Electronic

His landmark debut album with Air, Moon Safari, just turned 20, but Jean-Benoît Dunckel isn’t looking back. On March 16, he releases his new solo album, H+, and to prep us for its cinematic dream-pop synth-scapes, he’s made us a playlist of widescreened inspirations. “These days, Im listening to more soundtracky music, music for cinema, because I’d like my life to look more like a movie. I would know the scenario in advance, and I would meet anybody I fancy for real, as I’d take care of the casting as well. This playlist is for traveling safely, and to bring comfort and relaxation.”—Jean-Benoît DunckelWatch the video for the latest single from H+, “Transhumanity”:

As music scholar Tim Lawrence brilliantly makes the case in his recent book, Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983, disco couldn’t die no matter how hard the haters tried. Instead, as the new decade began, disco mutated into a variety of exciting and scintillating new strains. Though Lawrence’s book is primarily concerned with the influence of hip-hop and post-punk experimentalism on what dance music was becoming—as well as the wizardry of DJs like Larry Levan and the socioeconomic conditions in New York itself—there were also developments of a more technological nature.It’s easy to hear how the plush strings of Philly soul were giving way to layers of synthesizers and sequencers: This was funk and R&B for a new space age, the latest sonic innovations creating a dramatic spike in the bounce-per-ounce ratio. Sadly, Roger Troutman never provided a firm indication of the winning ratio, not even on the opening track of Zapp’s epochal 1980 debut album, but he did help provide a synth-funk blueprint that continues to yield some of the plushest and most pleasurable music known.Nite Jewel—the Los Angeles singer and musician otherwise known as Ramona Gonzalez—has been one of synth-funk’s foremost purveyors in contemporary times, since her music began showing up on MySpace in 2008. With such fellow Angelenos as her husband and producer Cole M.G.N. and the ever-industrious Dâm-Funk, she’s fostered a sparking new golden age for synth-funk fantasias like the kind that used to flow freely from the likes of Zapp, Mandré, and the SOLAR Records stable. As Nite Jewel drops her fourth album, Real High, it’s high time to head deep into the neon-lit nights this music evokes.Click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.

They said it would never last—back in the early ’80s, when synth-pop came in vogue, short-sighted detractors deemed it a fad and predicted it would have a short shelf life. Nearly four decades later, history has told a very different story: Not only were the original wave of synth-poppers succeeded by new generations of electronic artists, there are still plenty of old-schoolers still hanging on and plugging in, proving that you’re never too old for synth-pop.Gary Numan was one of the first performers to bring synths to the fore in the post-punk era, and even as he edges toward sexagenarian status, he hasn’t compromised his musical vision one iota. When Depeche Mode started turning heads, they were callow youths with some upstart ideas. But as the elder statesmen of electronic pop today, they’ve become one of the most influential bands of their generation.As the ‘80s marched on, the likes of Erasure (including former Depeche Mode man Vince Clarke) and Pet Shop Boys popped up, adding a more danceable feel to the synth-pop canon. Back then, nobody guessed that these groups would take their sound into the 2010s, but here we are.However, you don’t have to be a superstar to stick around in the synth-pop realm. British duo Blancmange never really made it past cult-hero status back in the day, but that didn’t stop them from releasing a string of new albums starting in 2011. After he split from Ultravox at the end of the ‘70s, John Foxx took an innovative, and ultimately underground, path into electronic sounds, but his absence from the spotlight hasn’t hurt his artistic longevity one bit.These are the synth-pop survivors—the artists who firmly planted their feet into new musical ground long ago and never let their electronic dreams die out.Click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.

