contents devong halfnightleflufy trend feature- spacepunk glitchin xploits in surreal spa art in the lab occult pyshics super improsed plate of the art hypersensoria kaleidophonic ibogaine: demystified psychedemia the therapists chair paradigm introduces a heavenly sound the highest frequency vents guide reggergerg ce
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online Take a trip with us into cyberspace: Paradigm just went live. Explore exclusive content, hidden caverns and extra flippancy.
masthead EDITOR TRUDIE CARTER trudieangelica@ gmail. com CREATIVE ASSISTANT BILLIE BRAND billiebrand@ hotmail.co.uk
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SPECIAL THANKS TO: EDITOR Rob De Niet TRUDIE CARTER Lucy Norris :OT SKNtrudieangelica@ AHT LAICEPS Zandra Rhodes teiN eD boR gmail. Isabella Gamble sirroN ycuL com Tyler Spangler seCREATIVE dohR ardnASSISTANT aZ elbmaBILLIE G allebBRAND asI relbilliebrand@ gnapS relyT hotmail.co.uk 03
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The Futurist Requirements for Expanding The Mind (An Ode To The Futurist Cookbook)
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THE IDEAL TRIP 1. Ensure originality and harmony with set and setting. 2. Excite the imagination before tempting the mind. Purge yourself of the daily grind a day
prior to the trip, and immerse yourself in spiritual literature. Paradigm recommends The Awakening of Intelligence, by Jiddu Krishnamurti.
3. Indulge in tactile pleasure during the experience. Never underestimate the haptic
prowess of a velvet rug or a stray cat to stimulate your awareness of your environment.
4. Stimulate your taste buds with chewing gum. Select different colours, and notice how blue may curb your appetite, whilst red enhances the sweetness in the flavour.
5. Use music to enhance the mood of the trip. It’s a matter of preference, but whatever
you select may be prescribed as surprise ingredients to accentuate sensual intensity.
6. An abolition of speech-making involving politics, past trauma or loved ones. 7. Combination of spontaneous activities and curious company to amplify euphoria or calm an approaching crisis.
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Image courtesy of Devon Halfnight Leflufy
DEVON HALFNIGHT LEFLUFY A WEST COAST PSYCHEDELIC DREAM
Barely two seasons in, and the lustworthy menswear creations of Antwerp export Devon Halfnight Leflufy are already a cult hit. The Canadian-born prodigy has made ripples on both sides of the pond, with an Opening Ceremony collaboration under his belt as part of the store’s year of Belgium celebration. Considering Devon’s signature look blends iconic LA imagery with a dash of European avantgarde, the alliance is a match made in a paradise printed on silk. “I love the idea of creating my own elements or reworking pre-made materials so they are uniquely mine,” Devon says of his sun-bleached psychedelic fabrics. “We just love to experiment and explore.” Devon’s instantly recognisable designs draw inspiration from iconography, logos and Internet culture- but he embraced the highbrow for True Believer, his 2013 graduate collection. A collaboration with New York-based artist Brian Kokosa complimented the new-wave psychedelic aesthetic. “Collaborating with Brian was incredible. He is such a pure talent,” Devon explains. “The surreal imagery from True Believer is something that
something that draws you in without you knowing exactly why.”
is omnipresent in the collection but is always changing and evolving.” The masks Brian created to accompany the clothes blurred the model’s faces, creating a surreal sense of disassociation in a style reminiscent of his own portraits. “I think it might sometimes be surreal but it will always be uncanny,” Devon affirms. “I love
Coconut Water, Devon’s AW14 collection, projects a deadpan parody of consumer culture at first glance. However, the reworking of popular icons says far more about Devon’s own vision. “We are more interested in personal brand reincarnation than actual consumerist critique,” he says. “We are creating our own monogram whilst reacquiring symbols and logossuch as the hashtag, the Pepsi sign and a Japanese Yen.” The collection detaches this iconic imagery from its context and weaves it into the DNA of the clothes.
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Image courtesy of Devon Halfnight Leflufy
“THE COLLECTION CONFRONTS TUMBLR AHDH AND THE MIASMA OF THE INTERNET WITH ITS EFFECTS FOR OUR NEWFOUND VISUAL COLLECTIVE MEMORY.”
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Bringing a multitude of these elements together reflects the hyperactive nature of our culture. “The collection confronts Tumblr ADHD and the miasma of the Internet with its effects for our newfound visual collective memory,” Devon explains. Using experimental photography, the campaigns images for the collection have the model’s faces whited out and transformed into glowing orbs.
It’s an uneasy anonymity that feels reminiscent of True Believer, and is fast becoming the designer’s trademark. It’s a strong start. Buy Devon Halfnight Leflufy Spring Summer 2014 at openingceremony.us
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“HEY DOLL, IS THIS GUY BOTHERING YOU? COME TALK TO ME, I’M FROM A DIFFERENT PLANET.”
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SPACEPUNK The next low-fi web culture is set to rise from the ashes: Spacepunk channels retro-futurism, the obligatory 90’s sports bra (but holographic!) and casualwear for the intergalactic plastic femme-bot.
Cute Circuit AW14
ELSIE AND FRED PETROL PYRAMID SUNGLASSES £16
ROMWE HOLOGRAPHIC PRINT HOLLOW SWEATSHIRT: £26.40
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LIME CRIME NEW YOLK CITY OPAQUE LIPSTICK £13.95
THE MOON CULT MERMAID CROP TOP £14.84
SUN WEDGE HEEL FLATFORM SANDAL £24.95
CYBERDOG SHIELD NECKLACE £24
TOPSHOP SILVER HOLOGRAPHIC A-LINE SKIRT £38
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EYESORE EYESORE A few months ago, a retrospective exhibition called Reflections from Damaged Life had those who cared to see it stroking their beards and asking what legacy psychedelic art left behind. The 60’s movement was a subversive counter-culture for its time, they agreed, but does it bare any relevance today? Does it need to be remembered? Perhaps it is time we reassessed what the term ‘psychedelic art’ means in 2014. The 60’s were one interpretation of a mindset; indeed psychedelia is sometimes defined as being ‘mind manifesting’, applied to the state of consciousness and creative endeavors achieved with hallucinogenic drugs. Imagery that explores changes in perception, thought and emotion are often considered synonymous with psychedelia. But what if our perception of reality was challenged in new mediums? What if psychedelic art sobered up? 10
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Are we beginning to miss the simplicity of those dialed-up, pixelated days?
