Music that is psychedelic

[whygohome10]

its kind of weird how a song can be psychedelic

how you have john cale paris 1919 and then maybe Optimistic or how to disappear completely by radiohead. I find those to be psychedelic and are completely different tunes. But all psychedelic really means to me is that it has a meditative quality about it. Then again i get that feeling from all of the music i enjoy. Even music that is generally considered extroverted.

One thing that has always bugged me about what is considered psychedelic is its association with hallucinogens or drugs in general. For instance il be at a friends place and put on say... deerhunter and no one can dig it unless they are all tripping. Whats up with that?? And when they are there is always that guy who shouldnt be messing around with such intense substances who starts freakin out because the music is stimulating his trip even more. I tripped acid one time and never did i have the urge to listen to something especially "trippy." That kinda parallels what people consider "techno." They think its all ravey. Blah

so basically this post was about nothing but thats what happens i guess when you try to define or explain what happens when you hear something that moves you.

Anyways hey im new here! you guys have a nice forum, so hello all!

 

[zhao]

alice coltrane records for ever.

pointless for me to make a list of favorite "psych" records, whether we are using genre, period, or loose definitions of the word, or simply a list of good music to trip to. because either which way you look at it its going to be way too fucking long.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I was listening to Krzysztof Penderecki earlier and after reading over this thread it struck me that some of his pieces are pretty much the definition of a trip gone hideously wrong. Not really "pyschedelic" per se but then again neither are bad trips. Horrifying, disorienting, uncomfortable. All qualities which Penderecki puts to great use.

 

[luka]

For some reason pop/dance music scares the shit out of me when i'm tripping.

it is terrifying. i remember hearing vengaboys first time i ever took acid. it was good but not good.

 

[zhao]

For some reason pop/dance music scares the shit out of me when i'm tripping.

i think i know what who ever said that means... for me its all the things associated with those tunes, all the social messages and significance surround the music itself, that is so difficult to reconcile with while tripping.

 

[luka]

but tis not just that, its something in the music itself too. go and listen to vengaboys and tell me im wrong.

 

[Chris]

Hey whygohome10.

I associate psychedelic music mostly with a) space in the music, it usually seems either widened, deepened, stretched out b) a distorted sense of time c) more clarity [like on Computer World] or less in tone [fuzz like on White Light/White Heat] d) movement--it can be linear, or not, but it has to feel propelled along by some kind of supernatural force (all music is wink) e) and color. You really have to be able to see the music as an abstract set of color patterns or relations for it to be psychedelic.

Really, any music is psychedelic. Some music is just more deliberately altered to fit the psychedelic experience than other music by musicians who have more psychedelic experience.

Yeah, I'd agree with all of this, especially the point that all music is psychedelic. Here's this abstract, spiritually/socially/psychologically-shaped (universal) language of emotion that's architecture plunges forth across a limited amount of time - time and space marking the lines of it's contour. Doesn't even really exist beyond incorporeal vibrations... and yet it vividly shines it's pictures on the mind's eye and ear as if they were objective truth...



I guess what I'd call psychedelic music, explicitly psychedelic music, is stuff that somehow moves through, utilizes, or brings attention to, space, form, textures, colors, ideas in a way that highlight, however obviously or subtly, the full, profound fact of it's strange existence, within and without itself. Music with "cosmic consciousness" as some might call it, that knows and isn't afraid to use a few old techniques that can awaken an awareness of a larger reality. Music approached and used in a way recalling the timeless, universal tradition of ritual/devotional/tribal music, which might as well be (and I would say include nearly all) electronic and dance styles. I think pulling back, all music and cultural ritual still fulfills this function, psychedelic music just does it with self-awareness.

 

[hamarplazt]

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?

There's tons of hard minimal acid out there. Labels like Drop Bass, Labworks and Direct Drive have a lot of it. Also some of Mike Inks early records on Force Inc. And the DJungle Fever label. And 303 Nation. And and and...

As for psychedelic acid, I think the best was made with the more polymorpheous analogue hardcore of the mid nineties. Biochip C records like Realm of the Psycho Slugs and Freedom 7, and some of Freddy Freshs records, especially those he made as Nitrate, were incredibly psychedelic to my ears.

Better still is french hardcore (though not acid) - Poka Michelson, La Peste, some Cavage records. But here we're probably more in the bad trip department, as with Penderecki.

 

[Leo]

There's tons of hard minimal acid out there. Labels like Drop Bass...

god, drop bass network! they were like a white trash, amphetmine reptile version of acid, some of it is really grinding and brutal. i have a dozen old dbn 12s, loud as fuck. great logo and label graphic too.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but Country Joe & the Fish - Section 43 is one of the original late 60s psych-rock tracks that always really does it for me, both in the trance-inducing sense and the perception distorting/renewing sense. I suppose the psychedelic effects are down to the tempo changes, the use of modal scales, and the use of really vivid contrasts between the sound-textures of the different instruments, so that you tend to 'see' the instruments as 'colours' (or I do anyway). I think the phrasing of the melody lines, esp on the slow bits, has something to do with it, but can't be precise as to why yet.
Would also agreee strongly with whoever mentioned Dr John - Gris Gris, love that album.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Also, re psychedelic definitions - blissblogger to thread please!

 

[mistersloane]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but Country Joe & the Fish - Section 43 i

Definitely. See also the Grateful Dead, late 60s Bo Diddley (Black Gladiator, Where It All Began). That's kinda what I think of as psychedelic.

I don't agree that all music is psychedelic at all. Hallucinatory, maybe, psychedelic, no.

 

[mistersloane]

Some music is just more deliberately altered to fit the psychedelic experience than other music by musicians who have more psychedelic experience.