Staying a step ahead of the competition is always tricky business, but electronic music presents a particularly unique challenge. As a genre dependent on the advancements of technology, it markets itself as the sound of the future, yet as we continue to develop advanced machinery at an increasingly frantic pace, this music has a tendency to date itself more rapidly than other forms. What’s more quaint than listening to music that purports to be cutting edge long after our cultural standards have surpassed its once-lofty goals?Warp Records has never had an issue with releasing timeless music. Formed in Sheffield, England, in 1989, Warp has built one of the most imposing and consistently challenging catalogs, not just in electronic, but in all types of music. Although Warp does pride itself on exposing strange, exciting new sounds, the artists it fosters are equally concerned with creating work that stands on its own two legs, regardless of what instruments were used to produce it. It’s music built as much for the dance floor as for your living room, not to mention Warp’s various detours into schizo-rap, indie-prog, dance-tent EDM, and whatever the hell Gonjasufi is supposed to be. Most of all, Warp has gracefully avoided the trap of desperately chasing after bandwagons to hop on, choosing instead to take chances on radical voices from the underground and give them plenty of room to push their work to wild new extremes.Though electronic music is at the mercy of technology to some extent, the human imagination has no limits. Take a tour through Warp Records’ expansive legacy, and remember that the future is always now.Click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.

From the warped breakbeats of drum n bass to the frenetic 808 attack of footwork, the last two decades of electronic music history have been marked by a fetishization of the drums, as technological advances have allowed producers to go ever deeper into rhythmic design.Black Origami, the remarkable second album from Gary, Indiana, producer Jlin is one of the most important recent developments in the history of electronic percussion, a brilliantly overblown yet mind-glowingly complex album of rhythmic possibility.Jlin emerged from the world of footwork in the early 2010s with the track “Erotic Heat,” which appeared on volume two of the iconic Bangs & Works compilation series on UK dance label Planet Mu. But if that track was an outlier in the footwork world of dance battles and frenetic DJ cuts, her 2015 debut album Dark Energy would see Jlin gravitate further into her own darkly elegant orbit, incorporating operatic arias (on “Black Ballet”) and Chinese erhu violin (on “Unknown Tongues”).Black Origami sees Jlin blow open the definition of what footwork can be. You can still feel the influence of footwork producers like DJ Rashad on a track like “1%” (featuring Holly Herndon), with its skittering hi-hats and coal-black synth lines, but elsewhere Jlin widens her global percussive net to take in everything from tabla drums (notably used in electronic music by London producer Talvin Singh) on “Kyanite” to the djembe on “Nyakinyua Rise,” all of which battles against Jlin’s drum-machine finesse in a global-percussion street fight. Jlin also takes on sounds that are closer to home: “Challenge (To Be Continued)” is a brilliant rhythmic tussle between US marching band and footwork hi-hats, while “Hatshepsut” throws a Joey Beltram hoover sound into the mix.Black Origami is also notable for its eye-opening array of collaborations, which veer several steps into the left field of electronic music. “Holy Child” sees Jlin work with minimalist composer William Basinski, the haunting “Calcination” features the gothic vocals of Fawkes, while the hip hop-ish “Never Created, Never Destroyed” includes vocal work from Cape Town rapper Dope Saint Jude that Jlin chops and splits to her own devices.Black Origami bears the influence of each of these collaborators and yet it sounds like none of them. It’s a footwork album but only in the very widest sense of what footwork can be. As such, Black Origami resembles—in spirit more than in sound—the work of 90s electronic-music producers like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Photek, and Remarc, who took the chopped up breakbeats of drum n bass and pushed them to ridiculous new levels of subatomic complexity, creating something quite revolutionary in its pointillist intensity. Black Origami is a worthy successor to these names, a jaw-dropping work of percussive complexity that marks out Jlin as a singularly brilliant talent.Click here to follow this playlist on Spotify.

It’s a sign of the accelerated times we’re living in that a subculture as specific to Chicago as footwork has already mutated into an unfurling landscape of electronic producers all over the world. The genre has come a long way from its dance-off roots and, with each passing year its hyperactive DIY ethos seems to evolve further and further, splintering into separate factions that each take a different approach to footwork’s simple and freeing framework.The footwork sound is one of those magical things that’s hard to put precisely into words, but whether it’s in the scattered bass pulses of RP Boo (pictured), the schizophrenic loop madness of Foodman, or the cascading drum samples of Jlin, you just know it when you hear it. So take a stroll through our collection of the various faces representing footwork today, and see just how many different ways there are to move.

