Knowra Psychedelic music Psychedelic music Psychedelic music uses experimental sounds, extended forms, and studio effects to evoke or imitate altered states of consciousness. It emerged in the 1960s across several popular-music traditions.
Phasing : An audio effect that combines a signal with a shifting copy, producing moving peaks and notches in its frequency spectrum. Its swirling, shifting tone became a signature studio effect in psychedelic recordings.
Psychedelic rock : A rock style that uses unconventional sounds, extended forms, and production effects associated with psychedelic experience. It became the most visible popular-music branch of the psychedelic movement.
The Beatles : A British rock band whose mid-1960s recordings transformed popular songwriting and studio production. Their experimental albums brought psychedelic sounds to a mass audience.
Neo-psychedelia : A later rock style that revives or reworks sounds and themes associated with 1960s psychedelia. It carries psychedelic music into later eras without simply reproducing its original styles.
Progressive rock : A rock style that emphasizes extended compositions, complex arrangements, and formal experimentation. Both styles stretch rock conventions, but progressive rock often foregrounds compositional complexity over altered-state effects.
Tape loop : A length of magnetic tape joined end to end so recorded sound repeats continuously. Repeating fragments could turn ordinary sounds into hypnotic musical patterns.
San Francisco sound : A 1960s rock scene centered on San Francisco, known for long improvisations and countercultural themes. Its bands and concerts helped establish psychedelia as a distinct scene.
The Grateful Dead : An American rock band known for improvisational concerts and a devoted countercultural following. Their open-ended live performances made musical exploration central to psychedelic rock.
Psychedelic pop : Pop music that uses psychedelic imagery, unusual sounds, and experimental production within song-oriented forms. It shows how psychedelic devices fit concise, melodic popular songs.
Space rock : A rock style characterized by spacious textures, science-fiction themes, and extended instrumental passages. Its sonic expansiveness overlaps with psychedelia, while its imagery often turns toward outer space.
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