BeBest Psych Rock, Stoner Rock, Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock of 2021
Psychedelic Rock has always been about the live experience. The immersive lights and mind warping music enhances the experience. People being together dancing and the band vibing off the crowd strongly influences the improvisational ethos of psychedelic rock. This makes each night of live music special and unique. This led to labels like Reverberation Appreciation in coordination with Levitation to release a series of incredible live albums featuring the most exciting bands in psychedelic rock including King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Black Angels, Fuzz, Kikagaku Moyo, Acid Mothers Temple and more.
Psychedelic Rock has always been about the live experience. The immersive lights and mind warping music enhances the experience. People being together dancing and the band vibing off the crowd strongly influences the improvisational ethos of psychedelic rock. This makes each night of live music special and unique. This led to labels like Reverberation Appreciation in coordination with Levitation to release a series of incredible live albums featuring the most exciting bands in psychedelic rock including King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Black Angels, Fuzz, Kikagaku Moyo, Acid Mothers Temple and more.
2021 was a challenging year for music across the industry. Studios were closed, record presses were months behind, shipping delays, new import export fees, covid and few live concerts all shook the industry. This led to a year with far fewer releases than normal with underground music and smaller record labels feeling the hit the strongest. Bands also suffered as they did not have live shows many bands were separated due to covid.
These challenges may have defined the year in psych rock however, many good things did happen. Live albums became a major focus in 2021, many bands had time for some well needed time off, livestreams and online video performances became more popular. Music videos became even more central to music marketing.
For bands looking to make albums and tour 2021 was not great. The 8-12 month turnaround time for production made planning tours and promotions nearly impossible. Many bands simply took the last few years off or else are holding off on tours. Despite this Levitation Festival, Desert Daze Festival, Osees, The Black Angels, Kikagaku Moyo, Death Valley Girls and many more bands did small tours and gave stunning performances.
Many musicians had time to wrap-up solo projects and make home recorded albums that were self released. Many bands put out a number of new reissues of older material that had been hard to find for years now.
King Gizzard operated at a normal pace in 2021 with 2 studio albums and at least 5 live albums. Their Bootlegger series is a revolutionary approach to live music where it’s mixed, mastered and recorded professionally and then released to the public for anyone to publish. Bands that run their own labels like John Dywer’s Osees and side projects, King Gizzard, Vibravoid and King Buffalo and have their own studios were able to complete many projects in 2021. For smaller bands without those resources 2021 was more a year off from music making many Mothers happy that their creative children finally started looking for real jobs and spent more time with family.
Best Psych Rock, Stoner Rock, Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock of 2021
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Butterfly 3000
This band always has unexpected surprises and Butterfly 3000 is a change in course from the previous heavy prog releases. Butterfly 3000 is psychedelic electro rock with Sonic Boom and Animal Collective vibes. The album has light hearted arrangements which can shift into weird psychedelia that gets almost heavy. Mostly its sunshine and butterflies with some thought provoking lyrics.
June 11 2021
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/album/butterfly-3000
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard L.W.
King Gizz goes microtonal prog rock on this album much like K.G. The band has chops and can move from more popular melodies to heavy chugging prog.
Released February 2021
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/album/l-w
A Place To Bury Strangers Hologram
Hologram is an excellent album from APTBS taking their sound into futuristic rock with stronger vocal melodies and outrageously cool effects used on the instruments.
Night Beats Outlaw R&B
Night Beats is back with strong songwriting, incredible guitar tones and plenty of psychedelia that nods at vintage R&B but is all modern psych.
June 21 2021
https://nightbeats.bandcamp.com/album/outlaw-r-b
Vibravoid Zeitgeist Generator
This album really doesn’t come out until 2022 but I am lucky enough to have a copy and its awesome.
Acid Mothers Temple & Infinity Rising Zero – Free Your Infinity Desire / Perhaps – Mad Smiles
This split album also wins for longest titled of the year. Acid Mothers Temple gets futuristic with synth, beats, freakout guitar solos. This album is high energy experimental has variation and is all new music from Acid Mothers Temple. The sound is great, there are electronic , pscyhedelic rock, krautrock, space rock, stoner rock all bonded together to sculpt the image of an AI intelligence processing infinity. Acid Mothers temple also released a live album with Levitation Sessions which has classic Acid Mother Temple jams with great audio and all the feels of their live sound.
The second side features Perhaps and it pairs well with AMT. This second side is layers of sound creating a krautrock, sci-fi experimental soundscape with steady rhythms and free flowing creative drive. Perhaps also released their album 4 on Echodelick records at the end of 2021 and that too is very good.
https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/in-search-of-highs-volume-4
Rose City Band Earth Trip
Mellow folk music with Ripley Johnson of Moon Duo and Wooden Shijips on guitar and vocals. This album is slow laid back folk music with soft vocals and fluid electric guitars with a wonderful tone. From Thrill Jockey June 2021 Portland, OR USA
https://rosecityband.bandcamp.com/album/earth-trip
Acid Dad Take It From The Dead
Acid Dad with psychedelic garage rock with some 90s alternative vibes. This is their second album and they also released an excellent live album for Levitation Sessions in 2021. From Greenway Records and Reverberation Appreciation Society released July 14th 2021. Brooklyn New York, USA.
https://reverberationappreciation.bandcamp.com/album/take-it-from-the-dead
Black Heart Death Cult Sonic Mantras
This album is very cool with driven guitars, eastern instruments and psychedelic rock all the way through.
https://theblackheartdeathcult.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-mantras
Talea Jacta Meets Electric Moon – Sabotar
New Candys VyVyd
https://newcandys.bandcamp.com/album/vyvyd
Madou Moctar Afrique Victime
Anunnaki Martyr Of Alexandria
https://anunnakibc.bandcamp.com/
Muun Bato Paraphonic Vapors
https://muunbato.bandcamp.com/
October 2021
Mainliner Dual Myths
Upupayama
10000 Russos Superinertia
Goat Head Soup
Live Albums:
Levitation Sessions Kikagaku Moyo
Riley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo Deep Fryer Grandeur
Osees Levitation Sessions II
Earthless Live In The Mojave Desert
Can Live in Stuttgart 1975
7” Albums
Black Satori – Electric Kiss / 3 Minutes
The Paranoyds – Pet Cemetery / Hotel Celebrity
Night Beats – That’s All You Got / Never Look Back
Frankie And The Witch Fingers – Cookin’ / Track Suit
The Chemistry Set – Paint Me A Dream / The Witch
Thank you for another good year. See my other articles about music at Powmagazine.org.
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!!!