If Erin Koray is the Godfather of Anatolian rock, this is his masterpiece. His second album (although his 1973 debut was just a collection of singles) translates as “‘Electronic Ballads” and blends traditional Anatolian tunes with psychedelic guitars, heavy bass and percussion, and traditional instruments such as the bağlama, zurna, and ney flute. “Elektronik Türküler” is an exhilarating trip through a colorful, LCD-tinged Anatolian universe, and is still considered the template for Anatolian psych rock. 

Psychedelic rock was already associated with Eastern and Middle Eastern sounds, so it tracks that somebody actually from the region would perfect the synthesis. The bulk of the songs on Elektronik Türküler were based on traditional Turkish folk melodies but Erkin Koray plugged them in and transformed them into dark trips through his soul. His own composition, “Türkü,” proves the highlight as it weaves through nine stunning minutes of guitar fuzz and hypnotic zurna under Koray’s droning recitation of a work by activist poet Nazım Hikmet.