A caveat: This is a personal list, not a purportedly objective overview of electronic music in 2017. Would such a thing even be possible? It’s doubtful, if only because there is no single overarching scene that unites all electronic music. It’s not just about the divide between commercial EDM and everything else; even within the underground, electronic music’s fans are fragmented into innumerable overlapping niches according to subgenres, stylistic quirks, cities, clubs, and cliques. Fortunately, one of the perks of my job—and one of the perks of going out a lot less than I once did, if I’m honest—is that I feel less compunction to pledge fealty to any single tribe. As a critic, I get to eavesdrop on them all. So while I can’t promise that this list is comprehensive, it does encompass a broad array of sounds, from Mark Barrott’s Balearic ambient to Jlin’s flickering post-footwork to Demen’s claustrophobic goth.Given that range, I’ve sequenced the list with listenability in mind, not in any sort of ranked fashion. There are a few principal threads. The first is the strain of jewel-toned, bittersweet house music heard in tracks by DJ Koze, Project Pablo, and Young Marco; for daydreaming dancers, 2017 has delivered in spades. Then there’s a range of heavier, beat-oriented fare, like Proc Fiskal’s brittle, fidgety grime, or Sinjin Hawke’s choral trap. And finally, I couldn’t resist fleshing out my list with ambient tracks like Visible Cloaks’ “Mask” and Kara-lis Coverdale’s “Grafts.” Ever since the disappearance of chillout rooms, ambient has tended to remain at arms’ length from dance music, but with incredible records coming along at an unprecedented clip, there’s never been a better time to close the gap.

Psychedelic music emerged in the mid-60s as a mutant offspring of the British Invasion and American garage rock, but has since morphed into so many different forms that it is more accurate to describe it as a feeling than a sound. Be it the the brain-melting feedback of Jimi Hendrix or Ty Segall, the dreamy reveries of Spiritualized and Tame Impala, or the heady, head-nodding beats of Flying Lotus and J Dilla, psychedelica is hard to pin down—but you’ll know you’re hearing it when you feel your mind altering. Heres our curated guide to the best head music to help you chase the rush, including our genre-spanning psych playlist (at right) and links to past Dowsers mixes for even deeper trips.

PSYCH ROCKWhen rock first got psychedelic in the 60s, the most obvious proponents were self-professed freaks like Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. But nearly everywhere you looked, you could find someone trying to access their inner mind via some radical noise, from cult acts like Love and The Fugs to icons like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Since then, every generation since has found their own way to look inside, from the Dream Syndicate in the ’80s, to Slowdive in the ’90s, to My Morning Jacket in the 21st century.Recommended Listening:Bad Trips: The Dark Side of the ‘60sSpace Rock: A Cosmic JourneyHow Psychedelia Reclaimed Modern Rock

PSYCH FOLKIn the beginning, psychedelic music was associated with guitar gods like Jimi Hendrix and waves of feedback. But that big bang was soon followed by generations of artists—from 60s Greenwich Village folkie Karen Dalton to Bert Jansch and his 70s British folk group Pentangle to modern dreamweavers like Devendra Banhart— who used acoustic guitars, pared-down arrangements, and dexterously plucked melodies to pull the listener into their headspace without the need for amplification.Recommended Listening:Way Past Pleasant: A Guide to Psychedelic FolkReligion, Rock, and LSD: A Brief History of Jesus Freaks

PSYCH FUNKPsychedelic music has traditionally been used as a way to explore the inner workings of your mind. But if you take off the headphones, its also a great way to explore your body on the dance floor. Soul, funk and R&B have a long tradition of making music that rocks the hips and the third eye at the same time, from Eddie Hazels righteous riffing on Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop to Dâm-Funks alien synth-funk bangers.Recommended Listening:A Deeper Shade of Psych SoulThe Afrofuturist Impulse in MusicInto the Nite: Synth-Funk Fantasias