WELCOME TO THE PSUEDO FUTURE
Paradigm looks at 90’s inspired Netstalgia and the art of the Glitch
E
GLITCHIN’ When Apple rolled out iOS7 in September last year, faithful iPhone users around the world couldn’t quite adjust to the Crayola makeover, with its garish splashes of colour and flat icons. ‘It’s a step backwards!’ They exclaimed, whilst attempting to navigate around their device without getting motion sickness. The design ethos, however, was more forward thinking than first impressions deemed. iOS7’s shiny new look is a wholesale rejection of skeomorphism, the technical term for Apple’s old icons, which were ornamentally designed with textures and shadows to add a touch of 3D realism to the original iPhone. Skeomorphism mimics real-life interactions with real-life objects, and served its purpose in a time of unfamiliarity. But that learning curve is wearing thin.
The future is unapologetically rooted in the digital universe. New figures reveal that flat is here to stay. UIinspired design is a marked trend for 2014, with a 200% increase in flat-design downloads and close to 170,000 new related assets added to the collection in 2013. Going one step further into the digital yesteryear, animated GIFs and lo-fi graphics are making their first ever comeback, accelerated by apps like Cinemagram, which allows users to create and share bite-size video files. Photo-editing app Glitche allows the user to distort pictures with filters- but instead of the romantic blue tint of Instagram, Glitche uses hyper-pixilation and literally glitches the image by fragmenting sections and turning them multicolour. It’s a back-to-basics approach that feels reminiscent of the 90’s: a lo-fi aesthetic that reflects what trend
forecasters LS:N Global are calling ‘Netstalgia.’ But what does a glitch look like? The Perfect Glitch, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Art Studio a couple of years back showcased artists who aestheticize “glitch”inspired by digital errors and trippy manipulated images. Contributing artist Phillip Stearns specializes in breaking and entering into software and cartridge, in order make art from computer errors. His Tumblr page Year of the Glitch shows what happens to a photograph after you’ve hacked into the cameras’ circuit board. (In case you were wondering, Animal New York magazine describes it as “pretty much an online acid trip.”) Call it the domino effect. Inspired by the work of Phillip Stearns, fashion designers Nukeme and Ucnv used his glitch imagery to create acid bright lab coats, which drip with
lurid colour and confused, pixelated fragments. If glitch is an online acid trip, Nukeme and Ucnv’s subsequent prints are cyberspace psychedelia. Welcome to the psuedo future.
Glitch coat, by Nukeme and Ucnv
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EXPLOITS IN SURREAL SPACE How is digital collage questioning our frame of perception?
David Marinos X Tyler Spangler
Digital collage is becoming the by-product of our frantic, overloaded visual platform, otherwise known as the Internet. Mercilessly fed by photo-manipulation technology and all-too-sharable visual chaos that bypasses Tumblr at warp speed, iconography from a dead and buried yesterday is endlessly recycled. The goal is to catch our attention, if only for that crucial second. From global research hub Patternbank to exhibitions at the Southbank Centre, digital collage is representing our visually manifestive culture.
The viral nature of this medium could be credited to its low-fi but high-brow status; collage and gif-artwork can be effortlessly transferred from amateur blog to New York art gallery. Look no further than new media artist Nick Thomm’s latest collaboration with fashion label Mercy-Merci. The artworks, collectively titled ‘Support Your Local Girl Gang’, inject a hi-fructose shot into the otherwise neutral space of Melbourne’s Go Go Bar. With infinite reams of visual data at their disposal, collage artists commandeer the past, and offer alternate realties for the present to exist in. As New York-based collagist Charles Wilkin puts it himself, it is a case of “fusing cultural fragments into new stories that challenge our collective
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The Outsider, by Tyler Spangler
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“I really like those dreamlike sequences. I love poetry and I like to think that’s my way of writing poems. Visual Poems.” -David Delruelle
that image with another image, you have changed the story and challenged the viewer to rethink how they view it,” he explains. “I love to have the ability to take a moment in time and recreate it.”
I breathe better underwater by David Delruelle
assumptions and aspirations, and offering in return alternate realities and uninhibited probabilities as a manifesto for absolution.” Charles’ work can be recognised by its abstraction of facial features and classic black and white family portraits that bleed with lurid colourall bastardly juxtaposed with nudity and surreal landscapes. Juxtaposition is a powerful tool in the arsenal of the digital artist. It creates a narrative and
questions the idiosyncratic nature of an image. Brusselsborn David Delruelle combines the comforting with the unfamiliar and fear-worthy, bringing together idyllic popculturesque background scenes, overlaid with things that shouldn’t fit. “I like to put two discordant elements together to see what happens,” he explains to me. “I’m also trying to find new ways of seeing things by distorting the overall conception of ‘reality’.” He plays around with
size, perspective and proportion in order create art which explores non-linear narratives. David’s collages often feature at least one figurative layer that is mutated with shapes or strange textures, giving his images an anamorphic feel. There is something urgent and unapologetic about the nature of collage. For Tyler Spangler, who works exclusively in digital collage, the aim is to communicate a message by challenging the viewer’s understanding of an image. “When you collage fragments of
Unlike David Delruelle, who describes himself as a minimalist with a sober style, Tyler Spangler’s creative landscape is pop culture on acid. Aesthetically garish and “unabashedly chaotic”, Tyler uses intensely fluorescent rainbow colours which conjure up neon headaches. He describes his aesthetic as “an anxiety-ridden candy shop. Always perfectly out of place with an honest amount of color. I think if you mixed punk, a tropical oasis, and sour candy, you would get my style.” In 1919, German artist Kurt Schwitters coined the term Merz, meaning to assemble scraps of everyday objects together in order to create new art forms out of the remains of a former culture. Digital collage works on much the same premise. Of course, no era peers so languidly at former culture than our own: the digital age of rehashing old styles and post-postmodernism. If computerized photo manipulation is a little cold as an art form, it’s a medium that reflects our current times so aptly.
