From South America to Eastern Europe, psychedelic rock has been interpreted through the lens of many different cultures through the years. This usually results in bizarre hybrid songs that are equally traditional garage rock and local influence, to varying success (if you’d like an example of where it doesn’t work, check out Pakistan’s most popular band, Junoon. I love tabla, but it just ain’t right with distorted guitar). The artists listed here have definitely found the right mixture of the two, proving that you can be far from the original scene and still be way far out.
1. Kaleidoscope Men by Los Mac’s [sic]
Los Mac’s were among the first Chilean musicians to get down with the psychedelic sound. They formed in 1962 and released the seminal album Kaleidoscope Men in 1967. Their MySpace states that they were influenced “as much by Sgt. Peppers as marihuana,” which is something that I’m sure many people would love to be able to say about their own professional situations. The eponymous song “Kaleidoscope Men” is a rollicking musical freak-out and comes highly recommended by the band themselves, who consider the album “the best psychedelic album in Chile.” I’m not an expert on Chilean garage music (wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if I were, though? I may have just found a new calling), but from what I’ve heard so far, I definitely agree.
2. Laissez-Nous Vivre – Les Lutins
It’s kind of difficult to find a full version of this song, whose title translates to”Let Us Live,” online. If you can manage it, you’re going to be glad you put in all that hard Googling time. This song alternates direct, straight-up guitar during the verses with dreamy, mellifluous choruses, and is catchy almost to a fault. Upon first hearing this song, the chorus was stuck in my head for a week. French is a language I neither speak nor understand, so I would always translate the lyrics to garbled nonsense words in my head to go with the amazing melody. This was infuriatingly annoying, to be sure, but also definitely a testament to the greatness of Les Lutins’ songwriting prowess – remembering the music is definitely worth the gibberish French that you’ll be fluent in soon after you hear it.
3. A Minha Menina – Os Mutantes
Brazilian band Os Mutantes are pioneers of psychedelia both in their own nation and worldwide. Although their popularity was at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, more current artists also cite them as an influence. They’ve received homages and praise from acts such as Beck, of Montreal, the Flaming Lips, and David Byrne. During their roughly two-decade hiatus, Kurt Cobain wrote to one of the founding members of the band, Aronaldo Baptista, asking them to get back together. Obviously, it’s easy for them to make big impressions with their sound. Its ingenuity, energy, and color remain unmatched by any other psychedelic band to date.
4. Festival – Dungen
Dungen, when you read it, looks like it’s pronounced “dungeon,” which gives me the impression of some zitty high school heavy-metal band. In actuality, though, it’s “doon-yen,” and it means “the grove” in Swedish, which is definitely prettier and more fitting. Dungen is the only band on this list to have achieved success after the golden age of psychedelia in the 1960s. They released multiple psych-rock albums throughout the last decade, beginning in 2001. They briefly became indie-media darlings, evidenced by tons of critical love from Pitchfork and an appearance at Bonnaroo in 2006. Since their music was made long after the genre was prevalent, it’s impressive that they were able to make such fresh psychedelic rock, despite being all the way in Sweden.