PSYCH JAZZAt its mid-’60s moment of origin, psychedelia immediately found a natural host in jazz. After all, both are concerned with evoking a feeling and a mood, and following inspiration wherever it leads—from the spiritually searching compositions of Alice Coltrane to Mulatu Astatke’ slippery Latin-flavored explorations to Flying Lotus dedication to feeding brains with jazz-damaged trance whispers.Recommended Listening:The Black Experimental Music MixtapeChampions of Ethiopian GrooveThe Best of Brainfeeder

PSYCH PUNKThe common myth about punk is that it formed in opposition to bloated 70s rock, and rejected Pink Floyd and anything associated with psychedelia. But the truth is that plenty of punks, such as restless hardcore purveyors Black Flag and volatile noiseniks the Butthole Surfers, not to mention punk-adjacent acts like the Jesus & Mary Chain and Dinosaur Jr., looked back to the ‘60s when deciding how to expand their sound and beguile their fans.Recommended Listening:When Punk Got WeirdPsychedelia in the ‘80sThe 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time

PSYCH RAPPsychedelic music has drifted into every form of music, and since any worthwhile hip-hop producer keeps their ears open, its only natural that it’s became part of the mix. Revered producers J Dilla and Madlib have made hip-hop tracks that oozed with so much mood and shimmer that they didnt even need MCs to rewire the listeners brain, while the genre’s heady offshoot, trip-hop, has been obliterating genre lines and listeners’ minds for more than two decades.Recommended Listening:Great (Post-Donuts) Instrumental Hip-Hop TracksBehind the Beats: Madlib and DillaBest Trip-Hop Tracks

PSYCH-TRONICAWhy settle for rocking minds and rocking bodies when you can do both at once? From the Chemical Brothers to Neon Indian to Boards of Canada, many of the most cutting-edge electronic-music producers spend equal amounts of time focussing on booming beats as well as keyboard lines, sine moans, and digital gurgles designed to tickle the mind. And if you need to rest after a night out, theres plenty of trippy ambient chillout tracks for that as well.Recommended Listening:Essential Acid House TraxThe Art of Psychedelic Disco-RockThe Best Electronic Shoegaze

INDIE PSYCHPsychedelia never dies, it just keeps getting weirder. Animal Collective threw down the gauntlet with 2004’s Sung Tongs, their childlike, free-spirited update of psych rock, and a generation of indie artists have taken up the challenge. From Deerhunters fearsome ambient punk to Zombys scrambled dubstep to Ariel Pinks wounded daydreams, the youngest generation continues to push music inward.Recommended Listening:Animal Collective’s Outer LimitsDreamy Noise Sounds: The Best of Kranky RecordsNew Tropics: The Modern Los Angeles Underground

The 1990s were a crucial turning point in the history of electronic music, the moment when rave culture started to percolate into the mainstream and lay the foundation for EDM’s dominance today. But your perspective on the decade’s best electronic music depends on what side of the pond you were on at the time. So instead of trying to determine a single master list of the best ‘90s electronic tracks, we present you with two—one curated by U.S. native Philip Sherburne and the other by Brit Ben Cardew. Both currently based in Barcelona, they’re the hosts of the Line Noise podcast, and we got them together to discuss their picks, and how their experiences of the decade differed. (Philip’s playlist can be heard above at right; Ben’s is below.)