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“Absofacto. Surf culture, Electric Wizard, Sweet Movie (1974), and Gummo. I like anything that is weird and playful.” -Tyler Spangler
Absofacto, by Tyler Spangler
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What is more beautiful, a still life photo of a chrysanthemum or a microscopic snapshot of its DNA? That depends on the eye of the beholder. However, as art/science hybrid What momentum, is more beautiful, a still life projects gain it has become of a chrysanthemum or a in microscopic possiblephoto for groundbreaking progress snapshot its DNA? That depends molecular biology to of expose the beauty of the on the eyenatural of the world. beholder. However, as art/ science hybrid projects gain momentum, it has become possible for groundbreaking progress in molecular biology to expose the beauty of the natural world.
SARAH SCHOENFELD You may have noted the “All You Can Feel” series when it went viral late last year. Primarily a photographer, Berlinbased artist Sarah Schonfeld converted her studio into a lab in order to fill petri dishes with illegal substances. After the liquids are exposed to negative film, her images display the exotic and idiosyncratic nature of each drug. For those acquainted with the characteristics of LSD and ketamine, it’s amusing to draw comparisons to the nature and appearance of each photo. Just don’t try it with crystal meth.
LSD, by Sarah Schoenfeld
Ketamine, by Sarah Schoenfeld
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Bacillus Subtilis, by Fernan Federici
FERNAN FEDERICI
When Fernan Federici, PhD, isn’t splicing plant DNA, he’s taking pictures of the view and uploading them to his Flickr.
A most unlikely artist, Fernan is first a molecular geneticist and award-winning microscopist, with a PhD from Cambridge University. When he’s not splicing plant DNA, he’s taking pictures of the view and uploading them to his Flickr. By using a process called fluorescence microscopy, patterns reveal themselves on a cellular level. The result? An endlessly fascinating tour of nature’s patterns, shapes and odd quirks..
E.coli, by Fernan Federici
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OCCULT PHYSICS
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Fabian Oefner is an unusual kind of artist. His canvas is nature’s law, his catalyst is paint, and his medium is photography
Zurich-based photographer Fabian Oefner is a time maverick. He strives to capture precious moments undetectable to the human eye, thus opening the gateway to an unseen world. His best-received project to date, Action Paint, is all about exposing and manipulating different natural forces by using paint and creating an impact. “For Black Hole I used centrifugal force to create the images of whirling paint, in Liquid Jewel, I used pneumatic force and for Orchid, I used gravity,” he explains. This innovative approach is driven by equal parts science and artistic expression, and requires extensive experimentation to ensure the final result is perfect. Fabian Oefner’s work highlights everyday occurrences, but presents them as something surreal and otherworldly. His exploration of the unseen and poetic facets of the natural world is an invitation, he says, “to stop for a moment and appreciate the magic that constantly surrounds us.” This humble appreciation is refreshing. Fabian Oefner may have a keen scientific mind, but he has an even larger appreciation for loveliness. “I find it fascinating to explore the invisible world, because there is so much beauty hidden in it. When you look at these structures, you discover so many beautiful
aspects that normally remain hidden to the human eye.” Since Action Paint, Fabian Oefner has moved from strength to strength. Following his 2013 TED talk, named Psychedelic Science, he attracted the attention of Wired magazine and his first solo show, called Ephemeral, debuted on March 6 at theprintspace gallery, London. Having successfully frozen time and photographed it, his latest project Disintegrating goes a step further. “My idea for this series was to invent time. In my previous works, I focused on capturing time, and holding onto moments that pass us by in the blink of an eye. With this series, I wanted to invent such a moment from scratch, by creating the illusion of an exploding car.” This kind of capability is what qualifies Fabian as both a curator of arts and a scientist. But he doesn’t hold one in higher regard than the other. “I think it would be impossible to do scientific experimentation without creativity. I believe that no matter if you are a scientist or an artist, you have to be creative, if you want to be innovative.” Disintegrating is on display at the MAD gallery, Geneva, until May 2014.
Disintergrating, by Fabian Oefner
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SUPER IMPOSED JUDE SHOOT
MODEL: Rebecca Latter SYLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY: TRUDIE CARTER EDITING: TRUDIE CARTER ALL CLOTHES COURTESY OF ZANDRA RHODES AND JUDE LEONARD
Coat: Jude Leonard Tights: Stylist’s own
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Bra: Stylist’s own Skirt: Zandra Rhodes
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Headress: Stylist’s own Necklace: Stylist’s own Dress: Zandra Rhodes
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Slip: Zandra Rhodes
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All rings: Model’s own Slip and jacket: Zandra Rhodes
JUDE SHOOT
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MIND FUCK For Issue One, Paradigm has delved into the neuroscientific world of synesthesia and sensory distortion. How can taste be linked to emotion? What sounds can make you dream colours? We explore how chefs can drive fear into the caverns of your heart with a smorgasbord, domestic acid trips in the form of sensory blending, and what dance music looks like.
