisation to get to the place they're seeking (Can/Grateful Dead/The Doors school.) The more song-based stuff seems to intertwine more with indie rock, as they've become increasingly linked. I'd say at this point most people think of psych more exclusively as bands rooted in the second school.

[bmack86]

And I'll be productive here by briefly worshipping at the throne of the great Ben Chasny:

[bmack86]

Also, before they became a lush and (in my opinion) boring band, Mercury Rev were a wild and wooly psych act.

[bmack86]

Some song-based lo-fi psych pop from New Zealand's Tall Dwarfs:

[greghead]

Lumerians are a Bay Area-based band my friend turned my onto a year ago. Their 2011 full-length, Transmalinnia is really groovy, surprisingly soulful, and really fucking weird. A great psych record, no doubt.

[lehorne]

'Their Satanic' or 'Sgt Peppers'? I lean the other way*. Where the acid?



*although 'A Day in the Life' is the best song off either and the most psychedelic element was the vocals.

[greghead]

I don't consider either of those albums "psychedelic" records. Quasi-experimental pop music, sure, but not really all that psychedelic.

[Coachella Bound]

One new...... one old.

Entrance Band -







13th Floor Elevators -

[lehorne]

I don't consider either of those albums "psychedelic" records. Quasi-experimental pop music, sure, but not really all that psychedelic.

Especially the Beatles one. I mean, "Lovely Rita, Rita Maid" is pretty straight forward.

Thinking about this last night when I first saw the thread title and I'm honestly not sure how to really qualify a psychedelic record. Aren't psychedelics about what you see with your eyes (or what you think you see...heh)? I've done acid/shrooms around fifteen times and it was always about the visuals, with obvious audio enhancement and sensitivity.

Do you have to be on psychedelics to make a psychedelic record? Shouldn't each track be over seven minutes (sort of joking)? Heard Black Angels a few years ago and they seemed more hard rock...like one of the heavier Primal Scream records or Butthole Surfers or something. Whatever. I'm admittedly no expert on this label.

[betao]

I started this thread back in 2010

Nice to see some love for the genre spark again. Anyone listen to the Brian Jonestown Massacre album yet?

[Gribbz]

I started this thread back in 2010

Whoops. Probably should have searched for "Psychedelic" instead of "Psych."

[Nice to see some love for the genre spark again. Anyone listen to the Brian Jonestown Massacre album yet?

Ah, thanks for the reminder. Bummed I couldn't make it up to their recent PHX show.

[Coachella Bound]