Neo Psychedelia (late 90's)
Back In the 90's a number of bands released records which were, at the time, regarded as neo-psychedelic masterpieces. The Lips, Mercury Rev, SFA, Olivia Tremor Control, Granddaddy, Spiritualized to name a few. In my opinion these bands have mostly not improved on these records and I think they still remain classics today. Do you think they've still got it in them to do so, and if not who do you think their successors are?
A few thoughts:
Mercury Rev- haven't done a great album since Deserter's Songs,
though All Is Dream had some moments. What's with Jonothan's
quavery operatic singing and the references to unicorns and flowers? It makes me feel ill. Could their next album ditch the trend, or are they past it?
The Lips - still got it IMO. Thought I'm a bit worried that
"The Terror" will turn out to be mostly stoned noodling, and what's
with Wayne promoting drugs all the time, the man is 50 years
old with a family? Slow Nerve actions is full of conversations about how much weed he smokes, seems sad. However I think they are still making interesting music, even if it's not "my kind of music".
Sparklehorse, such a sad loss. I loved this band!
Sleepy Jackson - I thought they're first album and EP's were brilliant and much better than the eighties cheese-fest Walking on a Dream.
SFA - their last album was a disappointment for me, their ambition seems to have gone and Gruff more interested in folksy side projects.
Granddaddy - have apparently reformed!? More of the same to follow?
What do you think? Are there any other bands you’d include and do you think this kind of music is still being made?
I've heard the baton has been passed to bands like Animal Collective but so far I haven't got into them (I prefer early Rev, which I find to be quite similar.) The few Tame Impala songs I’ve heard, sound like Ride mixed with Beachwood Sparks, it feels too saccharine for me and I feel I've heard it before. I’ve tried to get into School of Seven Bells but I think I preferred his old band Secret Machines.
My favourite music has always been the collision of noise/psychedelia with beautiful melodies (Loveless, Priest Driven Ambulance, A Ghost is Born, See You on the Other Side).Many of their successors seem to be either derivative or more abrasive, weirder but without the melodies,. Perhaps I'm just stuck in the 90’s though (a serious possibility!). I'd love to have my mind changed. Can you guys recommend me anything new I should check out? Please excuse the long post been thinking about this for a while!
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OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL
Dusk at Cubist Castle. Recorded in 1997 but could have come out at any point since 1966. Absolutely life-affirming pop music.
Yeah Dusk is a great record, I think they did another one to around the same time? Black something or over?
which I haven't heard. On an Elephant Six tip, Elf Power's A Dream in Sound is really good to.
A few of my favourite psychedelic records from the last few years have been
Magic Lantern - Platoon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjZc5lTCLZI
LA Vampires featuring Matrix Metals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWZXZu8RdKQ
Goat - World Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swOjaFXnDeA
Most stuff distributed by Not Not Fun as well, which is currently my favourite contemporary psychedelia label
bump
Any more recommendations? I'm a similarly stuck-in-the-90s psychedelic rock fan.
Depends what ide of it you mean.
The heavier, stoner rocky side of it might include people like Goat, Dead Skeletons and the like.
The krautrock-y side might include people like -
Mugstar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpccWLu4Eaw
Cave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYAyIx7TZZY
But I get the impression that you like bands in the folky/chamber pop side of things. Um, Crystal Stilts maybe?
check out bardo pond...
collisions of noise and psychedelia up the ying-yang...
Definately this
Bardo Pond are brilliant. Really Psychedelic, but also accessible, and what a beautiful tripped out noise/sound they make with their guitars.
Great thread
Another late 90s album that tends to get lumped in with Deserter's Songs, Sophtware Slump etc is the Delgados' 'The Great Eastern'. Not quite on the same level, but a great record nonetheless.
Apologies if I'm stating the blindingly obvious and you know them already, but a massive recommendation would be Dungen. All of their records are totally worthwhile but check out 'Ta Det Lugnt' for starters. It's a total classic.
Even if you weren't crazy about Animal Collective, think you might really like Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch'. Heavier on the pop/psych and doesn't have any of the grating twee elements of some of the more annoying Animal Collective songs.
Also really liked MGMT's 'Congratulations'. Think it's a minor masterpiece actually, but I know some people certainly don't!
At the noisier end, would massively recommend Comets on Fire, particularly, 'Field Recordings From The Sun'. Extremely loud guitars and what can only be described as "bellowed" vocals but they manage not to be abrasive at all and are pretty accessible. Crystal Antlers are on the noisier end of things as well but also do great psych/pop stuff (their first EP and most recent LP are the best)
Thanks man, yeah The Great Eastern is brilliant! (Dave Fridman produced too) I think I'll check out Comets on Fire, keep stumbling on them in the record rack anyway. I saw Dungen live in Manchester and they were excellent.
i really like golden void
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0wqsZ1XvVA who are kinda proggy and stuff, this song has the same structure as snowblind by black sabbath which is probably the best song i know. <3
not so mad on the not not fun reverby side of things but woodsman sound a bit like that and they're cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9a_4hFAppg the little guitar motif thing here is always in my head.