The United States Of America

The United States of America was a late-1960s experimental rock band that released just one album before disbanding. Their self-titled 1968 record blended electronic effects, tape loops, and psychedelic elements with more conventional rock instrumentation. Songs like 'The American Metaphysical Circus' and 'Hard Coming Love' showed how they could be both jarring and melodic within the same track.

Joseph Byrd was the group's composer and multi-instrumentalist leader, with Dorothy Moskowitz handling vocals and keyboards. Their sound was dense and often political, which made it a tough sell commercially at the time. The album's title track was understood as a protest against the Vietnam War, though the band's avant-garde approach meant they were as likely to be dismissed as pretentious as they were to be hailed as visionaries.

What's left is that one album, which has gathered a cult following over the decades. It's a document of a particular moment when rock was stretching its boundaries, and a group decided to see how far they could push things with the tools they had. Tracks like 'Cloud Song' and 'Where Is Yesterday' still sound like little else from that era.