Music that is psychedelic

[Mr. Tea]

Kinda funny no-one's mentioned any acid house so far - not that every track ever to be called 'acid' is necessarily psychedelic, but some of it is. I'm thinking especially of the late-80s weebly-wurbly material like the Stakker/Humanoid stuff (which, again, is one of the guys from FSOL). Then there's some acid-y later stuff by old stalwarts of the industrial scene like Coil and Portion Control. I guess the sound as a whole is probably more associated with ecstasy than 'proper' psychedelics though.

And on a very different note, Canned Heat's On The Road Again is pretty psychedelic, surely? I mean it's regarded as a 'psych classic', but it actually really does sound psychedelic as hell.

 

[matt b]

What about psychedelic dub? Or is all dub psychedelic anyway?

I think it's too simplistic to say ALL dub is psychedelic, although aspects of Tubby's, Perry's (particularly the latter's later Black Ark output) and Wackies' (aping Perry) work hits the right buttons.

However, Keith Hudson's stuff is definately 'out'/ psychedelic in feel- he wasn't aiming at the dancefloor/ 7" market and was experimental, even within the context of 1970s JA producers.

Check out 'Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood' and then 'Playing It Cool'. Highly recommended.

 

[matt b]

And of course, hearing reggae on a big sound, with a breeze blowing the sound about, or when Shaka got over excited with the FX is physically psychedelic.


I've just remembered another example- The Shamen's Synergy nights/tour in the late 80s seemed in part an attempt to re-create the psychedelic west coast scene. They were pretty mental.

 

[Client Eastwood]

Lee Perry had moo samples way before KLF too

 

[IdleRich]

"And on a very different note, Canned Heat's On The Road Again is pretty psychedelic, surely? I mean it's regarded as a 'psych classic', but it actually really does sound psychedelic as hell."

Really, do you reckon? I've never thought that.
Cheers for the tips Matt, Luka etc - will try and check those out.

 

[mistersloane]

What about psychedelic dub? Or is all dub psychedelic anyway?

I don't think dub is psychedelic, I think it's stoned, there's a difference. It's very hard - for me anyway - to have that much space or interjection (see also music concrete) with regard to hallucinogenics, which I think is the essence of psychedelia really. Psychedelia to me would be about the soundscape being filled up - maybe dropping out at points - but being filled up with colour, as opposed to the darkness and space of dub, Phil Spector too.

Keith Hudson would be an exception to that rule I think, I wish I could like his stuff, I've tried. He just sounds mentally ill to me.

 

[mistersloane]

The Angel Dust compilation that Albini made of movie biker music was always my favourite

http://mojorepairshop.blogspot.com/2008/08/angel-dust-music-for-movie-bikers-cycle.html

 

[IdleRich]

"I don't think dub is psychedelic, I think it's stoned, there's a difference."

That was the next thing I was going to ask actually "or is the druggyness of dub something that parallels but differs from psychedelia?".
I know what you mean about the colours as well - although I think that sometimes industrial stuff and white noise can be psychedelic (only Mr Tea mentioned that I think) and, to me, if I was asked to describe industrial psych in terms of colours it would usually be glittering black and silver.
Are you grouping PS with dub or psych? What about Joe Meek?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Really, do you reckon? I've never thought that.

It's the high-pitched vocal and the sort of droning harmonica (?) that give it that feel, I think. I mean psychedelic in a kind of trance-inducing way, not a far-out-wacky-trip way.

Good thread, btw. Didn't you also start the thread we had a while back about psychedelic films?

 

[IdleRich]

"The Angel Dust compilation that Albini made of movie biker music was always my favourite"

I read a thing where Pierre Henry said that he was influenced by Davie Allen (particularly Blues Theme from Wild Angels) which seems... interesting. Cycle-Delic is another good one by Davie Allen, tougher than Wild Angels and a bit more psych I guess. There's another Mike Curb one with loads of spoken word bits interspersed between the surf/biker tracks (which are probably by Davie Allen), I forget what it's called but it's pretty cool.

 

[matt b]

Some of the sludge stuff may be psychedelic too- Grief, for example.

 

[mms]

early kraftwerk, stuff like hendrix at his most freeform, stuff like heathen earth by t.g.

 

[IdleRich]

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention any krautrock - some of the repetitive stuff is surely some of the most trance-inducing - if that is something related to psychedelia.

 

[Sick Boy]

Most people are naming off bands here, but not many are actually saying what makes it psychedelic. Isn't psychedelic just anything that sounds particularly good on drugs?

EDIT: So either a) noisy, fuzzy and disorienting, or b) noodly, ornate and disorienting?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Most people are naming off bands here, but not many are actually saying what makes it psychedelic. Isn't psychedelic just anything that sounds particularly good on drugs?

There's plenty of drugs besides psychedelics. Eg. I think the Velvet Underground sound really narcotic (I mean, obviously they were meant to, but I think they actually do as well).

Edit: or c) motorik, droning, trance-inducing?

Edit edit: Neubauten's 'NNNAAAMMM Remixes' has just come on my MP3, and that's psychedelic as anything. I mean, it's called NNNAAAMMM for fuck's sake.

 

[IdleRich]

"Most people are naming off bands here, but not many are actually saying what makes it psychedelic. Isn't psychedelic just anything that sounds particularly good on drugs?"

I was hoping for more on what makes it psychedelic yeah. I don't necessarily think that drugs need to be involved though - in fact maybe they're a red herring in a way 'cause just because something sounded psychedelic when you were twatted it doesn't always follow that the music is in fact that odd in itself.

 

[Sick Boy]

There's plenty of drugs besides psychedelics. Eg. I think the Velvet Underground sound really narcotic (I mean, obviously they were meant to, but I think they actually do as well).

Edit: or c) motorik, droning, trance-inducing?

Edit edit: Neubauten's 'NNNAAAMMM Remixes' has just come on my MP3, and that's psychedelic as anything. I mean, it's called NNNAAAMMM for fuck's sake.

Well I guess "disorienting" is the key qualifier here, since that's what seems to me to be particular to psychedelics.

In the way that when you are drunk, melody and struture are good (see: pub rock, getting all teary-eyed and sentimental and then screaming like an animal), or when you're on coke excess is good (80s) and POWER too, and when you're on speed everything has to be fast.

 

[baboon2004]

Kinda funny no-one's mentioned any acid house so far - not that every track ever to be called 'acid' is necessarily psychedelic, but some of it is. I'm thinking especially of the late-80s weebly-wurbly material like the Stakker/Humanoid stuff (which, again, is one of the guys from FSOL). Then there's some acid-y later stuff by old stalwarts of the industrial scene like Coil and Portion Control.

A side question: when I went to the Heavenly Records birthday (?) celebration thing last autumn, someone was (between Madonna and Orange Juice records) playing some of the hardest and best acid house records I'd ever heard. Should've gone up to ask what they were at the time. They were highly rhythmical, with minimal conventional melody, and super-hard (but still definably acid house, rather than R&S or anything later).

Obviously not enough detail to be able identify those particular records, but can you recommend any in that vein?

Digressing even further, I still love the housey records made by late 80s/early 90s twee-pop bands (eg Trembling Blue Stars)...

 

[baboon2004]

Good thread, btw. Didn't you also start the thread we had a while back about psychedelic films?

I think this man has taken "drugs", ladies and gentlemen.

And for that, I salute him.

 

[baboon2004]

'Psychedelic':

of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.