Space rock

Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound.

[1] It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers, and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.

The genre emerged in late 1960s psychedelia and progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Hawkwind,[1] and Gong[2] who explored a "cosmic" sound.

A prominent early example of space rock is the 1959 concept album I Hear a New World by British producer and songwriter Joe Meek.

[4] Jimi Hendrix is also an early innovator of the genre, with such tracks as "Third Stone from the Sun", "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" and "The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice".

Their second album A Saucerful of Secrets contained further examples: "Let There Be More Light" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" with explicit science fiction themes, and their third, More (1969) had "Cirrus Minor".

In the early 1970s, West Germany's kosmische Musik ("cosmic music") scene developed among artists who explored "spacy", ambient instrumental soundscapes.