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PLATE OF THE
ART Lasse Askov and Bo Lindegaard are neglecting the traditional dining experience in favour of surreal social spaces, which blend food with creativity
meet the chef duo from copenhagen who are changing the way we eat Images courtesy of I’m a Kombo
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“Innovation can hardly sustain itself by discovering new berries or creating new combinations. This way of thinking has a definite limitation.” Images courtesy of I’m a Kombo
The Danes are at the top of their game in the culinary field right now, and you must know the rules before you break them. I’m a Kombo’s mission isn’t immediately obvious as a gap in the dining market, but their enthusiasm for a totally new, subversive eating experience is infectious. “We believe the framework of mealing has stagnated,” they tell me. “One of the most social and inclusive cultural rites has become more like a fashion show reducing guest to the role of spectators rather than participants.” The twosome have created a name for themselves by serving up a creative experience that transcends the customer’s perceptions and expectations of dining. If this all sounds rather ominous, allow me to paint you a picture. At sporadic intervals, and located in the heart of Copenhagen’s achingly trendy Meatpacking District, the duo’s brainchild-cum-restaurant is let lose on the public. As a visitor, you don’t call the shots or pick the food, they do. The chefs could spoonfeed your meal to you, or offer you rubber gloves instead of cutlery. Stepping inside takes a leap of faith, but you will be rewarded with a vibrant, unique and surprisingly tasty meal. However, it’s not quite as much what you eat as how you eat it. “We believe culinary innovation to lie more within the framework of how we eat than what we eat - interpreting the meal as a way to create new social space by the intervention of food,” says Bo. I’m a Kombo thrive off raising dining to an artistic platform with ingenious
and unexpected collaborations. The duo pushed their passion for dining distortion to the absolute limit for Wondercool 2014, Copenhagen’s major winter culture festival. They collaborated with video group FOCUS to create an exhibition inside Nikolaj Kunsthal, the second oldest medieval Danish church. “We received a bunch of video works by Cuban-American artist Anthony Goicolea and decided to ‘refurbish’ the interiors of the church to create a multi sensory journey combining food, video and space,” Lasse says of the concept, named Taste of Emotions. The challenge was combing Goicolea’s imagery, by turns introspective, brilliant and disturbing, with appetising food. The creativity of the collaboration appealed to Bo and Lasse immediately. “While watching and interpreting the works of Anthony Goicolea, we were repelled and fascinated at the same time,” Lasse muses. “His works are deeply intimate, portraying childhood experiences and at the same time depicting very general human conditions. We could easily relate to the density of his world and the moods created through his stories.” The duo’s talent for blurring the lines between art and food has given them the innovative edge, even in the Michelin-studded Danish capital. Think of food as their medium, upon which they can bend conventions and offer alternate answers for the humankind’s basic need to eat. “One strong characteristic of art is its lack of a defined functionality.
On the contrary food has a primary and defined function – to obtain satiety. When interpreting the meal from our perspective, we benefit from food’s primary function by establishing a simple act of mealing and then creatively investigate this space,” Bo elaborates. Within this space, the meal becomes a fully immersive experience, and ends up consuming the consumer. The space also becomes a canvas, upon which the duo can watch social experiments take place. “When combining strict culinary control required in a professional kitchen and the coincidence appearing as we invite guests to interact and involve themselves in the meal. A new social space occurs – a space that can resemble the undefined space of art,” says Bo. I’m a Kombo have just launched their latest venture, Nibble. Part library, part café, Nibble offers an intellectual breeding ground for innovative food and design concepts, allowing new brands exhibit their campaigns and tastings. And you know it’ll be exciting, because these guys have practically redefined what it means to be innovative. “Innovation can hardly sustain itself by discovering new berries or creating new combinations. This way of thinking has a definite limitation,” Bo says. Instead, they advocate taking mealing to the next level by collaborating with other creative industries and expressing themselves through what they do. As Bo tells me, “This perspective on innovation is about deconstructing and reconstructing one of the oldest rites we have.”
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HYPERSENSORIA
His cutlery bends these elements at will; for example, eating with his berry-red spoon will increase your perception of the sweetness in the food.
dezeen.com
As technological breakthroughs accelerate, human experience is fast becoming immaterial. Our daily lives hang on a flat plane of visual stimuli; our world stretches infinitely across time and transcends physical space. The digital universe bombards us with far more information than we can process, and as our tired eyes hungrily consume the world through a screen, sensory experience is waning. Our appetites are stirred by looking at #foodporn on Instagram. The digital era gives us a shared consciousness, but takes away the smell of freshly baked bread, for we struggle to exist in both realms simultaneously. But not all is lost. Sophisticated advances in product design are gaining momentum, with promise to ignite our dying senses. And unlike the pre-digital age, it is now possible to enhance the human sensory experience
beyond what was previously imaginable. Traditionally, multi-sensory design stimulated the five basics: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. Cutting-edge design does so much more. It incorporates the cross-wiring of perception and neurological distortion to deliver an all-encompassing emotive experience. Any sensorial designer worth his salt is tuning into buzzwords like hapticity, kinesthesia and synesthesia. Take Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Jinhyun Jeon, who in 2013 decided that domestic dining could be spruced up considerably. By reinventing basic eating utensils, his project Tableware as Sensorial Stimuli provides the diner with an enhanced, stimulating experience, bringing out the best of the food itself. The range is inspired by synesthesia, a neurological condition in
which the individual inhabits a surreal world of sensory blending. Sounds could have colours, tastes may possess states of mood, and so on. In order to recreate this process, Jinhyun first defined the five elements of the tasting experience: colour, texture, volume/ weight, temperature and form. His cutlery bends these elements at will; for example, eating with his berry-red spoon will increase your perception of the sweetness in the food. Tactile spoons of various shapes stimulate the palette, uniquely distribute flavour, and mimic the sensation of touch within the mouth. At the heart of the concept is the idea that every bite should be savoured and enjoyed to its ultimate potential. Royal Collage of Art expat Jeongwon Ji concentrated on another hyper-sensory field for her graduate project: hapticity. Frustrated
with the insipid and uninspired textures of electronic devices, her BioElectric project encases them in tactile, natural fibers. The casings are made from bio-plastic, a material created by extracting chitin polymer from the shell of the Chinese mitten crab. A nontoxic yet unlikely resource, this material (which Jeongwon calls Crustic) has an organic texture, and will fit snugly over your alarm clock or WiFi router for rich tactile stimulation.
