Intuitive Music

Music genre born in the late 60’s as a reflection of the psychedelic culture that was born under the influence of the use of psychotropic drugs like LSD. Musically was influenced by the 60’s folk rock, blues, and Western cultures with the use of instruments such as sitars and percussions, and having an inspiration in Indue mantras.

Psychedelic rock had two different scenes. The first San Francisco scene was protagonised by bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, and The Byrds. The concerts were characterized by visual shows including psychedelic projections and oil light shows. Frank Zappa and 13th Floor Elevators were some of key artists who contributed to the evolution of psychedelia. 13th Floor Elevators are credited as the fathers of the genre name with the title of their 1966 album “The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators”.

Another protagonist from the psychedelic era was Dr. Timothy Leary, who became one of the most important supporters of the use of LSD in the late 60’s, and was involved in the 70’s in the kosmiche rock scene.

The British psychedelia was more surrealistic and had a deeper orientation to the sound exploration. The Beatles were the pioneers of the psychedelia with the release of the song “Tomorrow Never Knows” from the “Revolver” album in 1966. The early scene was protagonised by bands like Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, Soft Machine, Bodast, The Syn, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and Flower Pot Men, and Jimi Hendrix Experience. UFO, Roundhouse, and Middle Earth were the main clubs in the London psychedelic scene.

The krautrock early scene was also pretty psychedelic oriented, featuring the surreal sound experiments of bands like Amon Düül and Can.

A second generation of psychedelic artists was represented during the 70’s by space rock artists like Gong and Hawkwind. The psychedelic shadow of Syd Barret was also recovered during the 80’s by artists like Julian Cope and his band Teadrop Explodes, and The Soft Boys. Other artists that drank from the psychedelic sources during the 90’s were Kula Shaker, Ozric Tentacles, and My Bloody Valentine.

Some of the electronic artists more influenced by the psychedelic rock are The Orb, Animal Collective, Aphex Twin and Androgenous Amorphous.