I am going to run through the history of the link between psychedelic music and psychedelic art but firstly I will give my own thoughts and experiences. I have always observed the link between music and art long before I was introduced to psychedelia and drugs. All my life I have listened to music while making art and different music styles have an effect on how i make the art. For instance I always listen to the red hot chilli peppers when I paint as it puts me in a loose funky mood that lets me paint more expressively which is my favourite way to paint. While I draw detailed and thought driven stuff I listen to more technical music like minimal techno or rap. So as you can see music affects your mood, your thought process and your movement. Now later in life as Ive grown older I have experienced with drugs and this is where I can see the obvious link between psychedelic music and art. Psychedelic music tries to convey through sound what its like to trip out and so psychedelic art shows this through visualisation and image making. It is easy to understand how pychedelic drugs led to these movements as LSD and the psychoactive drugs completely enhance and slightly change all of your senses. How you feel, hear, see, smell and taste is different. That is why Music sounds so amazing while tripping and why food tastes so good and why the ambience and setting is so important. While tripping many people experience visuals and hallucinations, melty and bubbly vision. Open eye visuals and the usually stronger closed eye visuals of spirals and circles are great in their own right, but when you are listening to music it actually changes your visuals and it directs the trip in different directions depending on the music your listening. This shows the that the music and visualisation are linked to the drug, but it also shows that the music and visualisation are intrinsically linked in the experience. Its as if they are made to coexist.
The link between psychedelic art and psychedelic music has been visible since the 1960’s in America where the psychedelic awakening of the youth began. This link is somewhat indirect compared to psychedelic art and psychedelic drugs, or psychedelic music and psychedelic drugs. Hallucinogenic drugs such as marijuana, lsd, peyote, ayahuasca were the catalyst for psychedelic art and psychedelic music. The term “psychedelic” coined by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond means “mind manifesting” and both art forms – music and art- tried to portray the workings and manifestation of ones mind while taking these psychoactive drugs 1. It is expected that Music and visual arts interconnected during nearly all hallucinogen taking experiences. To explain this link I am going to look at all three – Drugs, Art , Music – individually. Firstly, however I am going to look at the psychedelic era.
The psychedelic era was a time of change and experimentation in music, art, literature and overall thinking. Its stemmed from the widespread use of LSD, which encouraged the hippie and counterculture. People began to think for themselves more and it was seen as a huge generational awakening that left behind some of the greatest art, music, literature and events the world has seen. Generally people became more accepting of new ideas and social and political barriers were broken down.
In the late 1950’s authors of the beat generation such as William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg all wrote about and took drugs such as cannabis and Benzedrine. They writings were entered around freedom and experience and they raised awareness and helped popularise the use of drugs as a form of expression and freedom. Then in the 60s the use of LSD was popularised by concoiusness explorers such as Timothy Leary , Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley and Arthur Koestler. The first widely know crossover between psychedelic art, music and thinking came in 1964 when the novelist Ken Kesey formed a loose group of like minded friends called The Merry Pranksters. This group involved himself, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassidy, The Grateful Dead and others. They were all forwards thinkers of the psychedelic movement. They would engage is LSD parties with light shows, paintings, readings and improvised music known as the psychedelic symphony. They embarked on a road trip trip across america in a painted schools taking LSD and recording everything so they could spread their psychedelic gospel. 2
In light of this popularization of LSD , it became widely used and musicians tried to recreate the experience through new experimentation. The genre of psychedelic music was born. Musicians began using exotic sounds taken from indian,, african or oriental music. The songs began to have a more complex structure, with more irregular time structures and speeds. There were long guitar or drum solos that were usually heavily distorted and and had lots of fuzz.. 2
Then you had psychedelic art which tried to show what it was like on these drugs. characteristics of psychedelic art was often a metaphysical or surreal subject matter, a heavy use of fractals or kaleidoscopic imagery, Bright and contracting colours, collage, perils and concentric circles, warping of lettering and attention to use of negative spaces.
