Psych folk or Psychedelic folk is a music genre which began through the blending of folk music and psychedelic music in the 1960s. It is generally acoustic or mixes acoustic instrumentation with other influences, usually something weird or atmospheric. Often chanting or world music influences are used. A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Psychedelic music is a musical genre inspired by or attempting to replicate the mind-altering experience of drugs such as cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, and especially LSD. It is not rigorously defined, and is sometimes interpreted to include everything from Acid Rock and Flower Power music to Hard Rock. ... The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Look up Acoustic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For the study of sound, a branch of physics, see acoustics. ... A chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, either on a single pitch or with a simple notes and often including a great deal of repetition or statis. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Early examples of psych folk bands were Syd Barrett, The Incredible String Band, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Roger Keith (Syd) Barrett (born January 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England) was one of the founding members of the group Pink Floyd. ... The iconic cover of the bands 2nd album designed by The Fool The Incredible String Band were (and are) a Scottish acoustic band who way back in the 1960s built a popular following among the British counter culture, and are considered psych folk music pioneers. ... T. Rex T. Rex (originally known as Tyrannosaurus Rex), is a band founded in 1960s London, and later found success as a 1970s glam rock group. ...

It has continued to be performed up to the present day. Other notable psych folk artists are Robyn Hitchcock and Current 93. Robyn Hitchcock (born March 3, 1953) is a rock and roll singer-songwriter and psych folk artist. ... Current 93 is a British music group founded in 1982 by David Tibet (né David Michael Bunting, renamed Tibet by Genesis P-Orridge sometime prior to forming the group). ...

Since the 1990s, the Elephant Six Collective, with bands like Neutral Milk Hotel has been known to release psych folk records. The 1990s refers to the years 1990 to 1999; the last decade of the 20th Century, but in an economical sense The Nineties is often considered to span from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to the September 11 attacks in 2001. ... The Elephant Six Recording Company is a musical collective founded in Denver, Colorado (but figuratively in Athens, Georgia) by childhood friends Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart, Jeff Mangum, and Robert Schneider. ... Neutral Milk Hotel. ...

The latest generation of psych folk artists in the early 2000s include Animal Collective, DeVotchKa, Faun Fables, testface, Sun City Girls, Dame Darcy, Kemialliset Ystävät, Devandra Banhart, PG Six, Pothole Skinny, Tower Recordings, Eyes and Arms of Smoke, and Deek Hoi. (See New Weird America.) Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000) September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ... Animal Collective is a New York City based group of like-minded individuals from Baltimore, Maryland. ... DeVotchKa is a self-described eastern bloc indie rock band. ... Faun Fables is the name of the atmospheric, slightly witchy psych folk music of Dawn McCarthy. ... Since 1984, the Sun City Girls trio have recorded over 26 critically acclaimed albums from their home base of Sun City, Arizona. ... Darcy Megan Stanger, known professionally as Dame Darcy is one of the most popular and well-regarded alternative comics artists today. ... Kemialliset Ystävät (Finnish for Chemical Friends) is the name of a recording project of Finnish musician Jan Anderzén of Tampere. ... Devendra Banhart is one of the more popular artists to come out of the new psych folk music movement that includes performers like Faun Fables, Animal Collective and Dame Darcy. ... Pothole Skinny is Stephen Connolly, Mark Dagley, Scott Freyer, and Frank Murphy. ... New Weird America describes a musical movement in the 2000s which boasts a new uprising of weird and psychedelic music. ...

Other types of folk that incorporate world music, strange sounds and trippy lyrics include psych folk's more esoteric-oriented and hermetic-centered cousins, Apocalyptic folk. While these genres are similar, the latter two appeal more to followers of darker music, while psych folk is more favoured by hippies and psychedelic music followers in general. This relationship could be considered very analogous to the similar subject matter but different treatments. Hermeticism is either of two things: The study and practice of occult philosophy and magic, of a type associated with writings attributed to the god Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice-Greatest Hermes, a syncretistic deity who combines aspects of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. ... Neofolk is a music genre comprising a wide range of late-20th-century and early-21st-century music with a vague similarity to folk music of various sorts. ...

However, the two clearly overlap -- Michael Gira named his newest project Angels of Light after San Francisco hippy Hibiscus's transcendental theatre group of the same name, and is responsible for guiding the career of new psych folk rising star, Devendra Banhart. Michael Gira was the founder and lead singer in the New York City rock band, Swans. ... Angels of Light were a rock group formed in 1997 by singer Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group hed founded in 1980. ... Species See text Hibiscus or Rosemallow is a large genus of about 200-220 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. ... Devendra Banhart / © Laurent Orseau. ...

See also

• Anti-folk
• Apocalyptic folk
• Ptolemaic Terrascope - a psychedelic folk & rock magazine
• Galen Pehrson - Galen Pehrson -- Psychedelic folk Artist and Director
• Mellow Candle

Anti-folk (or antifolk) is a genre of music related to punk rock and American folk music that originated in the mid-1980s in New York City. ... Neofolk is a music genre comprising a wide range of late-20th-century and early-21st-century music with a vague similarity to folk music of various sorts. ... Ptolemaic Terrascope logo The Ptolemaic Terrascope is a magazine covering old and new music, usually of a psychedelic nature. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

External links

• The Psychedelic & Acid Folk Music Site from Psych Van Het Folk
• Dream Magazine -- great resource for psych folk and all other types of psychedelic music
• Galen Pehrson -- Psych Folk Artist and Director