Book Recs for Austin Psych Fest

~post by Stephanya

While I certainly qualify as a music obsessive (I collect records by the hundreds, often travel thousands of miles to see a show, have the requisite Einsturzende Neubauten tattoo, etc), music festivals are admittedly not my leisure activity of choice. All too often, festivals have little to do with the music and all too much with getting as drunk and sun-burnt as possible. Not the ideal situation for a serious record nerd like me. The one glaring, kaleidoscopic exception to my “I don’t go to festivals” rule is Austin Psych Fest. Carefully curated by a merry band of fellow music obsessives, Psych Fest has made a global reputation for itself as a showcase for some of the most interesting, creative bands on the planet. APF has been happening THIS WEEKEND on beautiful Carson Creek Ranch just east of town. I’ve got my weekend pass wristband strapped on and ready to go and I couldn’t be more excited for the festival. In celebration, here’s a round-up of some of my favorite books of the psychedelic persuasion for your perusal.

Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound by Paul Drummond
This exhaustive book about the hugely influential Austin psychedelic band 13th Floor Elevators is the natural place to start this list. The influence of the Elevators not just on psych music but rock music in general, absolutely cannot be understated. Once you are hip to the far-out sound that the Elevators more-or-less single-handedly invented, you will hear it everywhere. This book collects the wild tales of mind-expanding drugs, mental illness, familiar Austin landmarks and stone-cold AWESOME music that make up the psychedelic fable of the Elevators.

Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music by Rob Young
There must have been something in the water in the UK in the late 60s/early 70s. A wave of incredible psychedelic folk groups popped up like fairy rings of mushrooms in the forest. Instead looking forward into David Bowie’s glitter-encrusted future, bands like Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Comus looked backwards in time to the traveling troubadours of by-gone centuries. A “life and times” of sort, this book explores the cultural & social climate of the UK at the time, which caused these folk groups to look towards the murder ballads and sea shanties of the past for inspiration.

The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky by Alejandro Jodorowsky
I love psychedelic cinema as much as I love psychedelic music. Kenneth Anger? Yes, please, The Monkee’s Head? Heck yeah. Sergei Parajanov? Absolutely. Holy Motors? Where do I sign up? But the most enlightened bodhisattva of psych cinema, its crown prince, the merry Fool in its Tarot, is undoubtedly Alejandro Jodorowsky. You may have recently become familiar with his failed attempt to bring Frank Herbert’s Dune to the screen through the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune. Before Dune, Jodorowsky made a somewhat infamous reputation for himself with the films El Topo and The Holy Mountain. Film-making is not simply an artistic pursuit for Jodorowsky, his films and method of film-making are quite literally magickal rituals. This book chronicles the spiritual adventures that led Jodorowsky to create some of the most fiercely creative, unique and influential films in cinematic history.

Juxtapoz Psychedelic
Since 1994, Juxtapoz magazine has made its bread and butter by show-casing artists outside the wine-and-cheese mainstream visual art scene. In recent years, they have published a few excellent books collecting the best illustration, photography and street art from those happily outside the mainstream. My favorite book in this series is, not surprisingly, their recently published volume of contemporary Psychedelic artists and their work. A decidedly psychedelic visual artist myself, I find this book to be very well-curated and VERY inspirational indeed. I hope to see my own art featured in future volumes. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson
If the psychedelic movement is all about expanding one’s mind to gain a greater understanding of the Universe, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better guidebook towards that goal than Cosmic Trigger. Blending theories of brain reprogramming, psychedelic substances, synchronicity, Crowleyian magickal ritual, a dash of Illuminati conspiracy theories and a whole lot of humor and joy, Cosmic Trigger will lead you down the psychedelic rabbit hole towards enlightenment. I read it anytime I need a spiritual boost.