“[The digital now] isn’t the now of a shooting pain in your foot or the second you bite into a pastry or the three hours you lose yourself in a great book. This now bears very little physical or psychological reference to our own state.” –Abha Daewsar, TED
Whilst BioElectric aims to reintroduce a slice of the natural world back into our lives, scientific developments into the power of scent memory could offer a lingering nostalgia of our own past. Scent memory
has a particularly emotive quality, which is the theme London-based design duo Amy Radcliffe and Helene Combal-Weiss decided to probe. Enter Madeleine, the Scentography Analogue Odour Camera, who captures a scent in time like a photograph and stores it forever. The clever device isolates the smell through a glass dome, and produces a synthetic fragrance. Inspired by the poignancy of involuntary memory, as described in Michel Proust’s novella The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Madeleine can recreate emotional reactions through captured scents. ‘My particular interest in sensory design came from an observation of how we treat digital photography,’ Radcliffe recently told LS:N Global. ‘I wanted to find a sense that could be used as a vehicle for memory preservation in a more tangible and personal way. Smell memories are utterly bespoke.’ Scent innovation is a hugely underexplored area, and as demonstrated by designer Ritika Kernani, it holds many possibilities. Her beautifully simple Scent Timer explores the way we perceive the passing of time, whilst engaging our sense of smell. The Scent Timer was born out of a fear Ritika had- that we live in an age of sensory deprivation and depend heavily upon our sight to experience the world around us. Using a relay train of incense sticks, each which burn out in 15 minutes to make way for a new scent, Ritika’s solution is a more organic way to return us to our basic instincts. It feels reminiscent of yesteryear’s clocks; the sundials with which our ancestors marked the passing of the sun. Ritika’s invention demonstrates how these new multi-sensory devices are not built to be an extension of our tongue or fingertips. A far cry from the cyborg implications of say, Google Glass, these products simply enhance a human’s perception of their environment. Of all the gadgets technology may offer you this year, a reunion with your instinctual senses is a worthy investment.
amyradcliffe.co.uk
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dezeen.co
London-based graphic designer Cat Burns decided to make a music video in the purest sense of the word. “I deconstructed the concept of a music video,” she explains. “If the concept is to visualize music, how can I literally do that?” Inspired by the sonic-visual world of synesthesia, Cat created Kaleidophonic in her bedroom using a light box and candyfloss.
KALEIDOPHONIC London-based graphic designer Cat Burns decided to make a music video in the purest sense of the word. “I deconstructed the concept of a music video,” she explains. “If the concept is to visualize music, how can I literally do that?” Inspired by the sonicvisual world of synesthesia, Cat created Kaleidophonic in her bedroom using a light box and candyfloss. Kaleidophonic is a 5-minute video set to a mellow, immersive electronica track by Tosca, and contains intense kaleidoscopic visuals in acid bright UV colours. Some silhouettes are flashing lights; some have the fluidity of ink. The visuals are reminiscent of CGI generated dance videos, but Cat’s DIY approach has given Kaleidophonic a languid, organic feel. Inspired by the neurological phenomenon of sound/vision synesthesia, which gives the
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individual intense visuals in response to sounds or music, Kaleidophonic accurately displays what music could hypothetically look like. In order to gain insight into this surreal world, Cat contacted the UK Synesthesia Association and sent a sample of the music to five volunteers. She then received sketches depicting what each person had visualised whilst listening to the track. Her results were unexpected. “This one woman drew three pages of sketches!” Cat tells me excitedly. “All different colours. I was like, you must have been tripping out!” Another said she was seeing luminescent UV colours, so Cat started experimenting with glow in the dark substances and her lightbox. “You should have seen my room when I was doing this!” Cat says. “I was trying to research what glows in the dark, and I borrowed a black
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Images courtesy of Cat Burns
“This one woman drew three pages of sketches!” Cat tells me excitedly. “All different colours. I was like, you must have been tripping out!” light off a colleague at work. Apparently Flash Liquid glows in the dark, so I had a bottle of that.” By blotting inks on the lightbox, Cat discovered she could manipulate the images to create a kaleidoscope. She then took the sketches as a springboard, and used literal interpretations where possible. “Certain things I would take literally, because the visuals are so important to the piece. But sometimes it was such a weird description, I’d think, I don’t know what to do with this.” One volunteer described semicircles, so Cat used flashing disco lights, which she synced with the music. “I had that, against a curtain I was willowing,” she laughs, then adds as an afterthought, “It required a lot of weed.” As we watch the video, Cat keeps up a running commentary of what she used to create the effects, and some of her methods
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sound contextually bizarre. “That is baby oil with ink, with glitter over it,” she describes as the moving kaleidoscope shimmers neon green. “One woman said the texture of the music is like candyfloss. So I had candyfloss in a glass and I was spraying it with the flash under a blacklight and filming it, so you can see.” It’s a huge credit to Kaleidophonic that amongst the hypnotic chaos contorting and crawling to the beat of the music, candyfloss is the last thing I can see. Through the process, Cat discovered her passion lies in moving image, as opposed to static graphic design. She shot the entire film on a camera with a macro lens, and despite appearances, none of Kaleidophonic is CGI generated. “I wanted something that was almost computerised,” she explains, and then ends with a modest shrug. “But I really had no idea what it would turn out like.”
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“One woman said the texture of the music is like candyfloss. So I had candyfloss in a glass and I was spraying it with the flash under a blacklight and filming it.”
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IBOGAINE: DEIFITSYMED We caught up with tryptamine expert and philosophical thinker Nick Sandberg, to pick his brains about the inscrutable drug and its life-saving potential.
