Welcome to the favorite, best, top most interesting and captivating psych records I heard this year. The year end lists have all my favorites and give space to include great albums that I did not have the time to review throughout the year. I have created several lists this year so make sure to click the best of section to find all the great music and click on the article titles to see what’s inside.
It has been the best year yet for the site. I built a new website earlier this year, and wrote over 170 articles and reviews. Despite my best efforts the psych scene and its many tendrils are nearly impossible to keep up. Tremendous amount of great music and talent on display in 2020. This list will hopefully help you find some new amazing music to support! ; )
Thank you To Heart Of The Sun Liquids for the incredible cover image. Follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heartofthesunliquids/
Best Favorite Top Kosmisch, Experimental Drone 2020
How does one define a genre which refuses to accept conformity and is always pushing the envelope and mixing genres together? I tried my best to break my favorite albums up into related genres. This list is for those seeking laid back, droning music that is to otherworldly, spacey and loosely rock oriented; it is also home to electronic kosmische styled music, drone and more.
All the music here is far-out, complex in its presentation, and deeply exploratory. The focus on innovation and niche artistry is present in each of these albums. This is the category where free noise can be found where musicians have a freedom that transcends traditional structures. These albums are challenging, beautiful, futuristic and highly intriguing. Dig in.
Autotelia I
Autotelia I of the UK is a driving electronic kosmische journey with echoing guitar notes and bass line drive. The album has a continuous tension between the layers of instrumentation and drone that makes of incredible complex musical textures and innovative sounds. This is the last album release before the passing of Tom Relleen who was also a member of the Oscillation, Tomaga and Papivores. This album is not all calm waves but builds into explosive turbulence; the album is a dynamic work which deepens with each listen.
Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders
Mary Lattimore’s Silver Ladders from the USA is beautiful with harps, echoes, guitars and drones that stretch into relaxing and artistic vistas. boarding on a folk style with the focus on acoustic compositions that breath and grow organically and take time to veer into the wild unknown. its a breath of beauty.
Spiral Galaxy
Spiral Galaxy is a global collaboration with artists from Japan, UK, Germany and the USA. Droning music from the kosmische masters of the 1970s with the next wave of kosmic rockers at his side. The sound is spiritual eastern drone with wild strange layers of vocals and a otherworldly vibe. The album has flutes, beat machines, eastern instruments, motorik beats. It features members of Acid Mothers Temple, Faust, Magic Carpet, and Ryley Walker. This is weird music that makes my pupils widen.
Osees Rotate Panther
Osees Rotate Panther from Los Angelas California s a strange otherworldly album with enough cosmic drift to land on this list as well as others. Much of the album is synthed and warped soundscapes with a couple lyrical songs remixed for the Protean Threat Sessions. Its a great album with spaced out psyched up vibes and weird unusual sounds. This is the most chill album from Osees since their synth album The 12″ Synth. This is one is new to me just came out but I like it more each day.
TENGGER Nomad
Tengger Nomad of South Korea is an ambient soundscape soothing and organic. The sound is beautiful with reserved tension and subtle overtones. Take a deep wash in electronic sound bliss with Tengger.
Korb II
Korb II is the second album from this UK band. This is deep space rock kraut rock all the way with synth and guitar playing off one another and a tight plotting rhythm section. This album dwells in heavy deep space the whole time and the guitars blaze through the nebulae.
КОМВУИАТ ЯОВОТЯОИ Kernzeitverletzung
This German group makes kosmisch and kraut rock with long tracks and improvisational approach to music making. Their songs are a slow burn building up as they go. by the end the overdriven guitars and rocking and echoing out into the mystery of the stars.
Prana Crafter MorphoMystic
Prana Crafter MorphoMystic from the northwest coast of the USA is cosmic synth with analogue echo, synth and guitar to create a psychedelic kosmiche drone. From the North Western United States Will Sol is the solo member of the project which seeks to travel through deep space.
Culto Al Qondor Tannhäuser Tor
Culto Al Qondor Tannhäuser Tor is contemporary Kosmische with heavy drones and free flowing spaced out improvisations. The music has a dark undertone creating an ominous atmosphere. The lead guitars are distant with heavy reverb and echo carving out a path through the modulating oscillations. This is a great offering from The Worst Bassists Records out of Germany.
Taras Bulba Soul Weaver
Taras Bulba is from the UK and was formed by the members of Earthling Society. Soul Weaver is acid folk, experiential kraut rock that employees many diverse instrumentals and noises into their compositions. They touch on psych rock, noise, postrock, kosmische and acid folk highlighting another side of this multifaceted and mixed genre. They get weird with vocals and sound experiments but the album has songs that are beautiful and challenging for the listener and developed unique and interesting musical colors. A great choice for those interested in the unusual and abstract.
Andromeda Space Ritual All Shades Of Perception
Get way far out with Polish band Andromeda Space Ritual from Poland. The space rock sound is rock but stay restrained opening space for kosmische and heavy space rock to live in harmony. The driving progressive compositions are dynamic moving from soft and subtle to rocking and driven. They keep the vibes dark and moody with wonderful effects and overall sound.
Prana Crafter / Ragenap No Ear To Hear
Prana Crafter / Ragenap No Ear To Hear is a spaced out ambient kosmische album with artistic textures and otherworldly soundscapes.
Uchū 1st
A early side projects from Kawabata Makoto and Higashi Hiroshi of Acid Mothers Temple remastered and released on vinyl for the first time. The music is all guitars droning out into ambience. The acid folk and kosmische ambient vibes are calm and deep, soothing and inspired.
Elkhorn – The Acoustic Storm Sessions
Elkhorn The Acoustic Storm Sessions is a beautiful album of droning acoustic guitars. The three musicians integrate eastern modalities in a folk style and it resembles the droning compositions of Robbie Basho and the 1970s primitive American folk movement of guitar.
Stereoboy Kung Fu
Experimental electronic rock Stereoboy is not a chill out album it drives hard with the beats and utilizes a variety of unconventional instruments and samples. This album is in a genre of its own and is difficult to categorize or describe making it a perfect candidate for this list.
Hifiklub, with Matt Cameron, Reuben Lewis, Daffodil Rupture
Electronic experimental abstract work of musical abstract art. The songs uses electronic beats and sounds combined with layers of vocals. The sound has a high production value and sounds amazing. The music picks up pace and gets into heavy bass guitar, electric guitar leads and saxophone bending into a free form space with steady rhythm and some psychedelic jazz.
About ThePsychRock.com
ThePsychRock.com is a place for people to find new music that is underground and out of the mainstream. All the bands share common musical lineage and have great diversity in sound but all the music is creative and comes from one of the many branches of psychedelic rock music.
2020 was a big year for the page more viewers then ever with tens of thousands of you finding new music. I received more promos then ever before and unveiled a whole new website design for better browsing.
The year end lists are always the most popular articles on the website with the exception of the home page. Don’t be afraid to click on those article titles to read the full review with videos and sound samples. Come back soon to ThePsychRock.com I have new articles and posts going up regularly.
Thank you!
Thank you so much and yes we do all need psychedelic rock acid folk music in 2021 we need more hippies in our world. Peace n love brother.
Very informative!!! Thanks my friend, can’t wait wait until the next one!!! Much love from dmtworld.net!!!