i love psych.
the trees - the christ tree (1975)
bizarre hippy psych/folk from a christian cult. truly beautiful + haunting vocals, weird instrumentation. one of the strangest recordings i've heard, but also one of my favourites (and thank god, is finally being re released)
these trails - these trails (1973)
hawaiian psych/folk, also not like anything i've heard. a lot of tracks have a really whimsical feeling to them, but there are a few which are just downright scary. the female vocals in this really make the album for me, really frail, and so damn pretty.
ya ho wha 13 - penetration: an aquarian symphony (1974)
yay! more cult-made improv psych jams. everything i've heard from these guys has been completely deranged, but this is probably their most focused. features some amazing fuzzy guitar work, but unfortunately, not that much shouting/ranting from cult leader, father yod.
lula côrtes e zé ramalho - 'paêbirú' (1974)
a 'lost' classic from brazil (most copies of this burned down in a warehouse fire), but thankfully has been reissued. this is just a timeless record for me and is easily in my top 10 OAT. the loose theme of this album is the 4 elements, and there are just so many different sounds on this album that i can't really describe it with words; but everything on here just works so well together. from the fuzzy guitar freakouts, to the funky 'nas paredes da pedra encantada', the horns, sitars and little folky/acoustic tunes, this record is truly unique
love - forever changes (1967)
this is THE perfect pop/rock/psych album imo. pretty much essential for anyone into music.
check out the stuff on runtlock's list, as well as
index
tomorrow
the beat of the earth
13th floor elevators / roky erikson
the united states of america
white noise
silver apples
ant trip ceremony
zerfas
the 'nuggets' box sets are a really good starting point for that era of psych
there is a lot of great foreign shit worth checking out
3 hur el (turkey)
agamenon (spain)
algarnas trädgård (sweden)
los jaivas (chile)
träd gräs och stenar (sweden)
ariesta birawa (indonesia)
os brazoes (brazil)
then there's also the amazing krautrock stuff coming from germany during the 60's/70's;
ash ra tempel, amon duul/ii, can, faust, cluster, brainticket, popul vuh, guru guru etc...
japanese psych is seriously amazing stuff.
nagisa ni te and ghost are great; tenniscoats, maher shalal hash baz, slap happy humphrey, puka puka brians are similar. if you are after something a lot heavier, check out; acid mothers temple, high rise/mainliner, fushitsusha/keiji haino/vajra, les rallizes denudes, angel'in heavy syrup, lsd march and DMBQ
as for mainly modern stuff, there is a great scene in finland (avarus, lau nau, kemiallyset ystavat, etc...), the us has some great stuff too (devendra etc, if yr into that stuff, the jewelled antler collective, jack rose/pelt, six organs of admittance/comets on fire). also, aus/nz has some great stuff too (the musicyourmindwillloveyou collective; brothers of the occult sisterhood, terracid, etc..). the psychic paramount - 'gamelan into the mink supernatural' is probably my favourite psych album of recent years.
i'm not touching on a lot of stuff, so i'll probably add some more when i can be bothered.