Best Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze, Stoner, Music of 2022

This list lists my favorite Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, Garage Rock, Krautrock, Acid Folk, Acid Punk, Shoegaze, Space Rock, Experimental Rock, Acid Rock, Psych Rock of 2022.

Psychedelic rock was abundant in 2022. The music scene continues its international appeal with new music released across the globe. Psychedelic rock has grow significantly over the last 10 years going from niche and very underground to bigger and bigger venues with each passing year.

Recent Psychedelic / Psych Rock History

10 years ago the psychedelic rock genre was underground dominated by a handful of bands including The Black Angels, Thee Oh Sees, Tool, and Dead Meadow in the USA; Acid Mothers Temple And The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. along with experimental rocker Keiji Haino in Japan and Vibravoid and Electric Moon in Germany . Most other psych groups were focused on small clubs and house shows while recording in basements and garages.

At that time King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard were just getting started along with Kikagaku Moyo, Night Beats, Earthless, and Moon Duo.

The 2000s has a strong psychedelic / acid folk revival with the freak folk movement. This new folk inspired sound featured Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsome and the beautiful and psychedelic prog-acid-folk band Espers and many others. The 10 years between 2000 and 2010 saw the reissue of many acid folk albums from the late 60s and early 70s the most relevant for this article is Comus, Incredible String Band, and folk artists like Karen Dalton, Sandy Denny. This stood next to acid rock bands like Vibravoid, Colour Haze and heavy doom with Sunn 0))).

The 1990s had the mainstreaming of alternative music much of which has psychedelic rock influences and sounds. Nirvana with retro guitars and surf garage rock, Soundgarden with their effects, Jesus And Mary Chain along with Spacemen 3 and Loop carving out the psychedelic side of shoegaze. Monster Magnet , Queens Of The Stone Age and Sleep establishing stoner rock while Tool reinvented progressive rock and attracted a psychedelic following. Acid Mothers Temple emerged in the 1990s taking psychedelic music back to the days of free forms and bombastic expression along with Mainliner.

Further back in time there are many influential bands including Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, CAN, Frank Zappa, The 13th Floor Elevators, Ash Ra Tempel, Black Sabbath, Grateful Dead, King Crimson and David Bowie.

Psychedelic Rock 2022

2022 has professional bands, home recorded side projects and small underground groups. This has created a rich tapestry of music released. established bands all emerged on stage after a multi-year hiatus. Unfortunately many bands did not continue after the challenges of the previous years opening the door to many new projects. The vinyl delays of the prior 2 years eased and pressing prices became more manageable allowing many albums to finally see their way into buyers hands. The recording studios reopened slow through 2021 and bands got back to business. Many albums originally slated for 2020 release came out in 2022.

One trend was that independent bands that have focused on self-releasing with home recording studios pumped out music at an alarming rate. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard released 3 albums in October alone and 6 in 2022. Osees / John Dwyer had many releases and side-projects over the last couple years but just one stunning punk album in 2022. King Buffalo released three albums in the last 24 months. All these bands have home studios and release music.

Live recordings were abundant as live music was discontinued for a few years live recordings found greater relevance. Levitation Sessions are a stand out over the last couple years with many great psych bands released in their Sessions and Live at Levitation series. Bands include Moon Duo, Osees, King Gizzard, Kikagaku Mayo, The Black Angels, Frankie And The Witch Fingers and many more.

Tidal Playlist

This year I also created a playlist on Tidal titled, Psychedelic Rock 2022 created by ThePsychRock which features 100 new songs released in 2022.

Top Albums of 2022

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum

(Self-Released -Melbourne Australia)

Ominum Gatherum is an album that has a wide variety of music all on one release. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard of Melbourne Australia is prolific and eclectic with 6 albums released in 2022 and 3 in October which fans called Gizztober. On Omnium Gatherum they play Heavy metal, synth rock, hip hop, R&B and garage rock. The album was the first released in 2022 and is a home recorded effort. This is a collection of the music the band recorded at a distance. This album marks a big improvement in their home recording and production skills. There are many great songs and the album is solid start to finish. No matter what genre they are playing in King Gizzard is always themselves. They have many songs about political corruption, climate change, and a comic book style of storytelling.

‘The Dripping Tap’ is 20 minutes long and signals a celebratory return to playing live in studio as a band. The song was created by jamming freely in a musical key. This is the same processed used to create the albums Laminated Denim and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava .

Omnium Gatherum is a capsule of songs that display the latest styles of this band. In the past they ahve waited until they had a cohesive collection of songs before releasing them but with Omnium Gatherum immediacy took priority. This album is a period of time where the world was uncertain and music was only able to be recorded across the internet. Omnium Gatherum has something for everyone however, this album is well done front to back.

