Common questions about Psychedelic music

Short answers, pulled from the story.

When did the 13th Floor Elevators first label their music as psychedelic rock?

The 13th Floor Elevators became the first band to explicitly label their music as psychedelic rock on business cards in January 1966. This Texas group released The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in October of that same year, creating the earliest known album title to use the word psychedelic in a rock context.

What are the defining sonic characteristics of psychedelic music?

Psychedelic music is defined by specific sonic characteristics that distinguish it from contemporary pop, including the use of Eastern instrumentation like the sitar and tabla, disjunctive song structures, and modal melodies. Artists often employed extended instrumental segments or jams, creating a sense of timelessness that mirrored the drug experience.

When did psychedelic rock reach its peak and what marked its decline?

Psychedelic rock reached its peak between 1967 and 1968, becoming the prevailing sound of rock music in both the whimsical British variant and the harder American West Coast acid rock. By the end of the 1960s, the trend was largely in retreat after LSD was declared illegal in the United States and the United Kingdom in 1966.

Which bands developed the electronic rock genre known as kosmische musik?

German bands from the psychedelic movement including Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can, and Faust developed a distinctive brand of electronic rock known as kosmische musik, or in the British press as Krautrock. Their adoption of electronic synthesizers, along with the musical styles explored by Brian Eno in his keyboard playing with Roxy Music, had a major influence on the subsequent development of electronic rock.

When was the term chillwave coined and by whom?

The term chillwave was coined in July 2009 on the Hipster Runoff blog by Carles, who invented the genre name for a host of similarly sounding up-and-coming bands. In August 2009, hypnagogic pop was coined by journalist David Keenan to refer to a developing trend of 2000s lo-fi and post-noise music.

Who are the early pioneers of the cloud rap subgenre?

Rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino have been identified as the early pioneers of cloud rap, a subgenre of rap that has several sonic characteristics of trap music and is known for its hazy, dreamlike and relaxed production style. HexD is an internet rap microgenre that emerged in the late 2010s to early 2020s, characterized by heavy use of bitcrushing mixed with sped-up and pitched-up vocals.