triptych 10 - Lucid Dreams

Pink Floyd (Meddle)

By the time Pink Floyd released Meddle in 1971, the band was already well established as a psychedelic rock act par excellence.  Singer/songwriter "Mad" Syd Barrett was three years removed from the lineup, and co-writers Roger Waters and David Gilmour were stuck in an empty groove, their stylistic needle skipping repeatedly over played out themes of acid trips, interstellar travel and pastoralia.  In fact, after weeks of recording nothing more than random sound effects, they labeled the burgeoning album "Nothings," then "Son of Nothings," followed by "Return of Son of Nothings."  Eventually, however, they found their way and arrived at an album that suggested some of the tightened production of subsequent albums like The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.  "Fearless," which borrows from the Liverpool FC's fight song, is emblematic of the Floyd's reawakening.  
Fearless (mp3) - Pink Floyd 

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses reached full blossom on their 1989 eponymous debut album.  Straight out of the rollicking Madchester scene, the Mancunians drew on a variety of influences to produce dance-inflected pop nuggets.  Here, on "Shoot You Down," they demonstrate considerable restraint throughout a slow burning revival of late 60s psychedelia.
Shoot You Down (mp3) - The Stone Roses 

Tame Impala

Australia's Tame Impala make no pretense of their debt to earlier guitar-laden psychonauts, yet their recombinant Trip Hop grooves keep things moving along quite nicely on this year's full-length release, Innerspeakers.  "Lucidity," further enhanced here with a remix by Dirty label's French genius, Pilooski, suggests that the dream of inner space exploration is still alive.
Lucidity (Pilooski remix) (mp3) - Tame Impala

triptych 9 - Going Moog

Some 40 years after Robert Moog (pronounced like "rogue") invented the synthesizer, its bleeps and blips still signify the shock of the new.  From Parliament to Panda Bear, slippery synth lines continue to worm their way into our collective consciousness, a modern-day call and response.  Now anyone can play, thanks to the Filtatron iPhone app from Moog.  Filtatron Moog app

Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy - Brian Eno

Brian Eno has dabbled in so many genres -- glam rock, ambient, juju -- that its easy to overlook his pioneering synth pop as exemplified on the brilliant 1974 release, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.  A free-ranging precursor to punk, metal and electronica, Tiger Mountain won critical acclaim but received little notice at the record store counter.  "China My China" is a Dada-esque pastiche of sights and sounds from Mao's Communist theocracy.  China My China (mp3) -- Brian Eno

Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army

Fellow Brit Gary Numan marshalled a synth-heavy orchestra of guitar, bass and drums with the Tubeway Army.  Dark, gothic and utterly devoid of emotion, Numan seemed to completely submerge his personality into a machine-ruled world where humans are irrelevant.  The accidentally funky "Cars" endures today as a masterwork of Polymoog pop.  "Are 'Friends' Electric?" recombines Philip K. Dick imagery with spoken word and flanged guitar, in what became the first post-punk synth chart-topper in the U.K. (1979).  Are 'Friends' Electric? (mp3) - Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army

Cute Machines

Out of the gumbo of Loyola University's music school comes the Big Easy's newest breakout artist, Cute Machines.  "Addiction," from their promising debut EP Drink Up, careers along a woozy synth bed into the fractured New Orleans night.  Definitely a group to keep an eye on.  Addiction (mp3) - Cute Machines