Psychedelic Music Philosophy

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The Philosophy of Psychedelic
From Pink Floyd to The Doors to Grateful Dead, psychedelic music has been intriguing fans for decades. But why? Psychedelic music is a genre that emanates the effects of psychoactive drugs, including cannabis, LSD and many other narcotics. This effect can feel mind-altering, and that’s alright. After all, it’s just music, right? These artists’ presentations and performances can seem ingenious. From the technical structure, to the personal style of the music itself, artists in the psychedelic genre compel me to dig deeper and resolve my unsolved question. What do I need to create my very own psychedelic music piece?
“The Psychedelic era was the time of social, musical and artistic change influenced by psychedelic …show more content…

The Beatles, for example, famously influenced Bob Dylan and the Byrds to drop the acoustic sound and switch to the electronic scene. The Beatles persisted on switching up their sound to make their music unique; the electronic sound was inspired from Elvis and Chuck Berry-- mostly pop American music that had seeped over to British ears. The Beatles then started collaborating with Bob Dylan and he introduced them to marijuana; as time went on, the Beatles were noticeably getting high and referencing their drug use in their music.
Looking at the background, we can gain some basic knowledge on how psychedelic music is structured, where it comes from, and it's influences. From the outside, one might describe the musical sound as complex, vivid, or simply strange. I wanted to dig deeper to understand how a psychedelic band might describe or label their own music; when I searched ‘current psychedelic artist interviews’, a couple caught my eye. Jug Bundish is a band from Costa Rica. The …show more content…

As mentioned before, the tone is usually created with modal melodies; upon doing my research, I found that the lyrics are often esoteric. Esoteric lyrics are just intended for a small group of people, because they have a specific meaning, usually but not always describing dreams, visions or hallucinations. Although, sometimes the lyrics are deliberately meaningless and the song focuses more on long instrumental passages, making the lyrics surreal and whimsical. A good example of esoteric lyrics follows: Mutilated lips/On the wrist/Of the wormlike tips/Of tentacles expanding/In my mind. I'm fine/You can get another drop of this/Yeah, you wish. (Ween, “Mutilated Lips”) these set of lyrics sound more like a dream or hallucination rather than a generalized message to the public. Making psychedelic music no doubt requires a ton of creativity and musical background. The artists search for new sounds, beats, and rhythms to keep their sounds fresh so there never seems to be a sense of boredom, as its bands have constant followers and dedicate themselves to mastering the form. With its complex lyrics, instruments, and innovative sounds, I stand fascinated and intrigued. I'm not sure if I have enough perseverance to write a song by myself but the process itself sound like a blast. This is surely a musical trip I don't want to step off

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