That's a great line though, right there.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Yeah, I actually like Live/Dead a lot. Kind of wish Dark Star stopped after about 8 mins though, the effect becomes a bit diffused. The Eleven is an awesome track, trippy and ultra-rythmic.

 

[Chris]

Definitely. See also the Grateful Dead, late 60s Bo Diddley (Black Gladiator, Where It All Began). That's kinda what I think of as psychedelic.

I don't agree that all music is psychedelic at all. Hallucinatory, maybe, psychedelic, no.

yeah, I guess if we use 'psychedelic' to refer to music specifically suited for the LSD, mushroom, or mescaline experiences... ehh... well I've still had interesting experiences with all styles... but I would agree that being in that more receptive, empathetic state, certain qualities and vibes are just more pleasant (mellowness, warmth). Sometimes DnB at raves was fucking amazing on acid though, bringing up these ancient-looking, Egyptian/Babylonian-ish shapes out of peoples' dance moves... (I'd call DnB essentially psychedelic music, even at its darkest), but sometimes that snarling, churning, ruthless grind did start to really bring out and magnify some pretty unpleasant feelings...

I guess I have a personal definition of psychedelia that extends to the headiness of weed, the out-of-body, third-party-perspective divining properties of K, the lulling, warm-comfortable-cool Lil Nemo in Nightland safety-cocoon of dope (avoid this like the plague of course), the full body sensory-psychedelia of E, etc etc...

All of these, including hallucinogens, to me, being not of their own seperate universes, but rather Promethean shortcuts, stolen glimpses of a higher perpective, $20 peeks into a reality that isn't so much a hallucination as a fuller view we get distracted from... (understandably, having more immediate matters at hand). After all, aren't the experiences on hallucinogens just profane reflections or imitations of that (theoretically attained) through enlightenment/meditation/gnosis/kia/cosmic consciousness/wisdom/life lessons/religious Truth, etc... ? (I'm not saying they necessarily are truthfully, but they appear to recall that.)

Look at those reviews in IdleRich's first post... nearly every one uses religious/magical/mystical metaphors... psychedelia seems to aspire to the world.

 

[nomadthethird]

Good points Mistersloane and Chris.

I guess the most basic unit of the psychedelic experience is being in a purely receptive mode, and when you're in that mode, you can make some kind of abstract sense, or get some kind of aesthetic satisfaction, out of anything.

That's kind of what I meant by all music is psychedelic. The better way of putting might be that if you're in a psychedelic mindset, you can really get something more than might otherwise be gotten out of any/all music.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Yeah, it's a really interesting subject - I've never taken full-blown psychedelics (probably something I should rectify ), but for me, psychedelic music doesn't boil down to music that sounds good/appropriate whilst you're under the influence of those drugs. Of course, a lot of it, probably most of it, will do, but I think the core definition has to be that it's music that drugs the listener. It has to create sensations comparable to those of a psychedelic experience, and be able to so whether or not the listener is sober or high at the time.
Complications sometimes come in that I think 'psychedelia' ought only to apply to music where the druggy sensations are ones you would associate with psychedelic drugs proper - LSD, mushrooms, mescaline, DMT, and you can probably make the case cannabis too' but some writers seem to use it more broadly to include music that triggers experiences associated with other classes of drugs - narcotics, downers etc. Ecstasy is an interesting one here because that's classed as a psychedelic amphetamine, innit. Should music that triggers E-vibes be called psychedelic? I would be inclined to say yes, but not sure.

 

[IdleRich]

"Definitely. See also the Grateful Dead, late 60s Bo Diddley (Black Gladiator, Where It All Began). That's kinda what I think of as psychedelic."

What about Chubby Checker's psychedelic album? A lot of people seem to rave about it but I think it's more noteworthy for being unexpected rather than being particularly mindblowing in itself.

"Some music is just more deliberately altered to fit the psychedelic experience than other music by musicians who have more psychedelic experience."

Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to in other words?

Look at those reviews in IdleRich's first post... nearly every one uses religious/magical/mystic metaphors... psychedelia seems to aspire to the world.

Yes they do, and when you think of a lot of the most famous psychedelic films (Touch of Zen, Holy Mountain etc) religion is hugely important once again. Both of those films have that warm feeling that Mistersloane identified as well. I associate psychedelia with relaxing warmth and light I think for some reason - at least sometimes.

"Would also agreee strongly with whoever mentioned Dr John - Gris Gris, love that album."

I love it too but although it's kind of out there I don't think of it as psychedelic. Maybe I'm wrong though. Love this either way


What was the version you were recommending the other day STN?

 

[nomadthethird]

Should music that triggers E-vibes be called psychedelic? I would be inclined to say yes, but not sure.

I would say so, definitely. Ecstasy is a supremely psychedelic drug imo.

Love this either way

Groovy. I like it.

 

[CHAOTROPIC]

Had my best ever acid trip in the countryside a couple of months ago & listening to this was by far the most powerful musical experience. Completely sank into it & the music opened up incredibly. The psychedelic power had something to do with the richness & complexity of each discreet sound floating in warm echoing space, & the way the acid focused attention & allowed me to sortof unpick every strand, roll it round, taste it, wonder at it, etc. Incredibly sculptural musical experience. Also, the way sounds transformed into each other, the way I could hear effects on the voice as if they were physical artifacts kindof pasted onto it. I'm aware that I sound like a dirty hippy.

Those kindof transformations combined with a wobbliness of tuning, the way notes are never quite stable but waver in & out of key, are real contributors to the psychedelic qualities of Coil, I think.

Listening to it again, I'm picking up more than before but still only about 2% of the stuff I could hear when tripping. Not sure I've ever heard music with that kind of immersiveness & detail. To be honest, it's changed the way I've listened to - & made - music for the last couple of months. A real (3rd?) eye-opener.