The Psych Rock Lounge

Judged solely by how they sounded, I'd say VU were psychedelic in their approach. Venus in Furs is one of the most iconic psych tunes of the 60s together with White Rabbit. There was and is obviously a lot more to their music, but more than often you get that gooey thick wobbly carpet-like sound of theirs, and to me that first and foremost screams psych.

And I agree, they did influence a fair few Krautrock acts from the motorik end of the scene. Throw in Ummagumma and the Saucerful of Secrets piece, and you wind up with (some of) the fuel that started the fire. Personally I think the mindset of the time, still with a major hangover from WWll, was to blame for the explorative and wild nature of the music. Something had to give.

In many ways the same can be said about the birth of the psych scene. It's crazy when you think of how much brilliant and boundary pushing music that has been made in the face of violence and war.

Tame Impala remind me a bit of Spiritualized or some of the other overtly psychedelic/spacy 1980s/1990s indie rock groups but with a more selfconsciously retro production... perhaps also less Velvet Underground-isms.

Do the VU count as psychedelic, by the way? I'm not really sure, ideologically they were very different from that subculture but on the other hand they were a large influence on it in particular the Kosmische Musik movement. (I prefer that classification to "Krautrock" for several reasons)

Rivertree wrote: here we go - the psych rock lounge has been opened let me propose a typical band which is really excellent, though can't be filed under the progressive rock tag - Tame Impala

here we go - the psych rock lounge has been opened
let me propose a typical band which is really excellent, though can't be filed under the progressive rock tag - Tame Impala






Edited by Rivertree - December 16 2014 at 14:57

Guldbamsen wrote: The 13th Floor Elevators also made 'Slip inside this House' Funny thing is that I love the cover done by Primal Scream just as much

On the subject of Roky Erickson, how many of his solo albums are worth hearing? I quite enjoy Roky Erickson and the Aliens and Gremlins Have Pictures, not quite sold on the acoustic albums yet though.

The Flaming Lips' evolution has been remarkable, but it has also been very gradual, punctuated every ten years or so with a more pronounced leap forward.  I listened to them in the late 80s in college, and I never would have dreamed they would still be around today, let alone leading the pack of experimental pop.

I've hopped on/off board and followed them loosely ever since then, but I don't think I really considered myself a true fan until their recent abrasive Krautrock phase kicked in a few years ago.  Once I got that, I had a more sympathetic view towards their other albums leading up to it.  On paper, they're not doing anything overly crazy or complex. But the mere fact that they can come up with all these random ideas in the first place, and then actually put these crazy whims into practice, and turn them into enjoyable albums, is a pretty impressive feat. 

The 4 CD simultaneous experiment of "Zaireeka" seems like a pretty obvious gimmick now that it's actually been done, but can you imagine what leaps of logic and imagination were necessary to actually give birth to the idea and to the finished product?


Edited by HolyMoly - December 16 2014 at 09:40

A lounge within a lounge is not a lounge 

Edited by earlyprog - December 16 2014 at 08:11

The 13th Floor Elevators also made 'Slip inside this House' Funny thing is that I love the cover done by Primal Scream just as much

I'm pretty sure the 13th Floor Elevators were the very first music group to identify their own style as "psychedelic". The behind-the-scenes history of not just Roky Erickson's life but the careers of the other musicians also reads like something straight out of Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth!

Edited by SteveG - March 12 2015 at 09:15