Recommended tracks include, ‘The Dripping Tap’, ‘Magenta Mountain’, ‘Gaia’, ‘Kepler 22B’.

Osees – A Foul Form

(Castle Face Records -California, USA)
Osees is one of the most rocking psychedelic rock bands on Earth and the new release, A Foul Form continues their rock legacy. A Foul Form is an acid punk album that rips hard and fast from start to finish. The heavy fuzz, blasting guitars, aggressive punk vocals are easily some of the coolest psyched out punk rock ever created. In true punk form songs are short and the album is quick. John Dwyer, the bands leader continues to be one of the biggest names is psychedelic rock music and for good reason. Many of today’s psych rock bands were highly inspired by Osees.

The Black Angels – Wilderness of Mirrors

(Partisan Records – Austin, Texas USA)
The Black Angels founded in 2004 and have released many influential albums, Wildreness of Mirrors is their 6th full-length. Wilderness of Mirrors was started in 2019 and was delayed several years. The album does not disappoint with beautiful fuzz tones, psychedelic effects, strong song-writing, psyched out grooves and dark lyrical themes. The Black Angels get into dark themes on Wildreness of Mirrors and just might intensify your experience with its lyrics and kaleidoscopic effects.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Laminated Denim

(Self-Released -Melbourne Australia)

Laminated Denim was one of the three albums released in October by King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. This is the follow-up to Made In Timeland; the two albums are united by a clicking metronome in the background and songs that have an improvisational writing process. The band choose a key and time signature and jammed to create the album which was later chopped and mixed by Stu Mckenzie the band leader of King Gizzard. Laminated Denim has excellent guitar playing with three guitars harmonizing and building the tonal structure with plenty of lead guitar lines. The two 15 minute tracks both have catchy melodies and make for entertaining music listening. The vinyl was very limited and some fans even picked up version that were packaged in denim with embroidery.

Earthless – Night parade Of One Hundred Demons

(Nuclear Blast Records – California, USA)
Earthless is one of the heavy weights of psychedelic stoner desert rock thriving in heavy riffs and guitar solos. Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons takes a long form approach with 20 minute tracks that start slow with Pink Floyd vibes and then build into heavy stoner rock with Sabbath worship and impressive guitar acrobatics. Earthless is a gold star band and never disappoints.

Sonic Boom & Panda Bear – Reset

(Domino Records – UK)
Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 and Panda Bear of Animal Collective team-up for this psych electro-pop album. The mixing and production is superb and a close listen on a high-fi system and headphones will reveal incredible depth and production. The songs have a light-hearted feel with sing along choruses backed with psychedelic synth that creates an auditory illusion backdrop.

Kikagau Moyo – Kumoyo Island

(Guruguru Brain Records -Japan / Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Kikagaku Moyo have made a name for themselves as one of the most interesting bands to blend psychedelic rock, acid Folk and Eastern sitar. Their slow rise to the top of the psychedelic scene was built with world tours and great albums. Unfortunately the 2022 world tour will be their last ever and Kimono Island is their final album as the band breaks up to focus on something else. More than a little bitter about this development as no other band sounds like them or can create the atmospheres and power of their live performances.

Kimono Island has world music sound with a focus on Japanese scales combined with blazing fuzz guitar solos, sitar and hushed vocals. The embark on extended instrumental passages which grow from mellow folk to intense psychedelic rock solos. Their unique style is unmistakeable.

Dead Meadow – Force Form Free

(Blues Funeral Recordings, California, USA)
Dead Meadow’s latest album is more mellow than their previous releases but has a strong psychedelic undercurrent. The guitar solos are contemporary psychedelic with effects that will blow your mind. The chill vibe is a psychedelic trip with liquid leads and watery wah. Dead Meadow always brings brilliant fuzz tones caked with wah and echo for your ears. Dead Meadow has been making stoner rock since 2000 and continues to evolve and deliver.

Goat – Oh Death

(Rocket Recordings – Gothenburg, Sweden)
Goat is back with another excellent psych album with world music inspirations and fuzzy psych guitars. The band has a female lead singer and strong song-writing that elevates the music above many artists in the scene today.

Snakes Don’t Belong In Alaska – Intersetllic Psychedelic

(Up In Her Room Records – UK)
Snake Don’t Belong In Alaska make heavy psych and space rock. The guitars and effects are lysergic and get intense. This album is the space rock album of the year with heavy riffs wah guitar tones which are massive and cosmic sounds that go beyond. The narrative lines tell a story of one who is jealous of nature’s beauty so he seeks to destroy it. The music brings the lyrical themes to life and adds extraterrestrial transmissions.

