Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia returns this September with Super Furry Animals, The Horrors, Demdike Stare, Silver Apples, The Moonlandingz, Eartheater and a lot more all due to make appearances across the weekend.
Also featured on the line-up is a takeover by Tokyo-based label Guruguru Brain who will present their ‘Narrow Road To The Deep Mind’ curation featuring some of the finest acts from across the Asian underground. This will include sets from Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, Nawksh and Prairie WWWW. Above, they have put together a very special YouTube playlist for us showcasing some of these acts and more from across the scene, including Ramayana Soul, Strange Brew and more. Below you can read their thoughts on the music featured.
"We first released a Japanese psych compilation called ‘Guruguru Brain Wash’ and we received far better reactions from listeners overseas than locally. We took that as a challenge, and saw Asia as a place from which we could really make a contribution. Yes, the main markets in the music industry are in the West, but we felt as though we were capable of sparking a movement from and within Asia and that was exciting to us.
"Because many Asian countries are islands their cultures developed in relative isolation, with distinct languages, styles, and values. This has effected the way that the music scene manifests itself today, with the psych movement being really varied depending on which part of Asia you are looking at.
As such, it’s difficult for us to talk about this region as a whole. For example, post-rock is still big in most of South-East Asia, but in Japan it’s not as popular as it once was. An amazing local project is Stone Free Festival in Thailand, a DIY event which take place in a canyon, where the sound is naturally magnified by the surrounding stone.
"As label heads and musicians we’re interested in the unique cultures that spring up around music in each country."
Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia takes place at Camp and Furnace from September 22-24. You can get tickets and check out the full line-up here