Ben: Looking at my list in comparison to yours, I would say mine is a lot more poppy—do you agree?Philip: Thats probably a fair assessment. But then, maybe from a UK perspective, 90s dance music was not that far removed from pop music, and vice versa?Ben: Exactly. I think one of the keys to electronic music in the 90s—from a British perspective—is how incredibly mainstream it was. Obviously in the ’80s you had raves, the Summer of Love, and hit records. But in the ’90s dance/electronic music was everywhere: the charts, Top of the Pops, Radio 1, etc. And I wanted to get that across.Philip: This is probably a good place to talk briefly about our criteria. To what extent are these personal faves, and to what extent are you trying to represent some objective picture of the 90s as it was? Because I know that you were an active raver yourself, yet my 90s experience was really limited to listening to records. I got into electronic music in 94 or so via Aphex Twin and Warp and Rephlex, and up until maybe 98, most of my listening was more experimental and ambient and IDM. I started listening to techno then, but didnt really start going out to clubs or festivals until the 2000s. So my list is pretty idiosyncratic—even though I did try to balance personal quirks with some vaguely objective overview.Ben: Mine is a personal view, but influenced by the fact that I dont think you can talk about ’90s electronic music without the likes of Armand van Heldens Tori Amos remix, which was a No. 1 hit in the UK. I love it. But it is also an important record I think. And as you know, I find it unexpected that many people who are into electronic music in the U.S. dont know that song (I think). I was too young for raves, which petered out about 1991. But I did go to a lot of clubs from ’95 to ’98. I was trying to work out what percentage of these songs I have heard in clubs. Maybe 50.Philip: But you do have some picks that I certainly wouldnt bring to a desert island, like that Bass-o-matic trackBen: You dont like “Fascinating Rhythm”! Oh my good lord, what a tune.Philip: Its not that... fascinating?Ben: No, agreed. But it is a great pop tune. The melody is delicious. Maybe we should speak about our number ones?Philip: You went with Joey Beltrams "Energy Flash," a stone classic—and my No. 3, in fact.Ben: “Energy Flash” for me is magical. It seems so simple. But so many people have tried to recreate that magic and failed. I literally cant explain why it is so good. Also, it is for dancing. And for me, dance music and electronic music, while not quite synonymous, are very close.Philip: Thats an interesting point. I know that we discussed that divide, and wishing to keep this list to "dance music" rather than "electronic music," just to keep it semi-manageable and not sprawling. Yet your Primal Scream pick (“Higher Than the Sun”) I wouldnt necessarily call “dance” music.Ben: You could sway to it. Maybe.Philip: Im sure many Glastonbury attendees did, quite woozilyBen: But I agree with you. I guess I included it because back when it was released—1991, I think—there wasnt so much of a division between "dance" and "electronic." Plus, I had to have something from Screamadelica.Philip: To get back to number ones, I went with a somewhat counterintuitive pick.Ben: Yes, I was surprised: why “Domina”? Its not even on my list—although it is a great track, undoubtedly.Philip: Its pretty simple: When I was ordering the list, I realized that song gave me far more pleasure than any canonical picks. But I also like the fact that its a trans-Atlantic collaboration—Basic Channel and Carl Craig (pictured)—which pretty much sums up two of the most important traditions of the period: Detroit techno and Berlin techno.

