Freakbeat

Freakbeat is the aggressive British beat music of 1966–1968, the point where mod and R&B-based beat groups collided with psychedelia. Recorded almost entirely as singles, it favors fuzz and wah-wah guitar, heavily compressed drums, feedback, phasing and studio trickery pushed far beyond what the beat boom had allowed, driven by producers such as *Shel Talmy* and *Joe Meek*. Bands including *The Creation*, *The Smoke* and *The Eyes* achieved little chart success at the time, but their records — frantic, distorted and experimental — form the bridge between British beat, psychedelic rock and hard rock.