Psychedelia, for most people, was all about bad fashion and, of course, bad trips.
The loud paisley ties long ago made their way to secondhand shops, though. And with a few exceptions, the music has been consigned to "influence" status. An astute listener can detect a psychedelic tint in everything from the Happy Mondays to Sonic Youth to the burgeoning American folk-rock movement, but as a scene unto itself, it is pretty well dead.
Except in Japan. You might not be able to score the drugs that give psychedelia its name, but musical freak-outs abound. Nurtured by a network of indie record labels (most notably PSF and Magick), it has arguably become Japan's most thriving alternative scene. Nagoya's Acid Mothers Temple is its most brutal, cacophonous purveyor. Tokyo's Ghost is their gentle folky counterpart.
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