Ben: Absolutely. And, as I think we both found, a lot of the Detroit techno classics were released before the ’90s, which made it a little difficult. Hence, no Derrick May, no Juan Atkins… Okay time to be honest: Anything on my list that you thought, what on Earth is he thinking?Philip: Not really! Im not crazy about that Bass-o-Matic song, and I dont think of Björks "Isobel" as “dance” per se but theres nothing that makes me screw up my face uncomfortably. And Im pleased to see you got some Altern 8 in there, because I know you love some Altern 8.Ben: My good lord, do I love Altern 8. I got into them when I was about 13. Their whole schtick was very appealing to a teenager. I did, I must confess, try on a dust mask. I mean, its pop-rave. If they came out today with that, I doubt I would love them so. Can I call them a cousin to KLF?Philip: Right. Its a reminder that there is a place for pop-rave—every generation needs it. Im intrigued by the cases where we have different tracks by a given artist. For instance, Galaxy 2 Galaxys "Jupiter Jazz" for me vs. "Hi-Tech Jazz" for you.Ben: “Hi-Tech Jazz” was one of those tracks I heard in a club and rushed to the DJ to ask what it was. Luckily, the club was pretty empty so he told me. Its still one of my very favorite techno tracks. It makes the saxophone acceptable. Why “Jupiter Jazz” for you?Philip: It just has it all for me—the choral pads, the piano, the squealy lead. Its so lush and exuberant. A perfect track, really.Ben: Ive just realised I forgot Stardancer. For shame.Philip: Speaking of Stardancer, did we forget Stardust? "Music Sounds Better With You"?Ben: Stardust arent on Spotify.Philip: The songs that arent on Spotify just mystify me. The biggest culprit: "Deep Burnt." It pains me that there’s no Pepe Bradock on either of our lists.Ben: Obviously, artists are free to do what they like with their music. But its going to go on YouTube pretty much whether you like it or not. So why not put it on Spotify? Oh well...Philip: It was so hard to pick a Moodymann song. I don’t think any one song really represents what’s so amazing about him. Though I would have picked “J.A.N.” if it were on Spotify.Ben: For me the Moodymann choice was simple: “I Cant Kick This Feeling” is a) so joyous and b) sums up what he is about: a relatively unimportant part of someone elses song looped to brilliant lengths.Philip: We differed again with MAW: "The Ha Dance" vs. "I Cant Get No Sleep."Ben: “The Ha Dance” is more influential. But the last half of “I Cant Get No Sleep” is so perfect. I also wanted “To Be In Love.” But it wasnt there.Philip: Before we wrap this up, are there any songs of yours you particularly want to shout-out as deserving of special attention?Ben: Good question. Its hard for me to know which songs here arent more generally known. Because for me they all seem obvious. But maybe Romanthony’s “Hold On” and Todd Edwards’ “Push the Love.”Philip: Dettinger would probably be my far left-field recommendation; an early Kompakt release that is among my favorite ambient techno. Oh, the other song I have to highlight—again, I was surprised to find it on Spotify—is Crustations "Flame (Borderline Insanity Dub)," a Mood II Swing remix that is one of my favorite deep house tunes ever. The deepest, swirliest house music imaginable.Ben: If were Crustation-spotting—and this, it appears, is the level we have descended—then the Air remix of their song “Purple” is a total classic too.Philip: Any final observations before we go?Ben: Yes—when you listen to my list and get to the rap on The Shamens “Move Any Mountain,” please dont judge me. I was young. And you?Philip: I’d just like to point out that the “oh” sound in FSOL’s “Papua New Guinea” sounds uncannily like the “oh” in MJ Cole’s “Sincere.” I dont know what that means... but Im sure it means something.Ben: It means the ’90s circle is complete!Philip: There you go! This has been fun, Ben. See you back in 2017.Click here to follow Philip’s playlist on Spotify.Click here to follow Ben’s playlist on Spotify.

Psychedelic music emerged in the mid-60s as a mutant offspring of the British Invasion and American garage rock, but has since morphed into so many different forms that it is more accurate to describe it as a feeling than a sound. Be it the the brain-melting feedback of Jimi Hendrix or Ty Segall, the dreamy reveries of Spiritualized and Tame Impala, or the heady, head-nodding beats of Flying Lotus and J Dilla, psychedelica is hard to pin down—but you’ll know you’re hearing it when you feel your mind altering. Heres our curated guide to the best head music to help you chase the rush, including our genre-spanning psych playlist (at right) and links to past Dowsers mixes for even deeper trips.

