13

Commonly I've seen psychedelic rock starts with The Doors and others, but is there any other "psychedelic-something" (i.e. "psychedelic jazz") genre? What are the examples (of the psychedelic-something band's song)?

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    I think this is my favorite question ever on this site. I love all the psychedelic subgenres, so this allowed me to revisit a lot of well-beloved music.
    – Chris Sunami
    Oct 22, 2015 at 14:15
  • 1
    I don't have many examples so I'm not going to post an answer, but psychedelic classical music hasn't been mentioned. Never caught my interest much, but I had a buddy that got really into contemporary classical composers from the 60's, clearly full of LSD. Crazy stuff - from minimalist ambient (like Brian Eno) to full orchestral freak-outs. Myself, I'd also place the pre-LSD avant garde composers like Stravinsky and his contemporaries into the 'psychedelic' category, but everybody has different criteria for what qualifies as psychedelic.
    – user1103
    Oct 22, 2015 at 15:16

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
9

There is certainly a psychedelic funk genre, or so the creators of the band Funkadelic, a portmanteau of "funk" and "psychedelic", believed. They released three albums during their actual psychedelic funk phase, which was in the early 1970s (they later moved on to funk rock in the mid-1970s and straight funk by the late 1970s): Funkadelic, Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow, and Maggot Brain. Their most well known songs from that period are:

Some other songs of theirs from that era that trend heavily toward psychedelic funk:

As for psychedelic jazz in particular, that's regularly referred to as acid jazz. (Try searching for "psychedelic jazz" on Wikipedia.) I'm not too familiar with the genre, but The Brand New Heavies, Jazzanova, James Taylor Quartet, and Jamiroquai all seem to embody the sound. A song for each:

For more genres and other info about Psychedelic music, see the Psychedelic Music Category page on Wikipedia.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    Great set of songs!
    – Chris Sunami
    Oct 22, 2015 at 14:02
  • 1
    Note that the injection of psychedelica into soul and funk is usually credited to Sly & the Family Stone.
    – BCdotWEB
    Oct 23, 2015 at 13:58
  • @BCdotWEB very true
    – Joe Kennedy
    Oct 23, 2015 at 14:02
7

There's also psychedelic folk, from Simon & Garfunkel and the Byrds in the 60's through to modern groups like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and the Shins.

Let's also not forget psychedelic soul (which overlaps with both psychedelic rock and psychedelic funk) --it was basically the black musicians' version of the psychedelic rock movement. Notable exponents of the sound include the (later) Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Isley Brothers, the Chambers Brothers and the 5th Dimension. Modern singers such as Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae are arguably in the same general genre.

There is even psychedelic hip hop, which arguably reached its peak with the trippy rhymes of the 90's duo PM Dawn, but which has recently made a mainstream comeback in the music of Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar and others.

Wikipedia also lists psychedelic pop (Beach Boys, Lemon Pipers) and of course there were the psychedelic revivals both in the 80/90's (XTC, Tears For Fears) and 2000's-present (Flaming Lips, Tame Impala), but those can all probably be considered as part of psychedelic rock.

Improve this answer
4

Psy-chill (also known as psy-dub) is a psychedelic version of Chill-out Music (described by Wikipedia as "an umbrella term for several styles of electronic music characterized by their mellow style and mid-tempo beats", including "ambient, trip hop, nu jazz, ambient house and other subgenres of downtempo").

A psy-chill act like Shpongle would be the very definition of psychedelic music (at least for me). This is a project of Raja Ram and Simon Posford, both big names in the goa-trance scene and Shpongle does lean on that subculture, but is way more then just electronics. It is impossible to list one album to catch the magnificence of it, but this is a very good one nonetheless. It incorperates soundscapes, world music, dub, tribal influences to even salsa, hiphop and hardrock, all drenched in a fat layer of psychedelica.

This act, to answer your question, is a head figure in the psychedelic chill-out scene. And that scene has a very, very big psychedelic genre. Ranging from jazzy to trancy, to list a few: Koan, Ott, Kaya Project, The Mystery of the Yeti and so on. If you're into this, check out of the parties (like Ozora, Boom Festival, Psy-Fi, Lost Theory) - you're in for a treat.

Improve this answer
2
  • I did in my answer ;) "psychedelic chill-out" also known als psy-dub or psy-chill.
    – Asitis
    Nov 2, 2015 at 15:06
  • Thanks! Sorry I missed that, I hadn't realized "chill-out" was a genre.
    – Chris Sunami
    Nov 2, 2015 at 16:04
2

There are a couple of compilations called The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru that I really enjoyed. Haven’t really had time to fall down the rabbit hole looking for more of this, but definitely will be doing soon.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.