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You might have heard of ibogaine, but not from this weekend’s drug menu. An ibogaine high isn’t for recreational freeloading, as chances are you’ll still be stuck in an unspeakable dimension on Monday. The substance is a strong hallucinogenic belonging to the tryptamine family, native to West Africa. Far from making news for teenage abuse at independent festivals, ibogaine is gaining publicity as a magic bullet cure for heroin addiction. While the Western world continues to dismiss the mounting evidence, addicts are falling victim to our failed systems of care and rehabilitation. So, what can ibogaine offer those who desperately need it?
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Hi Nick. When did you first become interested in ibogaine? It was back in the late 90s, and I was going through a phase of trying to save my brother Ken, a long-term heroin addict. I read an article in the Guardian about the drug, and it really interested me. It was hard to get in those days. I remember going to Slovenia to get some for me and my brother.
Do the effects of the trip last a few days, then? Yeah, ibogaine sits in the body for quite a long time. I’ve had drugs of the same class, LSD or something like that, they last about 8 hours. Ibogaine, on a medium strength doseof course it depends on the person and how they metabolise it- but between 24 and 48 hours is normal.
but that it’s a business. It’s got shareholders. No one develops one-hit medications because they can’t afford it. It costs about 2050 million US dollars to get a drug through the trials and onto the market, even then it’s still being tried, so that’s a lot of money to invest. If it’s just a one-hit shot thing, you’re never going to get that money back. So there’s no point in developing anything like that.
What was the effect it had on your brother? I think it did detox him, but it’s hard to know with my brother. Like any addict, he didn’t always tell the truth about whether he was using or not, and he wasn’t really that bothered about getting off drugs. I thought it was a good idea for him to get off, and he wouldn’t do something like rehab, but he would take another drug.
Does the intensity remain throughout that period? It goes through phases. The effects come on after about an hour, and often you hear drumming sounds in your head. You become very sensitive to noise and light, you have to lie down, because you can’t really stand up anymore. Then at some point, you get these intense dreams or visions. Sometimes it’s even like watching a movie of your childhood, it’s really quite powerful. The dreams often have some kind of clear psychological content, like repressed emotional stuff, and last maybe four or five hours. Then there’s a headspace sort of REM activity, where your brain processes everything very very fast, and that lasts 12 hours. You can’t really sleep during that time.
I guess it’s a shame in that way, it will never become a mainstream treatment, but do you think it’s worth raising people’s awareness towards alternative medication? Sure! I think people are a lot more suspicious about drug companies these days. I think about my parents, who are quite middleclass, and who 10 years ago thought the drug companies were great, and men in white coats were really doing the best for the world. But now people generally think that they [drug companies] are there to just make money out of you. It’s good to raise awareness. There is a lot of skepticism towards ibogaine as well, but if you see it work [you wont be skeptical] because it’s basically a fucking miracle. It really has helped a lot of people from drugaddicted backgrounds.
But it sounds like quite a therapeutic experience. It can be, yeah. It has been anecdotally called ‘ten years of psychotherapy in a single session’, which I wouldn’t really agree with personally. But if you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere with therapy, and want to go inside a bit deeper, its an option.
The thing is; most people aren’t aware of how the world runs in some ways. Medicine is okay, but you can’t really have medicine under capitalist control. They make decent medicine, but want to keep people a bit ill, so they will buy more medicine. It’s not evil; it’s a company, that’s what companies do. Then they have more money for PR to make their medicine look really great.
So what was the appeal of the alternative medicine, vs the rehab route? Rehabilitation is not really the same as detoxification. Going for a detox drug to get off drugs is quite a major milestone. Rehab centers wont take you until you’re really off drugs, but to stop taking an opiate after a decade is not an easy thing for most addicts. Ibogaine blocks a lot of the symptoms of drug withdrawal, and makes it a lot easier for most addicts to stop using. Whether they stay off or not, that’s more up to them. How do you feel it compares to other types of treatment that are currently available? It’s far superior to anything else I’ve heard of. It’s a different paradigm. What are your first-hand experiences with the drug? I used to take Ibogaine quite a lot. I’d take it as hydrochloride or root bark. I also went to the Cameroon once and did this whole initiation ceremony thing, which was a bit crazy! Could you describe the ceremony? I had some French contact, and I went there for two weeks, in August 1999. Ibogaine is used ritually out there, so we did the whole ritual thing. You eat loads of root bark, which is hideous tasting, and then you go on a journey with it. I was out of it for quite a few days.
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Would you say it’s become more available since you first tried to get hold of it? Yeah, it is more available. Not massively more, as it’s always been an underground kind of thing. There are medical people who have taken it up, but no one’s really got anywhere. It’s a closed shop with the pharmaceutical companies these days, they have pretty much 100% say on what gets legalised or not. I’ve read that there isn’t any money for the pharmaceutical companies with ibogaine, as it’s a one-dose kind of deal. What you have to understand about the drug business, it isn’t so much that it’s evil or bad,
What advice would you give someone who is curious in the treatment, but has doubts or isn’t sure where to get hold of it? You do need to have tests. Ibogaine has quite a lot of deaths associated with it, partly because it’s so useful for treating drug addiction, but a lot of drug addicts are not in a very healthy state. It stays in the blood a long time, and it’s heavy on the heart and liver. So you would need those checked if you’re going to do it responsibly. Once you’ve passed those, look online. It’s not really being used by anyone super responsible or qualified, so you have to take your chances.
