Playlist Central

Just what is freakbeat? It's the life-after-mod but pre-psychedelic music from Great Britain that came out in the mid- to late- '60s. In its heyday, freakbeat was a little too trippy for the uptight, well-dressed mods and it was a bit too modernist and baroque for the paint-your-face-in-the-park lifestyle of the freewheelin' hippies. Its look was very pop art with bold patterns and retina crushing op-art swirls, and the sound was some of the first to experiment with guitar feedback. Dig!