Trippy Crossroads: U.S. Psychedelia & Krautrock

Let's dive into the possible link that makes the late 1960s U.S. psychedelic rock and Krautrock, also called kosmische Musik, which was developed in then West Germany in the 1970s. An avant-garde yet psychedelic movement such as Krautrock and its bands like Can, Guru Guru, Cluster, Neu!, and La Düsseldorf tried to break free from the usual rock structures, while U.S. psychedelia was deeply indebted to the counterculture, with bands like The Doors, The United States of America, The Grateful Dead, and Lothar and the Hand People entering new dimensions through extended jams and experimental sounds.
Krautrock is overall typified by trippy, repetitious rhythms, electronic tones, often cosmic ambience, and a general tendency towards improvisation.
U.S. psychedelic rock features lush harmonies personalised by hypnotic jamming, surreal lyrics, as well as some experimental techniques such as reverb, and so forth. Are there any possible similarities? How could the attributes affect each other?
What are the possible similarities? In what way could the characteristics really have influenced each other? Did some 70s Krautrock artists incorporate elements of American psychedelic rock from the 60s?
How did they reflect social change?
What are the essential discographies in this cross-section of two psychedelic genres?

I, for one, would attribute the influence of the New York City psychedelic electronic duo Silver Apples and their first two albums on Krautrock as the most significant of those influences that came from the United States in the late 1960s. Silver Apples innovative use of synthesisers, hypnotic grooves, and repetitive rhythms parallels Krautrock's avant-garde ethos.

Intruder wrote: The good ol' Grateful Dead - the US band most referenced by Krautrockers as an inspiration.  Their omission on these pages is beyond bewildering.

Well that’s something I didn’t know. Or even suspect.

What were Can's main influences from the world of rock, as opposed to classical and avant-garde?

Everybody a little bit different. But mainly I would say the influence, for me, of [the] Beatles and Velvet Underground was most important. The Velvet Underground especially. They had something achieved which others didn't achieve. Even Jimi Hendrix didn't achieve that. One could have the opinion that this group is not able to play really properly right. They didn't get the right rhythm, they couldn't make a real tight rhythm. But the music was incredibly convincing. And this feeling made us encouraged, actually, to go on with rock music in general, instead of, let's say, making avant-garde academic music. Academic music was somehow finished by the audiences. Not by the musical idea itself. But we liked to do something without notation. We didn't want to read music off papers. We really tried to make instant compositions from the very beginning. This Can tradition actually achieved [this] very much when we played live. /.../ An Interview With Holger Czukay
by Richie Unterberger (January 1997)

Starshiper wrote: Regarding the early 70s krautrock stuff that was obviously influenced by the psychedelic rock bands from the West Coast music scene, I would like to highlight "Krokodil Session, Part 1" and "Part 2" from the album "An Invisible World Revealed" by Swiss krautrock band Krokodil from 1971, which are particularly enjoyable, driving, jazz-rock numbers full of intricate instrumental lines that remind me a bit of the Grateful Dead's live psychedelic jams.

Starshiper wrote: One of those U.S. artists that certainly influenced the Krautrock movement is also Sun Ra, although he wasn't psychedelic rock but a cosmic jazz genius. Here is a 27-minute-long title track from Sun Ra and his Arkestra's 1966 album "The Magic City."

Absolutely! Even though Sun Ra and krautrock bands like Can come from different musical backgrounds—jazz and rock, respectively—the adventurous vibe in tracks like Aumgn really resonates with the spirit of Sun Ra's spacey yet avant-garde sound!

GuruCan wrote: The 13th Floor Elevators were an iconic garage band from Texas that played a pivotal role in shaping psychedelic rock, thanks to their innovative use of the ‘electric jug’ and their focus on creating an immersive vibe rather than just sticking to catchy melodies. Their mind-bending, philosophy-infused lyrics add another layer of complexity that really makes you think. The 13th Floor Elevators might even be considered early U.S. predecessors of the Krautrock movement due to the groundbreaking sonic explorations they undertook.