Psychedelic Britannia, BBC Four

PSYCHEDELIC BRITANNIA, BBC FOUR A whistlestop tour of the psychedelic Sixties proved a musical comfort blanket

A whistlestop tour of the psychedelic Sixties proved a musical comfort blanket

As part of BBC4’s continued course of musical regression therapy, we revisited a time of wide-eyed innocence, when ideas were big and pupils even bigger. The Sixties had swung and now they were set to start spinning as people looked to the past for inspiration, and to the future with aspiration.

CD: Hawklords - R:Evolution

Punkadelic collective blows the doors of perception from their hinges. Again

Hawklords were one of the first splinter groups from late Seventies Hawkwind, when Dave Brock and Robert Calvert  were joined by bassist Harvey Bainbridge, Pilot’s Steve Swindells and drummer Martin Griffin for a short-lived but brilliant incarnation.

CD: Dungen - Allas Sak

CD: DUNGEN - ALLAS SAK A new beginning and declaration of rights from Sweden’s sonic voyagers

A new beginning and declaration of rights from Sweden’s sonic voyagers

From its title-track opening cut to the final moments of its closer “Sova”, Allas Sak is recognisably a Dungen album. The musical dynamic between the Swedish quartet’s members and their collective sound is so distinctive that they effectively constitute a one-band genre. Allas Sak does not have as many dives into a jazz-informed inner space as its predecessor 2010’s Skit I Allt, and is also not as pastoral.

CD: Sexwitch - Sexwitch

Ritualistic weirdness, retro-psychedelia, and a rebirth for Natasha Khan

Natasha Khan has taken a fascinating trajectory through the music world. As Bat For Lashes she first came to public attention as part of an early-2000s wave of psychedelia, allied in particular to the furry starchild Devendra Banhart. But her high drama electropop-tinged sound was as far from Banhart's all-organic “freak folk” as it was from the fiddlier laptop-driven sound of folktronica, and she ended up occupying a space all her own.

CD: Hills - Frid

CD: HILLS - FRID Psychedelic Swedes lay down some mind-blowing pagan ritual music

Psychedelic Swedes lay down some mind-blowing pagan ritual music

In a way that is reminiscent of fellow Swedes and label mates Goat, Hills play a primal psychedelia that draws from a far broader spectrum of sounds than the usual garage rock and motorik grooves of their British and American fellow travellers. On Frid, their third album, vocals are largely put aside in favour of spaced-out instrumentals or chanting that suggests medieval plainsong fed into an effects box.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Julian Cope

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: JULIAN COPE The energised first two solo albums from the wilful former Teardrop Explodes frontman

The energised first two solo albums from the wilful former Teardrop Explodes frontman


Julian Cope: World Shut Your MouthJulian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth, Fried

Aquarius, Sky Atlantic

AQUARIUS, SKY ATLANTIC Charles Manson and the squalid underbelly of the hippie dream

Charles Manson and the squalid underbelly of the hippie dream

"This ain't the Summer of Love," sang Blue Oyster Cult in 1975. Judging by this intriguing new drama, it might not really have been the Summer of Love in 1967 either, as David Duchovny's Detective Sam Hodiak picks his way through the dope and the kaftans and finds himself on the trail of a menacing little scumbag called Charlie Manson.

CD: 10.000 Russos - 10.000 Russos

A muscular psychedelic debut from Portugal that heads straight for the dance-floor

There is something strange happening in mainland Europe at the moment. Perhaps this has been spurred on by a feeling that the old certainties of the past aren’t quite so solid, but a mind-expanding psychedelia with an eye for the dance-floor and free of navel-gazing pastoral whimsy has been springing up in all kinds of unexpected places.

CD: Tame Impala - Currents

Kevin Parker's anticipated album aims for the stars, but stumbles soon after launch

There’s been a real sense of expectation surrounding Kevin Parker’s new offering, with rumours of a disco album from the saviour of psychedelia after a conversion to the joys of the Bee Gees while on mushrooms. That sounded an interesting proposition – one that could make the mind bogle.

CD: Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf

CD: GWENNO - Y DYDD OLAF Misty Welsh-language anti-totalitarian concept album

Misty, mostly Welsh-language anti-totalitarian concept album

An all-analogue space-rock, Krautrock-influenced, motorik-driven psychedelic ride on Saturn’s rings, Gwenno’s Y Dydd Olaf is a treat from start to end. Her sweet but dislocated vocals mesh with snappy bass guitar, bloopy synths and the otherworldly atmosphere of Ralph & Florian Kraftwerk.