Best space rock and kraut rock best of top favorite albums of 2020

2020 was a great year for psychedelic space rock and krautrock with what arguably is one of the best years ever for the genre. Bands whose album went by unheard are now selling out albums and drawing huge resale value online. The labels are now selling out of most of these great albums in pre order and the music is becoming better and better.

With over 170 posts in 2020 I still missed out on many great albums this year and I intend to expand this list as new gems reach my awareness. Be sure to check out the other best of lists also I made a few lists for different genres sub genres for your music discover adventure.

On ThePsychRock.com I built a new website this year, made amazing contacts with so many artist and labels and bought some of the coolest looking and sounding vinyl in history. Due to covid-19 I more time to spend on this hobby and 2020 very well could be my most prolific year ever for music reviews so be sure to dig through the archives and find some amazing music and support the artist and labels who make it possible.

Thank you so much to all the folks who reached out to me this year with albums, feedback and encouragement. I am so happy that tens of thousands of people found my website and I want you to know I appreciate your support! Music was amazing in 2020 and it is awesome to bring forward something so positive out of a bad year from countries all over the world. Cheers!

The albums are weighted so my favorites are toward the top. I am not into putting diverse and wonderful music into a list like the billboard charts. Instead I have a 10 way tie for 1st place depending on my mood that day. There is a lot of variety on the list perhaps you can find the niches that best fits you and we all can support artists and labels to get more and more amazing music into the world.

Thank you To Heart Of The Sun Liquids for the incredible cover image. check him out on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heartofthesunliquids/

SLIFT UMMON

SLIFT UMMON adds the the #1 album of the year line up seriously amazing space rock, garage rock, psychedelic rock here. SLIFT is shaking the world with its incredible new album and the music is as epic as the packaging taking fuzz rock into all the places. SLIFT has it all and is with out a doubt one of the best albums of the year in psych rock.

Mugstar – Graft

Mugstar Graft from the UK is progressive space rock excellence. This band seems to define the genre with their impeccable skill, extraordinary compositions, world class tones and a taste for experimentation and far out sounds. Mugstar has been in the psych music world for over 10 years and seem to get better with each release. Graft is easily their finest album to date and will propel the listener in hyperspace to explore alien worlds.

Moths And Locusts Exoplanets

Moths And Locusts Exoplanets from BC, Canada is amazing, unique, heavy, psychedelic, and experimental. Their sound ranges from heayvpsych to stoner to space rock electro psych to shoegaze and progressive. They have the uncanny ability to mix all the psych sub genres into a cohesive album that is an experiential joureny from start to finish. With some of the top psych rockers in Canada joining in on the album there is no question that this is one of the best space rock albums of the year.

Anunnaki and ABWNIAS Split

Anunnaki with a heavy doom sound that can blow out the windows. The flip side is kraut rock free improvisations by The Band Whose Name is A Symbol. The album as a whole is a great paring but since this is heavy psych Anunnaki hits so hard that you might lose your mind! After listening to this album I feel like I have done something wrong like I violated the sanctity of the matrix. That filtered wah guitar is so good it hurts. Don’t let the slow build up at the start fool you.

Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Pink Lady Lemonade Double Sucker Punch

Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Pink Lady Lemonade Double Sucker Punch from Japan is a full space rock epic based around the song Pink Lady Lemonade from their very first album and has been a staple in their live sets for over 10 years. They are known as one of the most exciting and experimental psychedelic rock bands out there but this album sees a refinment of their sound taking everything they do best and summarizing it into one album. Legendary guitarist Makoto Kawabata presents his freak out guitar solos in a style that is impossible to replicate and that transmits the messages from the stars.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O Reverse Of Rebirth Reprise

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Reverse Of Rebirth Reprise from Japan is psychedelic music that goes from psychedelic folk to freak out melt down feedback guitar with disorienting intensity from guitar guru Makoto Kawabata. This album goes from weird space folk to experimental noise krautrock. This is for the ones who want their music raw and weird AMT released incredible set of albums in 2020 some of their best and most accessible material to date.

Automatism – Immersion

Automatism – Immersion from Sweden is space rock with a driven yet laid back sounds that captures the listener with their unique approach to space rock. They focus on progressive space rock sounds and present sharp skill on all instruments with dynamic beautiful tones. This band is tight and gets better with each spin. Automatism is space rock with out the stoner and heavy psych sounds and a refinment that almost hints toward the nuaces seen in jazz and prog.

Dead Sea Apes Night Land

Dead Sea Apes Night Land is a great slow burn psychedelic rock album with kraut and space rock features that can get heavy in their climatic moments and can be chill in their softer sections. The music is magical, mysterious, loose and improvisational. The guitars take the foreground with a variety of tones from fuzz, to clean with echo. The album even integrates in world instruments to build atmosphere. Dead Sea Apes have been making great music for a long time now and this album is undeniably awesome with plenty of lysergic sounds.