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THEREISMORE SPIRITUALITYINASINGLE PSYCHEDELICPLANT
PSYCHEDELICPLANT SPIRITUALITYINASINGLE THEREISMORE PARADIGMFORPRINT.indd 38
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COMBINED OFTHEWORLD THANINALLTHECHURCHES
THANINALLTHECHURCHES OFTHEWORLD COMBINED
Work courtesy of Kate Shaw for Fehily Contemporary
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AIMEDEHCYSP OT EDIUG S’ TUOPORD A A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA ’ TUOPORD A S G U I D E T O P S Y EMIA C H PSYCHED TO E UT’S GUIDE AIMED
EMIA CYSP OT EDIUG S’ TUOPORD A UT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHED AIMEDEH S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
1. Pick A Side: Strengthening Your Argument Any budding psychedemic needs to refine his anti-establishment viewpoint. Of course, like any battle, the Government’s war on drugs has its fatalities. It’s common knowledge that the classification (often the highest tier) of psychedelic drugs is technically false, and yet these potentially life-saving chemicals are denied trials. In light of emerging research, it is no longer morally permissible to defend that law. The stigma surrounding psychedelics is a significant barrier to progress, and if psilocybin can prevent the PTSD suicides committed every 18 minutes by war veterans, then let them eat the damn mushrooms.
The intellectual purpose of tripping is long overdue a discussion. Notoriously, an attempt at conveying the meaning of the psychedelic experience falls on the shaky side (like, I just felt a warmth, you know, all over my body. Can’t describe it man). Psychedemia, a conference held at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, marked the start of a new conversation between suited academics and the intensely passionate, hollow-eyed but rainbowcoloured psychedelic community. This coincides with the rise of awareness into psychedelic science and emerging research into the medical properties of hallucinogenic substances. The key role of these overlapping groups is to spark debate into the scientific and spiritual benefits of the psychedelic experience. Paradigm have broken down the key pointers, in order to avoid social faux pas in the world of Psychedemia, where the educated authority eloquently reiterate what you’ve known all along.
2. Get Involved: DIY Human Experiments
3. Neo-Shamanism: It Isn’t Our Science
Doctors are wiping the slate clean on the dodgy LSD experiments of the 60’s. However, administrating psychedelics in a controlled environment on human beings hasn’t changed much. There is something a tad sinister about a medical professional administering LSD to you in a clinical tube; it’s a one-way ticket to an uninspiring, claustrophobic trip. It’s a process easily doable from home with the right equipment. YOU WILL NEED: 1. A data collector who stays sober; also doubles up as sitter 2. A thoughtful hypothesis- what are you setting out to discover? Do you want to test different substances on states of mood? Are you looking for a way to cure body dysmorphia through an induced crisis?
Learning the difference between Eastern and Western practices is crucial. Indigenous shamanism and healing tents will deliver a guaranteed, salt-of-the-earth spiritual awakening. However, our academic pals aren’t particularly interested in terms or matter they can’t define academically. They shield away from any associations with shamanism; if it’s for Western medicine, it’s got to be strictly scientific, with the end goal to harvest interest from the Government and pharmaceutical companies. Tripping your tits off with an indigenous tribe in a healing tent will not do. Even if it cures your social anxiety for life, it’s definitely not science. Got it?
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A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMI
Paradigm gives the essential briefing on how to intelligently discuss and appreciate the psychedelic experience.
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
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A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
REQUIRED READING: -The Conscious Mind, by David Chalmers -The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley -DMT: The Spirit Molecule, by Rick Strassman -The Tibetan Book of the Dead, by Karma-glin-pa
KEY PHRASES/ DINNER TABLE CONVERSATION -“Timothy Leary really screwed it up for us, didn’t he?” -“Is mental health about meaning or medication?” -“Mystic experiences are arguably more real than everyday waking consciousness.” -“I’ve stopped brushing my teeth since I discovered fluoride suppresses the pineal gland.”
3. Neo-Shamanism: It Isn’t Our Science Learning the difference between Eastern and Western practices is crucial. Indigenous shamanism 4. Go Back to and healing tents will deliver a guaranteed, School: Get an A* salt-of-the-earth spiritual awakening. in Bullshit However, our academic pals aren’t particularly interested in terms or In order to can’t closely understand the matter they define academically. “mysterious” forces havoc They shield away fromthat anywreck associations on states of both withour shamanism; if it’s consciousness for Western and perception, experts have medicine, it’s got to be strictly attempted to attach scientific, with the endscientific goal to harvest phraseology, in order to describe interest from the Government and something that language has pharmaceutical companies.itself Tripping no This includes drawing yourwords tits offfor. with an indigenous tribe on ‘many worlds interpretation’ in athe healing tent will not do. Even if it of quantum mechanics cures your social anxiety to forexamine life, it’s hallucinations, and orGot watching the definitely not science. it? hour-long Youtube video of David E. Nichols explaining the neuroscience behind LSD. You flunked GSCE biology, but unfortunately this step is mandatory for your PhD in Psychedemia.
AIMEDEHCYSP OT EDIUG S’ TUOPORD A A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
DRESS THE PART: -Cut your hair and toenails -Ensure face looks constantly intrigued and bemused simultaneously. Consider eyedrops -If you don’t have a PhD, don’t even bother wearing a suit -But a pair of winkle pickers will go a long way
5. Embrace the Crisis: Ditch the Therapist
6. Don’t Worry, Die Happy
The majority of recreational trips usually take place with friends, either at a festival, on a beach or in front of the TV. Understandably, you want to enjoy yourself, and feeling like your face is melting off will only put a downer on your trip, right? Maybe, but evidence is proving that a psychedelic crisis can result in long-term benefits towards your mental health. Trying to prevent a bad trip will only backlog the terror until it manifests in your own brain. As Psychedemia speaker and clinician Maggi Quinlan puts it; “in a psychedelic experience you can feel pure bliss and ectasy, or pure terror and hell. Both are equally as healing.” Consider facing the abyss, you’ll come out saner.
