In today’s world we are spoilt for choice when it comes to picking a genre of music we want to sit down and listen to. The cultural reset of Grime in the UK in the past decade has almost become the 10’s version of Britpop with the massive success of artists such as Stormzy and Skepta, not the mention the huge incline of indie and alternative artists, who almost aren’t entitled to their alt status anymore thanks to their overwhelming triumphs. Like anything, there is always a catalyst involved to trigger these musician’s creative waves, which often come from the most unexpected genres. Perhaps the most underrated is, psychedelia, a genre which the dictionary makes no effort to hide - is plainly a hallucinogenic effect LSD. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, all frequenters of LSD, who as a result, have created their most mind-bending music under the influence – consequently paving the way for future psychedelics of the industry.
For anyone remotley interested in any segment of this genre won’t be surprised to know that the hailer of this decade’s psychedelic era is Tame Impala, who have recently released fifth album ‘The Slow Rush’ earlier this year. Reaching its peak of #2 on the iTunes album chart, undoubtably the album made its way into the hearts of old and new fans. Thanks to these stats, it’s time to introduce listeners who can’t get enough of The Slow Rush to the top 5 psychedelic albums of this decade.
5. Temples, Sun Structures
After supporting the likes of Suede, Kasabian and The Vaccines in 2013, Temples went onto release their debut album Sun Structures later the following year where the band gained endorsement from Gallagher brother Noel, hailing Temples as “the best new band in Britain”.
This album can be best described as the score for some kind of Tim Burton fairy tale, as frontman James Bagshaw’s storytelling vocals are pleasantly distorted into a midst of oblivion, whilst roaring drums pattern nicely as gorgeous harp playing carefully enters in tracks such as ‘Keep In The Dark’.
Sun Structures, ticks all the boxes for features of a quintessential psychedelic album, a conceptual guitar riff, the odd sitar and an overwhelming sense of euphoria. The woozy elements Temples possess can lead listeners to shut their eyes and feel as though they are transported to a mythological fantasy land, something maybe as bizarre as their cover art.
Whilst the genre is often misjudged as quite ‘same-y’, it’s hard to believe that statement is true when listening to this album. Each track has a pocket of something different which leads to a strong attention to detail when it comes to a head-nodding chorus line.
Listen to:
Shelter Song
Mesmerise
Move With The Season
4. Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Multi-Love
A reference to his polyamorous relationship with his wife and a younger woman, frontman Ruban Nielson’s third album Multi-Love, makes no bones about his troubled love life through his psyche floor fillers.
Receiving a sublime number of accolades for top ranked albums of 2015, the channelling of Nielson’s heartbreak becomes UMO’s rawest yet most listenable production. The album artwork itself is an accurate indication of the chaos represented within the sound of this album, it’s a mess, but it works incredibly well.
With a staggered and harsh key piece opening the album, it’s hard to tell where the track is going until Nielson’s introvertive vocals soon enter to transport you to a dreamy haze. Seconds later a Phil Collins-esque ‘In The Air Tonight’ drum ceremony enters to polish the funky dance lead track ‘Multi-Love’.
It’s not your stereotypical psychedelic album, but who wants normal anyway? Neilson’s album contains immense basslines, modern day relationship storytelling and an impending sense of doom which leads anyone over the age of twenty to actually get off the sofa and get down to the local nightclub for a boogie.
Listen to:
Multi-Love
Can’t Keep Checking My Phone
Necessary Evil
3. Pond, The Weather
For those who want to ease themselves into the trippy world of psychedelic music, Pond is your first port of call. You could go as far to say the band a relative of Tame Impala, as three of the members perform alongside the man himself Kevin Parker, I suppose Pond could be viewed as Impala’s child.
After releasing a stream of albums and EP’s for ten years, Pond’s seventh album The Weather, released in 2018, finally showcased their distinctive sound and developed maturity. Produced by Kevin Parker, the album was released to critical acclaim and immediately became their best piece of work to date.
The Weather manages to compile elements of calm and chaos in the most intriguing of ways, such as ‘A/B’ – a ferocious emergence of clattering guitars and spitting vocals reminisces an early Zeppelin track. An up roaring sense of excitment occurs when the song frazzles into cuts of distorted news reports but abruptly drizzles into a soulful ballad, as frontman Nick Allbrook’s misty and mournful vocals repeat ‘angel angel, you talk to me and I don’t even care if you were lying to me about being clean’.
The album has a bewildering mixture of emotions, sounds and themes - which I find impossible to believe wasn’t made without the aid of some illegal substances, however, it is most definitely worth investing 43 minutes in.
Listen to:
Sweep Me Off My Feet
Paint Me Silver
Colder Than Ice
2. Goat, World Music
Perhaps the most eccentric (mental) out of all four bands, Goat are described as an ‘experimental fusion group’, which also matches their appearance – think cirque de soleil with instruments. The best way to articulate Goat is, if Bjork and old school Black Keys’ music had a baby, I think this would be the result.
World Music is an outstanding debut from Goat, it is bizarre and bold, inventive and intriguing. Not to mention admirable: you have got to have some belief in yourself, as a band, to name 3 out of 9 tracks ‘Goatman’ ‘Goathead’ and ‘Goatlord’. The album is without a doubt mind-altering - their impressive use of distortion, pitches and anomalous noises will leave you, as a listener, reaching for a bottle of wine or something stronger, just to get a sense of what the band were feeling when they created this showpiece.
The album continues to surprise upon a first listen, just as you think you’ve heard everything, a new key change, instrument or vocalist drops in to heighten your senses even further. It possesses an intense amount of creativity which is something we can only marvel at, for those who want to broaden their musical horizons to their most intense, this is the album for you.
Listen to:
Goatman
Let It Bleed
Run To Your Mama
1. Tame Impala, Lonerism
An essential for any psychedelic listener’s record collection, cd drawer, or playlist is ultimately Tame Impala’s second album, Lonerism. Dwelling on the theme of isolation within his lyrics, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, Kevin Parker, creates a record which is anything but desolate, when in fact has bought fans far and wide closer together.
Developing further on his trance infused sounds, Parker picks up the guitar far less on this album and features far more synthesizers, decoders and samples which contributes to his love of pop music. Incorporating his unlikely obsession worked in the man behind Tame Impala’s favour, as the album bagged him critical acclaim amongst the best albums of 2012.
Lonerism contains some of the most career defining tracks of Tame Impala’s career, including ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ and ‘Elephant’, both so incompatible you wouldn’t bat an eyelid if you were told they were from different albums, however their sublimity isn’t mismatched. The former could reconcile you to lying in a warm empty field with nothing but your hectic thoughts racing round your head but only visioning swirls of hallucinogenic colours. The latter sends real, not metaphorical, intense pulsations through your entire body thanks to Parker’s genius thunderous basslines.
Listen to:
Apocalypse Dreams
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Elephant
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