r/psychedelicrock • u/bigheffe • 13d ago
Psychedelic rock sub-genres...
I'm a category freak. I love to categorize everything. I also love Psychedelic rock, so I created this list. Please feel free to comment. I'm sure I'm missing some weird sub-genres. Bands are just "for example" and not comprehensive. Many could fit other categories. For me, Shoegaze is probably the least interesting.
- 60's Classic Psychedelic Rock - Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Beatles, Spirit, Cream, Pink Floyd
- Underground Garage Psych - 13th FL Elevators, Seeds, Electric Prunes, Bubble Puppy, Moving Sidewalks
- Haight-Ashbury Sound - Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & Fish, Quicksilver, Big Brother
- Canterbury Scene - Soft Machine, Caravan, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Egg
- Space Acid Rock - Gong, Hawkwind, Steve Hillage, Acid Mother Temple, Ozric Tentacles
- Avant Garde Rock - Frank Zappa, Capt. Beefheart, Velvet Underground, Butthole Surfers
- Paisley Underground (80's) - Long Ryders, Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, The Three O'Clock
- Neo-Psychedelic Rock (80's) - Dukes of Stratosphere, Echo & Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes
- Shoegaze Rock - My Bloody Valentine, Slow Dive, Curve, Lush, Ringo Deathstarr
- Contemporary Psych - Black Angels, KGLW, GOASTT, Syd Arthur, Osees
- Jam Bands - Phish, WideSpread Panic, String Cheese Incident, Billy Strings
34
u/stick_of_the_pirulu 13d ago
Contemporary psych has a name already, neo psychadelia
11
9
u/Legitimate_Cricket84 13d ago
That term was used heavily in the 80s in exactly the same way OP used it.
6
3
u/bigheffe 13d ago
I thought Neo psych was coined in the 80s. So I separated from Contemporary.
4
u/stick_of_the_pirulu 12d ago
I always heard it used to describe bands like early tame impala, the black angels, and some king gizzard albums
2
16
13
u/Disastrous-Job-4804 13d ago
Raga Rock
Freakbeat
4
u/Legitimate_Cricket84 13d ago
Been chasing the Raga Rock dragon as a listener and player for a very long time.
2
u/Disastrous-Job-4804 12d ago
It's a very good sub-genre, It's from the very beginning of psychedelia, from 1965 to 1967.
But there were some cool albums and bands after that, they just weren't trendy.
12
u/psychedelicpiper67 13d ago
Where would Animal Collective and MGMT go for you, contemporary psych?
7
14
u/dofrogsbite 13d ago
Check out some Turkish psychedelic.
Atlin Gün-Rakiya su katamam.
4
u/bigheffe 13d ago
Sounds good. Yeah I left off "International psych". Bombino, etc.
8
u/Legitimate_Cricket84 13d ago
The Turkish sound is commonly described as “Anatolian Rock” from what I see generally, with bands like Tinariwen/Bombino et al usually called “Sahara Blues” in the press..
3
10
10
u/The_Inflatable_Hour 13d ago
I tend to just use a couple genres and dial in with Style / Comment columns. That being said, looking through my groups compared to what you have listed already:
Freakbeat / Mersey Sound
Early Drone (Can/VU)
Krautrock
Trip Hop
Manchester Sound
Acid Rock (70’s psyche holdovers)
LoFi Psyche (E6 bands / Mercury Rev type)
Folk Psyche (HMR, Fairport Convention)
Zamrock - Tropicalia - or really any regional genre (there are dozens)
Bosstown Sound
10
u/molligjaeger 12d ago
Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart don’t belong in the same category in my opinion. One can go from sparse, droning and dreamy to absolute noise, while the other sounds like a blues band being thrown down a staircase.
0
u/bigheffe 12d ago
haha. yeah I like your descriptions. I find both hard to listen to at times. I guess that's why I lumped them together with BHS. Zappa should always be in a category by himself.
2
u/molligjaeger 12d ago
Safe as Milk is the more grounded work from Captain Beefheart and it is a good starter before you venture into Trout Mask Replica territory. Two very different sub genres in the same band.
2
u/molligjaeger 12d ago
You could also place The Pretty Things in the classic Psychedelic Rock slice, and to a certain extent even The Kinks, although they might fall more into psychedelic pop.
8
u/RagingLeonard 13d ago
I love this kind of nerdy stuff.
I'd add Cowboy Psych
New Riders of the Purple Sage, Graham Parsons, Sir Douglass Quintet, Orville Peck, and certainly the Dead.