PSYCH-TRONICAWhy settle for rocking minds and rocking bodies when you can do both at once? From the Chemical Brothers to Neon Indian to Boards of Canada, many of the most cutting-edge electronic-music producers spend equal amounts of time focussing on booming beats as well as keyboard lines, sine moans, and digital gurgles designed to tickle the mind. And if you need to rest after a night out, theres plenty of trippy ambient chillout tracks for that as well.Recommended Listening:Essential Acid House TraxThe Art of Psychedelic Disco-RockThe Best Electronic Shoegaze

INDIE PSYCHPsychedelia never dies, it just keeps getting weirder. Animal Collective threw down the gauntlet with 2004’s Sung Tongs, their childlike, free-spirited update of psych rock, and a generation of indie artists have taken up the challenge. From Deerhunters fearsome ambient punk to Zombys scrambled dubstep to Ariel Pinks wounded daydreams, the youngest generation continues to push music inward.Recommended Listening:Animal Collective’s Outer LimitsDreamy Noise Sounds: The Best of Kranky RecordsNew Tropics: The Modern Los Angeles Underground

PSYCH RAPPsychedelic music has drifted into every form of music, and since any worthwhile hip-hop producer keeps their ears open, its only natural that it’s became part of the mix. Revered producers J Dilla and Madlib have made hip-hop tracks that oozed with so much mood and shimmer that they didnt even need MCs to rewire the listeners brain, while the genre’s heady offshoot, trip-hop, has been obliterating genre lines and listeners’ minds for more than two decades.Recommended Listening:Great (Post-Donuts) Instrumental Hip-Hop TracksBehind the Beats: Madlib and DillaBest Trip-Hop Tracks

PSYCH FUNKPsychedelic music has traditionally been used as a way to explore the inner workings of your mind. But if you take off the headphones, its also a great way to explore your body on the dance floor. Soul, funk and R&B have a long tradition of making music that rocks the hips and the third eye at the same time, from Eddie Hazels righteous riffing on Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop to Dâm-Funks alien synth-funk bangers.Recommended Listening:A Deeper Shade of Psych SoulThe Afrofuturist Impulse in MusicInto the Nite: Synth-Funk Fantasias

PSYCH JAZZAt its mid-’60s moment of origin, psychedelia immediately found a natural host in jazz. After all, both are concerned with evoking a feeling and a mood, and following inspiration wherever it leads—from the spiritually searching compositions of Alice Coltrane to Mulatu Astatke’ slippery Latin-flavored explorations to Flying Lotus dedication to feeding brains with jazz-damaged trance whispers.Recommended Listening:The Black Experimental Music MixtapeChampions of Ethiopian GrooveThe Best of Brainfeeder

PSYCH ROCKWhen rock first got psychedelic in the 60s, the most obvious proponents were self-professed freaks like Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. But nearly everywhere you looked, you could find someone trying to access their inner mind via some radical noise, from cult acts like Love and The Fugs to icons like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Since then, every generation since has found their own way to look inside, from the Dream Syndicate in the ’80s, to Slowdive in the ’90s, to My Morning Jacket in the 21st century.Recommended Listening:Bad Trips: The Dark Side of the ‘60sSpace Rock: A Cosmic JourneyHow Psychedelia Reclaimed Modern Rock

PSYCH FOLKIn the beginning, psychedelic music was associated with guitar gods like Jimi Hendrix and waves of feedback. But that big bang was soon followed by generations of artists—from 60s Greenwich Village folkie Karen Dalton to Bert Jansch and his 70s British folk group Pentangle to modern dreamweavers like Devendra Banhart— who used acoustic guitars, pared-down arrangements, and dexterously plucked melodies to pull the listener into their headspace without the need for amplification.Recommended Listening:Way Past Pleasant: A Guide to Psychedelic FolkReligion, Rock, and LSD: A Brief History of Jesus Freaks

PSYCH PUNKThe common myth about punk is that it formed in opposition to bloated 70s rock, and rejected Pink Floyd and anything associated with psychedelia. But the truth is that plenty of punks, such as restless hardcore purveyors Black Flag and volatile noiseniks the Butthole Surfers, not to mention punk-adjacent acts like the Jesus & Mary Chain and Dinosaur Jr., looked back to the ‘60s when deciding how to expand their sound and beguile their fans.Recommended Listening:When Punk Got WeirdPsychedelia in the ‘80sThe 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time