Yuri Gagarin The Outskirts Of Reality

Yuri Gagarin of Swenden brings the rock with Outskirts of Reality. Their sound is instrumental heavy metal, dark , progressive with space rock vibes. Their sound is dynamic with sophisticated slow build-ups, heavy climaxes and extended guitar solos. The album gets spacey with humming synths and out of this world effects.

The Vacant Lots Interzone

The Vacant Lots Interzone of New York and Los Angeles USA is a electro krautrock album with psychedelic and dark new wave appeal. Their punk rock vocal attitude is too cool and the motorik beat machines and vintage warm synth sounds combine perfectly with the vintage thin tones guitar riffs. This bands sound is all their own and well done.

The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol – Berserkir II

The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol – Berserkir II is so great with improvisational jams that free flow into spaces where no one has gone before. They have created such syngery and liquid music that enters into the flow state with such ease. The music grows, shifts, with fuzzed out guitars, synth, driving drums, and rumbling melodic bass line. The songs are from an improvisational recording session that produced the albums Berserkir I and II. Get wild, and experimental with some red hot psychedelic krautrock.

Meinakunaru Lost Bones Of The Holy Butterfly

Meinakunaru Lost Bone Of The Holy Butterfly from the UK is all out space rock with ripping guitar solos and out of this world effects. The dirty driving bass lines and heavy percussion blast into stoner and krautrock territory. The guitars are blazing hot on this one with some AMT style freak outs / meltdown in the mix.

Zone Six – Any Noise Is Intended (Extended Reissue)

Zone Six Any Noise is Intended is another incredible kraut rock, acid rock psychedelic space rock album. They have far-out guitars, cosmic soundscapes, liquid psychedelic guitar leads and soaring organs. This is a new edition of the original album from 2003 but with a full remaster and over 20 minutes of additional music making the album 78 minute long. ive into this liquid psych jamming space rock from Germany, it is sure to be a psychedelic rock classic for heads.

Mugstar & Damo Suzuki Live at The Invisible Wind Factory

Mugstar & Damo Suzuki Live at The Invisible Wind Factory features Mugstar a standout space rock, krautrock band from the UK with legendary singer of CAN Damo Suzuki. Suzuki is committed to no rehearsal improvised live music and creates albums from those one-time performances. This is true krautrock from one of the genres founders. Mugstar goes way far-out with their incredible improvisations and ability to move as a unity forces through free open unrehearsed music.

Par Asito Singularity

Par Asito Singularity from Guadalajara, Mexico with instrumental heavy psychedelic, stoner, surf, space rock. They live in heavy riffage with building intensity at gets fast heavy and psychedelic with effected guitar leads and forward synth texture. Their first releases were in 2010 and Singularity is their 4th full length album and arguably their best.

The Spacelords Spaceflowers

The Spacelords Spaceflowers is a far out space rock kraut rock album from Germany. This band has earned a reputation of being some of the best space rock available today with a robust lexicon of music. Their sound draws in prog rock, heavy psych, and classic rock tones with a krautrock rhythm section and fluid sound on guitars and synth.

Tambourinen Wooden Flower

Tambourinen Wooden Flower from the West Coast of the USA is a organic trip through the mysterious and sunlit woods. the album is krautrock and space rock all the way with droning instrumental, fuzz guitars, swirling synth and motorik percussion. From a member of The Myrrors this album is a warm psyched out rocker with layers that combine to create rich fuzzed out textures.

Marmalade Knives

Marmalade Knives from California, Santa Cruz play psychedelic rock that gets spacey and integrates in eastern scales. They play with fuzz, synth and acid improvisational jams. The sounds goes wild and weird while holding down melodic riffs in the classic space prog style.

Helicon This Can Only Lead To Chaos

Helicon This Can only Lead To Chaos is a ripping album with fuzz guitars, dark tones and wild effects. They include the Indian instrument the sitar into the mix for a world music flare. Their dark droning heavy tracks get into dark psychedelic nightmare territory with some heavy space doom.

White Manna ARC

White Manna ARC from California takes their sound in a new direction moving into improvisational soundscapes and kraut rock psych with layers of instruments for an experimental journey into the astral plane and into the psych rock palace. The album flows together like a long composition with a slow burn approach. Great album for those who like to hear new sounds that challenge our sense of familiarity.

Vinnum Sabbathi Of Dimensions and Theories

Vinnum Sabbathi Of Dimensions and Theories is space rock with heavy hard hitting riffs that will grab the attention of stoner rock and heavy psych lovers. Their style is guitar center with strong bass and percussion and the sci-fi theme is ever present with narrative voice overs fore telling of a time when humanity must search for new worlds to allow the species to survive. There are dark shades of doom here too not to be overlooked.

Andromeda Space Ritual All Shades Of Perception

Get way far out with Polish band Andromeda Space Ritual. 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.

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.

Cult of Dom Keller – Ascend!

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, koismische and acid folk highlighting another side of this multifaceted and mixed genre.

Aquarius Lux The Infinite Korridor

Aquarius Lux The Infinite Korridor is the debut album from space rock vintage synth fuzz group Aquarius Lux of the UK. These guys have spaced out rock that opens a hole in the sky.

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!