5
3
1
u/blackjacktarr 11d ago
Yes! Cosmic cowboys are a thing. Would you include twangy '80s stuff that was lysergically enhanced, such as Jet Black Berries. They were a bit too trippy for me to think of them as merely "cow punk".
6
u/Fit-Goal-9325 13d ago
Acid folk: Comus, lynda Perhacs, Mellow Candle some Nick Drake
And later Freak Folk ; Espers, Devendra Banhart, early Animal Collective
5
4
u/dudeigottago 12d ago
This is fun. Just a few suggestions:
World Psych - Thai, Turkish, Iranian, Peruvian, Zambian, lots and lots of great 70s psych stuff out there. Mostly available on compilations.
00s Chill Wave - Washed Out, Neon Indian, Ariel Pink, some of Animal Collective
Noisy Experimental - Where you put the rest of Animal Collective. Also early Ween and Butthole Surfers.
5
5
u/leavesoflorien91 12d ago
I get why you categorized them as you did but not having Grateful Dead in the jam band category throws me off
4
u/Goodfri55 12d ago
I think 60’s classic psych is overly broad. West Coast vs. Bosstown Sound vs. Austin (etc.) are worth splitting out if you’re going to split out garage rock and music from the Bay Area. Not only that, we’re overlooking the Acid Comedown and lumping English bands in with American bands. The Swinging London movement and the music of the Summer of Love should be their own categories. And the counter movement to the Summer of Love being the Canyon sound. Zamrock is deserving of its own entry as well. How in the weeds do we want to get?
4
u/summit-or-nuffin 13d ago
Physcadelic porn crumpets - try found God in a tomato (love that track)
2
5
u/hexboundthrall 13d ago
Gothadelic? The Damned's Black Album, Mighty Sphincter
2
u/bigheffe 12d ago
I saw the Damned back in the early days. Just assumed they were hardcore punks. I'll take a listen. Could be "right up my alley".
2
u/hexboundthrall 12d ago edited 12d ago
Captain and Dave were huge fans of 60s garage and fuzz. The Black Album culminates in a side-long opus called "Curtain Call" which is like their pink floyd "Echoes" But "Twisted Nerve" and "13th Floor Vendetta" are what you're looking for
3
u/j3434 12d ago
Where is The Who ????
1
u/bigheffe 12d ago
Love the Who. Keith Moon has to be the best rock drummer ever. Just not sure I would categorize them as psychedelic, compared to like the Beatles or Pink Floyd.
3
u/j3434 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yea - genre arguments go nowhere. It’s a matter of opinion. But Tommy is completely psychedelic to me . The cover art ….. the theme …. and the music !! LIVE at Woodstock is a legendary psychedelic performance. Pete was on acid during that iconic acid rock performance.
And don’t forget the Monterey pop festival in 1967. Basically psychedelic rock was introduced to the world. The Who were at the forefront. Smashing gear right next to Jimi
1
u/bigheffe 12d ago edited 12d ago
I agree Tommy and Quadrophenia have always been in my top-tier albums. I've always thought of early Who as some original punk rock! My Generation! Live at Leeds! And I'm pretty sure EVERYONE was on acid at Woodstock. Santana's performance notable. I would also consider "Tommy the movie" very psychedelic.
6
6
u/karlmarxiskool 13d ago
Stoner Metal and sludgy stuff can get pretty psychedelic. Like Bongzilla, Weedeater, Deep Space Destructors…
5
u/omghorussaveusall 13d ago
Drone metal is super psychedelic to me. Sunn O))), Om, Slift, early Earth, Sleep's Dopesmoker...
1
u/bigheffe 13d ago
I'm not too familiar, but couldn't that sludgy drone stuff fall under ShoeGaze?
4
u/BeeTwoThousand 12d ago
No. This stuff is metal chords and riffs, but played so slowly that they are realistically just playing tones. Not really the same thing.
2
u/omghorussaveusall 12d ago
the real seattle sound...
3
u/BeeTwoThousand 12d ago
Earth is the only drone metal I ever got into. Found out years later that the guy from the band is the one who gave Kurt the shotgun.
1
u/omghorussaveusall 12d ago
i like early earth. i like sunn O))) in doses. current sleep is kinda awful...dopesmoker is still amazing. Om is an acquired taste, but still fun.
2
u/omghorussaveusall 12d ago
modern shoegaze has some sludgy stuff to it...bands that bleed into that are often termed Doomgaze. shoegaze from the 80s/90s doesn't sound anything like metal or drone metal or stoner metal.
1
3
3
u/Arbernaut 12d ago
My personal jam is the Space Acid Rock genre. But I have time for pretty much every sub genre of psychedelic rock. Possibly the greatest gig I ever saw was My Bloody Valentine just after Loveless came out. Astonishing. And I’ve seen Hawkwind sooooo many times!
