Music that is psychedelic

01: WHITE NOISE
'LOVE WITHOUT SOUND', from AN ELECTRIC STORM
(ISLAND, 1969)
Bored with some aspects of quantized computer dance and instrumental music without a voice or message, not to mention the narrow-mindedness of much songwriting of that time, we wanted to discover a more exotic, exploratory and innovative song-form. In other words, lyrical innovation alongside studio wizardry. After four years of Madchester having ruled the airwaves, the indie song wasn't really expanding our soul and neither was pure instrumental electronica..Surely there was a mutant hybrid ? Actually, there was: White Noise's An Electric Storm. Delia Derbyshire from the Radiophonic Workshop, sped-up tape loops, backwards sound effects and the strangest vocal narrative - recounting a story of "labyrinth thighs". We were elated.

02: APHRODITE'S CHILD
666
(VERTIGO, 1972)
Attracted by the cover of 666 with its strange old testament prophecy adorning the stark red sleeve - we were kind of looking for any music espousing alternative god concepts or mysticism - Brian and I found this record independently of each other. Truly exploratory spirits at work here, expanding the concept of the song again along and pushing the limits of studio experimentation too. Cosmic prog-rock with Vangelis at the controls, it might just be the best thing to come out of Greece since feta cheese!

03: THE ROLLING STONES
'2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME', from THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST
(DECCA, 1967)
Dismissed as a poor copy of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's when released in '67, Their Satanic Majesties Request is actually a very distinctive and unique album. Also deserves mention for having (in its original form) the grooviest holographic sleeve art I've ever seen. Jagger has never sounded so cosmic, so disembodied: "We're so very lonely / We're 2000 light years from home..."

04: THE BEATLES
'TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS', from REVOLVER
(PARLOPHONE, 1966)
This is in every archivist's list of definitive psychedelia, and rightly so. But after ten years of electronic dance music it could be appreciated according to a whole new set of criteria - this this is the original groove. The studio as instrument: drumloops and backwards tape FX hypnotise as Lennon puts layer upon layer of his vocals through the Leslie speaker (part of the Hammond organ, don't you know?), riffing on the theme of a Timothy Leary book while strung out on LSD. What's revolutionary about 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is the spiritual content of the lyrics which, by plundering the Tibetan Book of the Dead, tap literally into thousands of years of ancient mysticism - providing the perfect counterpoint to the most innovative ever use of the Abbey Road mixing desk . It's far trippier and inventive than much of so-called experimental music of the last 30 years!

05: DONOVAN
BARABAJAGAL
(EPIC, 1968)
Dismissed by some, but catapulted to fame early in his career as the UK's answer to Dylan, Donovan in fact carved out and now occupies his very own hallowed and unique musical space in the annals of time. On Barabajagal, aspects of jazz and eastern-tinged acid-rock collide under the watch of producer Mickey Most.

06: LEON RUSSELL
'THE BALLAD OF HOLLIS BROWN', from STOP ALL THAT JAZZ
(SHELTER, 1974)
It's not conventionally classified as psychedelic, but this Dylan cover - sung by Leon with his unmistakable bluesy growl, underpinned by dirty analogue synth, and backed up with a gospel choir - is a revelatory record which to this day forces a re-think of the 'P' word.

07: SERGE FRANKLIN
'LA MOUSSON', from FREE SITAR
(MONDE MELODY, 1970)
One factor common to both the trad archivist's definition of "psychedelic" and our own is the desire to filter everything new and hitherto unexplored into the musical lexicon. One of the first alternative languages to be incorporated into the rock 'n roll of the late 60s was the Indian raga...The ancient spiritual freeform improvisation on a Vedic theme...The sitar, the veena, the dilruba, the tablas, the modality and time signatures of the east were a revelation to western musicians looking to liberate themselves musically, spiritually and recreationally. Thus there was an explosion of sitar beat and experimentation with the drone plus the integration of mysticism into the lyrical form. Free Sitar is one of the best examples of an an ancient Indian instrument being deployed in a western setting to create a new form of acid raga!

08: MILES DAVIS
'RATED X', from PANTHALASSA
(COLUMBIA, 1998)
What do you get when you combine the freeform expressionism of one of the greatest musicians of all time with the bass-heavy studio wizardry of Bill Laswell? The answer is Rated X. It achieves in five minutes what drum 'n bass briefly promised to deliver in the 90s, with a heavy voodoo mantra groove snapping on Billy Cobham snare - shamanistic, genre-defying genius.

09: VANGELIS
'LET IT HAPPEN', from EARTH
(VERTIGO, 1976)
By the time we hit the 70s, the doors of perception had well and truly opened. Like many others, Lennon included, Vangelis was never the same again and all subsequent work was infused with an extra dimension. A latterday Balearic monster!

10: DEVENDRA BANHART
CRIPPLE CROW
(XL)
If you're looking for a modern exponent of joyrous, spiritually attuned cosmic re-ordering, then look no further. I am John the Baptist to this man's Jesus: I knew he would arrive and here he is. A masterpiece of psychedelic nursery rhymes from a modern magical minstrel.

Click to expand...

11: MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
'YOU KNOW YOU KNOW', from THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME
(COLUMBIA, 1971)
One of the most revered avant-garde and jazz-rock guitarists John Mc Laughlin is joined here by the wonderfully exotic palette that is the Mahavishnu Orchestra to a deliver a track of unbelievably chasmicm pregnant space. A sonic meditation and medication for modern life!

