Far Out 40: An introduction to the best of Latin psychedelia music
When it comes to the world of psychedelic rock, it is those names like Cream, Jimi Hendrix and The Byrds that often spring to mind. If you expand your listening habits beyond the Anglo-centric musical mainstream, however, you will find that there is an entirely different world of mind-bending, genre-defying psychedelia waiting to be discovered within the vibrant surroundings of Latin America.
The origins of Latin psychedelia are often attributed to the Brazilian tropicália outfit Os Mutantes, but the roots of the genre reach much farther back. Much of traditional folk music from the Latin region – cumbia, for instance – lends itself quite naturally to the mind-altering qualities of psychedelic rock. Admittedly, though, it was the advent of rock and roll that really kicked the scene into overdrive. Groups like Os Mutantes in Brazil and Traffic Sound in Peru were disrupting the status quo of their home nations using the freshest sounds in psychedelic rock.
On a deeper level, many of the groups within the Latin psychedelic scene used their music as a means of challenging the increasingly oppressive governments of South and Central America – particularly in Brazil. The military junta that had taken over the country in 1964 had proved to be restrictive of artists. So musicians often used their art to rebel against their authoritarian oppression in a similar way to how the San Francisco psychedelic scene challenged the position of the US Government and its involvement in Vietnam.
In many ways, the Latin psych scene mirrored its US counterpart, with even the Woodstock festival having its own Latin version in Chile’s Piedra Roja. The festival proved to be a disaster but in the most beautiful way. The festival was overrun by psych-obsessed hippies dancing freely to groundbreaking new sounds. It proved to be more wild and free than Woodstock could have ever achieved.
That seemed to be a common theme throughout the psychedelic scene, these Latin groups were often attempting to emulate the popular sounds of US and British groups. However, in doing so, they succeeded in creating something entirely different and – for the most part – superior. The Latin world seemed to be the perfect breeding ground for the union of revolution, LSD and rock and roll, and it remains that way to this very day.
Despite the incredible breadth and quality of the Latin psych scene, much of it remains a mystery to those outside of South and Central America. Perhaps because so much of it was recorded in Spanish or Portuguese, it never really took hold of the English-speaking world in the same way that groups like The Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane did. However, as anybody who has ever experienced a trip can affirm, language is largely irrelevant; music is universal.
So, for those uninitiated music lovers looking to expand their horizons and enmesh themselves in the mind-bending mastery of Latin psychedelia, we at Far Out have collected some of the greatest tracks from throughout the scene. From the early days of Os Mutantes to the modern age, it is all covered here.
40 tracks to introduce you to Latin psychedelia:
- Os Mutantes – ‘Panis et Circenses’
- Traffic Sound – ‘Meshkalina’
- Juaneco Y Su Combo – ‘Vacilando Con Ayahuasca’
- Laghonia – ‘Bahia’
- Los Pakines – ‘Ramo De Rosas’
- Módulo 1000 – ‘Turpe Est Sine Crine Caput’
- The Mad’s – ‘If You Feel’
- Los 007 – ‘Nunca Más’
- Afrosound – ‘Una Abeja en el Semáforo’
- Los Yetis – ‘Me siento loco’
- Elia y Elizabeth – ‘Ponte Bajo el Sol’
- Sonido Gallo Negro – ‘Valicha’
- Los Beta 5 – ‘El Bicho’
- Glue Trip – ‘Elbow Pain’
- Los Impala – ‘For a Small Fee’
- Los Tabanos Experience – ‘Crystal Madness’
- Caetano Veloso – ‘Tropicália’
- The Slow Voyage – ‘All the Days’
- Los Macs – ‘El Amor Después De Los 20 Años’
- Laghonia – ‘And I Saw Her Walking’
- Os Mutantes – ‘Bat Macumba’
- Fábio – ‘Lindo Sonho Delirante’
- Dimartis – ‘Circulos’
- Contraluz – ‘No Sea Que Caigas Mendigando’
- Three Souls In My Mind – ‘Todo Tiene Una Razón’
- Traffic Sound – ‘I’m So Glad’
- Los Dug Dug’s – ‘No Te Asustes (Es Sólo Vivre)
- Os Brazoes – ‘Espiral’
- Los Destellos – ‘Guajira sicodélica’
- Los Blue Caps – ‘Deseo’
- Aguaturbia – ‘Blues on the Westside’
- Los Espiritus – ‘Jugo’
- Föllakzoid – ‘Trees’
- Los Yetis – ‘Revolucionando’
- Telegraph Avenue – ‘Let Me Start’
- Los Sander’s de Ñaña – ‘Mi Orgullo’
- Dimartis – ‘Vientos’
- El Álamo – ‘Pusher Men’
- Fe – ‘Locura Estas?, Me Estoy Poniendo el Sistema’
- Flash and the Dynamics – ‘Guajira Psicodelica’