Dhidalah – Sensoria

(Guruguru Brain Records -Tokyo, Japan)
Dhidalah has released their second album Sensoria and it is packed with psychedelic rock. The two guitar players launch the listener out of this world with energized songs that feature outstanding guitar solos with textured distortion and fuzz tones. This album is released through Guruguru Brain Records the label started and run by members of Kikagaku Moyo.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava

(Self Released – Melbourne, Australia)
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard continue their 2022 releases with Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. This is another album created by choosing a tempo and a musical key / scale and free jamming. The recording sessions would have the player jamming for 45 minutes switching instruments all the while isolating and recording each player to later be cut pasted mixed and matched then layer with vocals. This has resulted in many enjoyable songs captivating guitar solos and some catchy melodies. Stand out tracks include ‘Magma’, and ‘Iron Lung’.

Abraxas – Monte Carlo

(Suicide Squeeze Records – Mexico & California USA)
This album features Danny Lee Blackwell of Night Beats and UFO Club and Carolina Faruolo of Los Bitchos. The music is latin rhythms with mellow echoing vocals and coastal vibrations. They create a sound that is psychedelic, surfy, reggae and immersive. The layers of guitars, wah, fuzz, percussion and vocals are oceanic and take the listener to another place. They recorded the album during 2020 and 2021 at a distance Blackwell in LA and Faruolo in Mexico City. The result is an album that stands out in their catalogue of music.

Slift – Levitation Sessions

(Reverberation Appreciation Society – France)
Slift is an extraordinary stoner / space rock band that cracks out heavy riffs and out of this world guitar solos laced with echo and distortion. This was a live performance that can be viewed on YouTube or purchased on vinyl. The album features live versions of many songs from the 2020 release Ummon which has become a classic psychedelic stoner rock album.

Minami Deutsch – Fortune Goodies

(Guruguru Brain Records- Tokyo, Japan)
Minami Deutsch uses motorik beats to drive their groove oriented krautrock. This latest release adds in more electronics bringing these slow burning tracks to outer space. This album is true to the krautrock ethos and trance inducing grooves bring the listener on a journey.

A Place To Bury Strangers – See Through You

(Ded Strange Records – New York USA)
No one goes as far out a A Place to Bury Strangers with their mind-melting effects. They go there and beyond making dark psychedelic rock that is experimental. Their sound is futurist dystopia with a 1980s sci-fi filter and hi-fi audio.

Viagra boys – Cave World

(Year 0001 Records- Stockholm, Sweden)
Viagra Boys sound better than ever on Cave World with their sarcastic talk rock punk lyrics and psyched out guitars and instrumentation.

Loop – Sonancy

(UK – Reactor Records)
Loop returns with their first album in 30 years. They were pioneers in the establishment of shoegaze and psychedelic rock of the contemporary era. They are known for the looping rhythms and layered guitars with heavy effects to make wild music. The latest album may be the best the band has released or at least on par with their best releases.

Black Lizard – Heads

(Helsinki, Finland – Fuzz Club Records)

Black Lizard Heads has rock songs with shoegaze reverbs and sufry riffs. Their edgy vocals are paired with strummed guitars that click into fuzz tones. They have a garage rock vibe, compelling songs, attention grabbing vocals and know how to rock.

Anunnaki / Chino Burga – Pan American Sonic Prayers

(Peru / Canada – Cardinal Fuzz, Noiseagonymayhem Records, Echodelick Records)
Anunnaki and Chino Burga create two side of ambient kosmische that is cosmic and foreboding. Anunnaki of Canada is known for their heavy screaming riffs but here they focus on modular synth and echoing guitars for music that is chill and spacey.

Tropical Fuck Storm and King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Satanic Slumber Party

(Joyful Noise Recordings – Melbourne, Australia)
Tropical Fuck Storm and King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard make some wild experimental noise on Satanic Slumber Party. This short album rips beginning to end and gets really weird in all the best ways.

Upupayama – The Golden Pond

(Cardinal Fuzz and Centripetal Force Records – Italy)
Eastern raga meets psychedelic krautrock for psyched out atmospheres.

Solar Corona – Pace

(Lovers and Lollypops Records – Portugal)
Space rock to the max with ripping lead guitars, long songs and dynamic compositions. Feedback, fast running licks and swirling cosmic reverberations coat this heavy psych album.

White Hills – The Revenge Of Heads On Fire

(Heads On Fire Records – New York)
White Hills are on the list with their Goth-Fuzz-Psychedelic-Art Rock. They lay down heavy Vibes, industrial tones and ripping hot guitar lines. The story of the album is that it was resurrected from early demos recorded in 2007 and mixed mastered and overdubbed of this latest release. The album is full on psychotropic rock.