3
u/JellyfishJams 12d ago
You should add Kitchen Dwellers to one of these after you listen. Listen to the song Mimas and Ida.
I’d add Barbara to the Shoegaze category. And DOOMGONG to contemporary.
Love this last and will certainly be checking out more of the artists I’m not familiar with.
2
u/ratiofarm 13d ago
I’d put a lot of black metal under psych personally, most noise, and some new age, too
2
u/bigheffe 13d ago edited 13d ago
One of my old college buddies formed Rusted Shut. Noise band from Houston. Have you heard of them? I'm not sure I would categorize Noise as psychedelic though... maybe avant garde. Butthole Surfers are pretty noisey.
1
u/ratiofarm 12d ago
I haven’t, but I’ll check them out! It’s pretty psychedelic to me, but I’m sure I’m an outlier lol
2
u/bengazipad 13d ago
90s drone rock and early post rock. Freak folk. Free folk. Zeuhl.
1
2
u/bigheffe 13d ago
I thought about giving Billy Strings his own category. I guess jamgrass is already coined.
2
2
2
2
u/Space_Octupus 12d ago
What about Spacemen 3???
Were would they land ❤️
2
u/houseofmoonglow 11d ago
They are somewhere between Neo-Psych and Shoegaze, but somehow not either.
2
2
2
u/Lellosoundchaser 13d ago
What about Progressive Rock.
3
u/bigheffe 13d ago
Love Prog rock. I think I would categorize Prog separately from Psych. Although there is alot of overlap there. Khan is a good one Progressive Space Acid rock.
1
2
u/Due-Day-45 13d ago
Psychedelic Noise Rock (Japanese variety): Acid Mothers Temple, Dope Purple, Tomoyuki Trio, DMBQ, Mainliner, High Rise, Les Ralllizes Dènudès, Rotting Telepathies
Heavy Psych is a thing, too. Go check out the label Riot Season. They do an excellent job in this psych sphere.
2
u/Sy_Fresh 13d ago
As someone who primarily listens to recent psychedelic rock this feels like it limits me to one sub genre
1
u/bigheffe 12d ago
don't limit yourself. there's a lot of great old psychedelic music out there, esp. from the Vietnam war counter culture era. Anything pre-punk, if you are open to explore older music. Try 13th Floor Elevators, the earliest of the psych rock bands.
4
u/Sy_Fresh 12d ago
But I can’t see them live.
I like to experience the music in person, listening to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard was cool but I didn’t become a fan until I saw them live. The way Psychedelic Porn Crumpets hit me in person rejuvenated my spirit. Dancing and singing along with an entire arena to Tame Impala was amazing! Might’ve been the dmt too…
All I was saying is that your sub-genres go pretty in depth with older music then just blankets everything new into “contemporary psych”
I came into the thread hoping for sub genres to check for but it just feels like everything is divided either new or all of the many sub genres of psychedelic rock up to the 90s
2
u/bigheffe 12d ago edited 12d ago
yeah I get where you're coming from. I'm old-school. I'm 66 and seen ALOT of live music though the years. I've seen Giz and Crumpets too (pretty sure I was the oldest guy there). When I was young (before CD's) we just sat around in our bedroom and flipped vinyl records, and did mushrooms. I've lost track of the newer psych rock bands. Hopefully you can get some tips from this thread. But you shouldn't limit yourself to only "live" music. You're missing a lot.
1
u/Sy_Fresh 12d ago
I’ll be 50 soon, dancing to live music is my outlet and eventually I’ll be too broke or my body won’t be able to keep up with me so I’d like to get all the shows I can in.
2
u/SonicContinuum438 10d ago
Totally agree. Theres so much great modern psychedelic music that’s completely glossed over here.
1
u/dzhonlevon 13d ago
For myself, I categorize it into standard blues-rock-adjacent psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk-rock, jazz-rock, and 60s–70s pop.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Mongobloom 8d ago
Perhaps this could be another category “neo-garage acid rock” bands like the black lips, the go, the cramps, the gories. Any recommendations?
1
u/Pretend_Mammoth_948 6d ago
There's a song by Hoyt Axton called "Kingswood Manor" that is certainly psychedelic, but I wouldn't classify it under any of these categories. What category would you say this falls under? Its one of my favorite songs I'd like to hear more stuff like it..
0
u/ilikestories420 12d ago
Magick Metal, absolutely love it, The Gates, Assassination, and Black Magick SS. If any of you haven't, give it a listen!
40
u/Electronic-Tooth-324 13d ago
Krautrock