Yuri Gagarin: "At the Center of All Infinity"

Yuri Gagarin seems like a glaringly obvious name for a space rock band, particularly one that is doing so little to reinvent the wheel as this Swedish export, but what these guys lack in originality they make up for in execution, compounding the droning synths of Hawkwind with the riff-focused intensity of Ufomammut amidst a sludge-like wall of sound that certainly transgresses the average Kluster knock off. At the Center of All Infinity arrived a bit too late in 2015 to make it on any year end best of lists, perhaps, but it isn't for lack of effort.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO: "Space Speed Suicide"

When you think of preternaturally prolific, acid-drenched bands from Japan one of two names is likely to come to mind: Boris, of course, and Acid Mothers Temple. The latter records so much, so often, that they've released material under at least eight different variations of the Acid Mother template, each slightly different band name meant to tip the listener off to the general contents... which could be anything from psychedelia to space rock to free jazz, so long as it's 70's-damaged.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO is the "Mother brand", so to speak, with the overall majority of the collective's recordings existing under that label. In Search of the Lost Divine Arc, their latest, is out May 28 on Important Records.

1990: "Arc Lite (Sonar)", Loop

More dissonant and metallic than Spacemen 3 (the band they would most frequently suffer comparisons to), Loop was nearing the end of its short run in 1990. The heavier drone and minimalist riff patterns on the band's final album, A Gilded Eternity, were a harbinger of things to come: Loop mainman Robert Hampson would serve a one year tour of duty in industrial titans Godflesh (playing on / touring for the Pure album) before starting Main with Loop bandmate Scott Dawson. Main merged the dense riffs of Hampson's previous bands with a menacing bouillabaisse of electronic styles and remains Hampson's longest running project to date, though the moniker has been officially retired since 2006. Hampson has since been releasing new music under his own name, while Dawson seemingly dropped out of the music scene.

1990: "Exploding in Your Mind", Sun Dial

Psychedelia was hardly unfashionable at the turn of the 90s, particularly in Great Britain. In terms of anachronistic, spaced out jam sessions with few modern influences, there was most notably Nick Salomon and his one man band, The Bevis Frond, but following closely in those same footsteps was Gary Ramon's Sun Dial project. Like Salomon, Ramon also released a relentless procession of small run, microlabel albums, of which 1990's Other Way Out was the first. Chock full of long form guitar freakouts, "Explosions in Your Mind" is one of the more straightforward cuts.

1990: "Help Me Please", Sonic Boom

Pete Kember was one of two primary members of the neo-psych band Spacemen 3 in the mid-to-late 80s before going solo at the turn of the decade. He recorded one album, Spectrum, under the moniker Sonic Boom before changing the band name itself to Spectrum. Kember has since divided his time between Spectrum and another ongoing project dubbed Experimental Audio Research (E.A.R.) as well as more recently trying his hand at production duties, including the new MGMT album, Congratulations.

"Help Me Please" marries existential drone with lyrics straight out of a Hank Williams outtake, in the process inadvertently creating a left field chillout classic.