San Francisco was the hub of psychedelic music and art at the time and this is where the most visible links were seen between the two. Artist began making posters for concerts. Artist such as Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Bonnie MacLean, Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley, and Wes Wilson were at the forefront of the San francisco Music scene. Their poster were influenced by movements such as Art Nouveau, Victoriana, Dada and Pop Art. ‘Richly saturated colors in glaring contrast, elaborately ornate lettering, strongly symmetrical composition, collage elements, rubber-like distortions, and bizarre iconography are all hallmarks of the San Francisco psychedelic poster art style’. 3 The posters had a distorted look that not only tried to show what tripping out was like but also showed what the music at the concert would be like. This can be seen in `Victor `Moscoco’s posters where he used couloirs from opposite ends of the spectrum with equal dark and light to give a vibrating effect. 4
Concert Posters of today still try the convey the same ideas – what the music is like and what the drugs are like. It has changed however from a psychedelic era to a rave era with new genres such as jungle, drum and bass, techno and garage. The characteristics of these seem to be more primitive with heavy use of the smiley face and black and white lettering. the drugs of choice have changed too with the likes of ecstasy and speed.
Another link between the art and music is the vinyl covers of the era. The album art of the 60s and 70s is legendary with very detailed works of art on the front that actually made people buy the records just for the album sleeve. I know myself if im going through a bargain basket of records ill definitely buy some I don’t know because Im attracted to the album art. For instance ‘Mati Klarwein created psychedelic masterpieces for Miles Davis’ Jazz-Rock fusion albums, and also for Carlos Santana Latin Rock. Pink Floyd worked extensively with London-based designers, Hipgnosis to create graphics to support the concepts in their albums. Willem de Ridder created cover art for Van Morrison. Los Angeles area artists such as John Van Hamersveld, Warren Dayton and Art Bevacqua and New York artists Peter Max and Milton Glaser all produced posters for concerts or social commentary (such as the anti-war movement) that were highly collected during this time”.3
Even more artists began working with musicians to produce their album art. Andy Warhol designed the Velvet Undergrounds 1967 debut lp using silkscreen. He also did Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers” Album. German artist Klaus Voorman designed the Beatles “Revolver” album using drawing and collage.
“Psychedelic light-shows were a new art-form developed for rock concerts. Using oil and dye in an emulsion that was set between large convex lenses upon overhead projectors the lightshow artists created bubbling liquid visuals that pulsed in rhythm to the music. This was mixed with slideshows and film loops to create an improvisational motion picture art form to give visual representation to the improvisational jams of the rock bands and create a completely “trippy” atmosphere for the audience. The Brotherhood of Light were responsible for many of the light-shows in San Francisco psychedelic rock concerts”. 3 This had developed over the years and there are now extremely intricate light shows at concerts now. There is also a new form of light shows that are called audio-visual shows where the visuals on screen are made for the music. This is used primarily by electronic artists as there music allows a certain flow of visuals. A staple of the audio-visual shows is a three – dimensional effect and an incredible constant flow. Each image leads on perfectly to the next show that the following image was made exactly and only for the previous one. There a fantastical and trip animations that envelop the audience. One artist I have seen that employs one of the greatest av shows around is Flying Lotus. He has a setup that is named the cube. He stands at his decks in between two screens with a projection on each one so it looks like he is in a cube. It is truly amazing and esoteric and thoroughly three dimensional whilst its comes forward at you enveloping you into the show. The new age of the light show has made music concerts and absolutely immersive space.
Lastly my experiences with psychedelic drugs and music has informed my art immensely and it is what my project is currently based on. I have been able to see and experience things that I never imagined and they are completely esoteric. Many of my prints and drawings are direct representations of my experiences while others are more abstract representations. I am using not just the experience of the drug but the experience of being somewhere around people on the drug. I am interested in what I see and experience , but I am also interested in how myself and others react and engage with each other and our surroundings. I like to look at how it effects us. The self consciousness and loss of words and thought while in conversation is a big part of the whole experience too. I am making art not in the traditional psychedelic manner but in a experimental way using my psychedelic experiences as primary research. So clearly for me the link is strong and i am using it to my benefit to create my own type of psychedelia infused art. Long live psychedelic music and art.
References and Bibliography
Psychedelia – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Psychedelia – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelia. [Accessed 23 December 2015].
Psychedelic music – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Psychedelic music – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_music. [Accessed 23 December 2015].
Psychedelic art – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Psychedelic art – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_art. [Accessed 23 December 2015].
Psychedelic 60s | Graphic Design History. 2015. Psychedelic 60s | Graphic Design History. [ONLINE] Available at: https://visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com/psychedelic-60s/. [Accessed 23 December 2015].
Bibliography
1.Johnson, K J, 2011. Are You Experienced?: How Psychedelic Conciousness Transformed Modern Art. 1st ed. America: Prestel Verlag.