12: SECRET CHIEFS 3
'ON THE WINGS OF HAOMA', from BOOK OF HORIZONS
(WEB OF MIMICRY, 2004)
In terms of sheer craziness this has to be in the list...The zaniest collaging of influences I've heard in recent years. As much ambient as masonic, as much eastern prophecy as avant-garde, it contains none of the angular sterility of electronica although it contains the sinister edge that is a common mindset there. But reall it's the sheer abandon of the sounds that make this a liberating sonic key!

13: THE OSMONDS
CRAZY HORSES
(MGM, 1972)
If you ever needed proof of the psychedelic counterculture feeding into the mainstream, you'll find it in this Osmonds concept album. Crazy Horses (long suspected of being a reference to heroin) is a mutant pop classic - just check the the screeching, horse-emulating synth line and drunken cowboy/yokel vocal delivery on the title track.

14: GUNTER KALLMANN CHORUS
'DAYDREAM IN BLUE'
(1970)
We began to search among orchestral big band cover versions from the 70s, preferably with a fat beat, massed singing choirs and with something blatantly out of place in the mix - a banjo or a harmonica or even better a sitar or a synth or dulcimer replacing the vocal line was highly prized. Here, sweeping, dramatic orchestration meets a choral line so full of idealism that it could've only been inspired by a dream, or a drug trip: "Daydream / I fell asleep amid the flowers / for a couple of hours..." Originally a 60s hit for the Wallace Collection, and famously sampled in the 90s by I Monster.

15: HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA
'EL MANZH'
Hariprasad Chaurasia - El Manzh . . The freeform improvisation of eastern music has inspired so many experimental musicians from the psychedelic era onward in the quest to liberate from the stranglehold of orthodox western musical language.It similarly resonates with us and we heard this blasting out in a small Indian village during our many travels . As often happens, discovery of it completed some musical dots of its own since it was the same master flautist Hariprasad who had also orchestrated the Beatles ' Within You Without You ' . Here he is in a more traditional setting ,in duel and kinship with the rampant tablas of Zakir Hussein while he undulates and flows through the most liberating 30 minute raga we've ever heard and the only piece of music that we have ever found to be a companion to yoga practice other than silence.

16: THE AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS
THE PEPPERMINT TREE & THE SEEDS OF SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS
(FSOLDIGITAL.COM, 2008)
A bit of blatant self-publicity! We see the present day as a kind of parallel time to '67...Many of the same conditions are prevalent...War, political propaganda and new realisations and initiatives for a more sustainable kind of living. Alternative ideas and esoteric cosmic mysticism are flourishing again, and it's all filtered into our work as the Amorphous Androgynous. So is this just a rehash of the 60s? No way. Sure, the spiritual lineage is there, but nothing that's come before sounds like this. It's the sound of our own very modern struggle and an attempt to break free both spiritually and sonically and in the process everything gets put through the blender. Everything is permitted nothing is forbidden.

17: TRAFFIC
'HOLE IN MY SHOE'
(ISLAND, 1967)
The idea that a catchy tune could suddenly spin off midway, without warning, into entirely different sonic terrain was a new one in the late 60s - especially since it threatened radioplay potential. There's the ubiquitous sitar, and there are lyrics about "bubblegum trees" and "taking trips on the back of a giant albatross". Its was parodied by Neil of The Young Ones, but actually this is such a good song it even the piss-take sounds good. A groundbreaking record that neatly shows how the language of psychedelia can be condensed into the shape of a pop hit.

18: VA / THE AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS
A MONSTROUS PSYCHEDELIC BUBBLE EXPLODING IN YOUR MIND VOL. 1: COSMIC SPACE MUSIC
(PLATIPUS, 2008)
Since our interpretation of modern psychedelic potential is a very personal journey - as much about the collage and juxtaposition of contradictory sound as a commonly perceived definition of the word - I must mention A Monstrous Bubble, a DJ mix journey caterwauling through 40 years of cosmic space music that we, The Amorphous Androgynous, have compiled. Includes music by The Emperor Machine, David Axelrod, Pentangle, Miles Davis, Can, The Earlies, Donovan and Espers. Viva le psychedelia!

19: AMON DUUL II
TANZ DER LEMMINGE
(UNITED ARTISTS, 1971)
The front cover perfectly matches the psychedelic bubble of cosmic sound that explodes from the grooves when you play this record. It's a journey of monolithic proportions: pixie folkloric acid rock that has the lot.

20: TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS
CELLOPHANE SYMPHONY
(ROULETTE, 1969)
Atmospheric, sprawling prog-rock in the modus of the Floyd but somehow very much its own master. Don't know anything about this artist but like many of our favourite tracks over the years it's an aberration, a complete bolt for the blue.

Click to expand...

"'d say psychedelic albums might be....:
Dr John's Gris-Gris;
Sly - There's a Riot Going On"

Click to expand...

"I think warm fuzzy tones (hence the garage and the funk)"

Click to expand...

"and also whimsy (devendra, string band)"

Click to expand...

Alot of dirty south hiphop sounds great on acid too, again same thing with the synth as with the funk guitar actually, fuzzy sounds.

Click to expand...

"LEON RUSSELL
'THE BALLAD OF HOLLIS BROWN', from STOP ALL THAT JAZZ
(SHELTER, 1974)
It's not conventionally classified as psychedelic, but this Dylan cover - sung by Leon with his unmistakable bluesy growl, underpinned by dirty analogue synth, and backed up with a gospel choir - is a revelatory record which to this day forces a re-think of the 'P' word"

Click to expand...

"I'd definitely agree with Riot, and not just cos Sly is God next to whom everyone else is rubbish."

Click to expand...

"When I first heard Pole 2 it did the above- strange woozy feeling"

Click to expand...