Ecstatic Vision – Elusive Mojo

(Heavy Psych Sounds – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA)
Heavy psychedelic rock that rips hard with inspirations from stoner rock, Motörhead and heavy psychedelic music. This is a hard hitting album that will super charge your day.

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Changes

(Self-released – Melbourne, Australia)
Changes is the jazzy rock album from King Gizzard with the catchy single Hate Dancin’. King Gizzard is on this list 5 times making them one of the premiere psych bands of the year. They took the air out of the lungs of many other bands as their fan hardly have time to listen to anything else. Changes is the most mellow of all their releases and the least psychedelic but is still and enjoyable day album. Changes is highly considered no jamming on this one it took many years to create and finish.

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Night Gnomes

(What Reality Records – Australia)
The latest album from the much loved Psychedelic Porn Crumpets has psyched out fuzz riffs to please any psych fan. Their songs are dynamic with shifting themes and take the listener on a journey. They keep the album fresh and don’t fall into loops and drones. Their rock sound edges toward experimental and progressive while keeping their garage rock foundation in tact. This is not your grandmas psychedelia its heavy, driving and wild. They also take time to strum acoustic guitars and chill out. Their arrangements are bigger on this album with overdubs of strange sections, synth, electronics and other instrumentation adding glitter and sparkle to the album. This album has it all.

King Buffalo – Regenerator

(Self-Released – New York)
King Buffalo has been releasing albums at a quick pace with 4 albums in the last 2 years. Regenerator is easily my favorite of the recent era in their music. The songs thrive in the guitar solos with tight drumming and compelling bass lines. They avoid defined genres but touch on progressive, stoner rock, garage rock and space rock. Their live performances are epic and their tour in 2022 was impressive. This trio sounds like a much bigger band and King Buffalo have established themselves as a heavy hitter in the underground rock scene in the USA.

Mienakunaru – Strato Arcology

(Echodelick Records, Riot Season Records – Japan & UK)

Mienakunaru is Mike Vest and Junzo Susuki two heavy psychedelic music pioneers. This album has far-out guitars that tear a hole in space time. The bass lines are thick and the drums are tight. Junzo Susuki has played in several bands and done many collaborations and has a guitar style that is truely psychedelic space rock guitar at its finest. Mike Vest similarly has had his name on many records and played in many bands. The power trio Mienakunaru is a super group of underground experimental space rockers and it stretches into very psychedelic spaces. Junzo Susuki had an accident in 2022 and is on a long road to recover and proceeds from this album go to support his medial needs.

Babe Rainbow – The Organic Band

(Flightless Records – Australia)
Babe Rainbow brings psychedelic folk rock sounds that are laid back. They have harmonized vocals, vintage inspired rock guitars, keyboards and synth for a fun sound. Babe Rainbow also released a live Session with Levitation and did a USA tour this year playing Desert Daze and Levitation Festival. Their music has a light-hearted sound that is sunny and enjoyable. One of the best folky psych albums this year.

The Paranoyds – Talk Talk Talk

(Suicide Squeeze Records – Los Angeles, California USA)
The Paranoyds are an all female punk rock band with indie, retro and psych vibes. Their album has catchy songs that take a pop oriented punk sound to an edgy and artistic place.

Naxatras – IV

(Self-Released – Thessaloniki, Greece)
Naxatras IV flat out rocks with classic rock riffs that lean into 70s progressive and contemporary space rock. The music is guitar centered with groove driven bass and drums. They have released several very good albums since 2016 and continue to establish their place in the psychedelic rock scene. This album explores progressive rhythms with some moments of Tool inspiration as well as Hawkwind.

Erik’s Iridescent Tent – Peter Piper Pepperidge Farm At The Gates Of Dawn Detergent

(Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA – Self-Released)
Imagine Pink Floyd colliding with experimental garage rock and you have something close to this debut from Erik’s Iridescent Tent. Featuring members of Black Satori and Narco Sates.

Ufomammut – Fenice

(Neurot Recordings – Italy)
No list is complete without psychedelic rock inspired DOOM!! Ufomammut they are heavy, atmospheric, experimental and unlike another band. Fenice is one of my personal favorites from the band and my pick for Doom album of the year. All the track transition seamlessly into the next making the album play as one long song. The music makes the listener drift away into a gothic dark space with gentle echoing tones that slumber into drone and slowly build into heavy pummeling doom laden sludge. If that is you thing this album will blow you away, if it’s not your thing this album might be the one that brings an understanding of doom into your life. Be sure to give it a fair chance an listen from start to finishing to absorb their dark and alien sound into the psyche.