l synthesizers and samplers. These machines were also used by psychedelic rappers such as De La Soul (3 Feet High and Rising; 1989) and P.M. Dawn (Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience; 1991), who took hip-hop in directions far from the playgrounds of the Bronx where it was spawned. "To me, psychedelia is finding something tangible that you can hold on to in the unusual," said P.M. Dawn's Prince Be. "That's what any innovator does." Some critics contended that by the 1990s everything that could be done with rock's familiar guitar, bass, and drums lineup had been done. They were proved wrong not only by grunge music but also by an acid rock underground that continued to produce evocative music. The British band My Bloody Valentine created a kaleidoscopic guitar sound on their hugely influential Loveless (1991) and Oklahoma City's Flaming Lips charted the landscape of whimsical new worlds on albums such as Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993) and The Soft Bulletin (1999). A collective of independent bands from Ruston, La., known as the Elephant 6 Recording Company updated the spirit of Pet Sounds and Revolver for a new millennium. Among their notable works are In the Aeroplane over the Sea (1998) by Neutral Milk Hotel, Music from the Unrealized Film Script, "Dusk at Cubist Castle" (1996) by the Olivia Tremor Control, and Tone Soul Evolution (1997) by the Apples In Stereo. The British group Spiritualized, with Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997), explored the merger of Pink Floyd-style interstellar overdrives with free jazz and gospel music. Gospel music, you ask? Yes, indeed. A final dimension of psychedelia, from the Greek etymology, is "soul-manifesting"--implying a spiritual dimension that is rarely voiced (though it is worth remembering that Brian Wilson spoke of writing "teenage symphonies to God"). By transcending the ordinary, psychedelic musicians and their listeners attempt t...