In 1963, Aldous Huxley, author of The Doors of Perception, asked for an injection of LSD on his deathbed, believing the drug could facilitate a “good death”. Facing the reality of one’s own death is one step closer to combating the anxiety faced by the terminally ill, and could provide solace for the psychologically traumatised in the mist of a spiritual crisis. Argue with anyone who says they want to end their lives with clarity and sobriety. There is no purer clarity than the psychedelic experience.
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
AIMEDEHCYSP OT EDIUG S’ TUOPO A DROPOUT’S GUIDE ’ TUOPORD A G SPSYCHEDEMIA T EDIUTO EMIA CYSP O UT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHED AIMEDEH
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
A DROPOUT’S GUIDE TO PSYCHEDEMIA
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e therapist’s chair MODELS : RUBY GRAY OLIVER HILSON GERRY TAVOLIERI STYLIST: TRUDIE CARTER PHOTOGRAPHY: TRUDIE CARTER EDITING: TRUDIE CARTER
Velvet dress: vintage
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Vest top: H&M
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Blazer: Zara Shirt: Zara Tie: Vintage
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By the time The Beatles shot ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ out of Revolver in 1966, the psychedelic movement was thriving, and at once two things were given a soundtrack. One was the encapsulation of free love and LSD that dogged at the subversive heels of the early 60s, and the second was the dreamscape for the sonically innovative. What is it about psychedelic music that has hypnotized us ever since? “It seems odd in the current political climate that bands are not making more angry, anti-establishment music. I suppose psychedelic music is all about escaping, and creating new sounds and stories, so I think it’s a playform form of escapism from the reality of the world.” Danny Mitchell- Heavenly Recordings
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HEAD ACHE
THE UNDERACHIEVERS
Images courtesy of The Underachievers
Brooklyn is ablaze with hip-hop talent. Following in the footsteps of the Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, aka AK and Issa Gold, are the latest act to bring an ethereal flavour to the East Coast. April marks the release of The Underachievers’ much-anticipated debut album, The Cellar Door, following the success of 2013’s EPs Indigoism and Lords of Flatbush. It is already proving to be a busy year for the duo, who wrap up their ‘Eyes of the World’ tour of North America on May 15th in NYC. The tour will no doubt attract an eclectic crowd, thanks to the genre cross-wiring of classic hip hop and 60’s infused psychedelia. With the immortal phrase ‘Tune in, turn on and drop out’ emblazoned across the poster for ‘Eyes
of the World’, the Underachievers look to bring something totally idiosyncratic to the scene. In many ways, the duo play on the stereotype of drop-out culture, but surprise with meaningful lyrics that far surpass the usual ‘bragging and bitches’ repertoire.
In many ways, the duo play on the stereotype of dropout culture, but surprise with meaningful lyrics that far surpass the usual ‘bragging and bitches’ repertoire.
The rappers’ experimentations with psychedelic drugs since their teens feeds into their sound; beats that feel transcendent and ethereal, combined with fast-spat lyrics about demons, enlightenment, spirituality and religion. Trippy music videos shot in hotboxed room redefine cool for a generation that scarcely remember old school hip hop. Stay tuned in.
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Images courtesy of The Underachievers
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a HEAVENLY SOUND HOW ONE INDEPENDENT LONDON RECORD LABEL REACHED THE FOREFRONT OF A NEW PSYCHEDELIC SCENE
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Images courtesy of Heavenly Recordings
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“With all records the visuals are important. At Heavenly we take a huge amount of pride in our visual approach to music. Visual records don’t just sell better they make everything more special.”- Danny Mitchells
Images courtesy of Heavenly Recordings
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Is it possible that Heavenly Recordings foresaw the greatest comeback Generation Y has ever known? In the last couple of years, the London-based independent record label have received attention by signing class acts TOY and Temples, at a time when Perthbased Tame Impala were setting the festival scene alight with their dreamy psychedelic grooves. Despite humble beginnings (founder Jeff Barret worked in a record shop in 1990, when he launched the label off the back of “a real enthusiasm for independent music”), Heavenly Recordings are riding a new wave of prosperity. “It appears that after rocketing TOY into popular circles last year, Heavenly Records have also copped onto 2013’s future success story. Temples are a whimsical outfit that dictate the finest of acid trips,” wrote music blogger Katherine Cantwell a year ago. Fast forward to 2014, and the hysteria is growing. Temples’ debut album, Sun Structures, coasted with ease into the UK album chart and remains captivating despite mainstream success. Whilst bringing up hazy memories of psychedelic yesteryear, Sun Structures holds a little back, and this aura of mystique feels exciting. Their debut single Shelter Song is summery and infectious, whilst paying homage to the Byrd’s n’ Beatles era of narcotic infused riffs and kaleidoscopic moods. “It’s so easy to fall into that kind of pastiche, retro-revival thing, but our aim is to reference these things and bring something completely new to it,” Temples
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told Heavenly in a recent interview. “A song like Sun Structures talks about something contemporary using old imagery and Eastern religion.” “Since MGMT and Tame Impala, psychedelic music has been making a huge comeback,” explains Heavenly Recordings A&R Danny Mitchells. “You only have to look at the success of events like Austin and Liverpool Psychedelia Festival to see that it has grown in popularity. It is a style of music on a good run where younger acts are not frightened to experiment.” However, Danny believes the Heavenly acts are not necessarily pigeonholed under the same genre. “The scene we have with Temples, Charlie Boyer and The Voyeurs, Stealing Sheep and TOY isn’t strictly psychedelic, but it is experimental.” Charlie Boyer and The Voyeurs echo a glam rock sentiment, whilst TOY looks to their close friends The Horrors for post-punk inspiration. Temples’ influences are heavily rooted in classic psychedelic music, but also the films of Kenneth Anger, and the writings of Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary. The four-piece from Kettering describe their sound as “progressive, psychedelic and primeval.” They cite Syd Barret of Pink Floyd and The Doors as music geniuses, and the respect they have for these acts is adamant. “Temples’ ethereal jams echo the days of the UFO club,” Katherine tells me. In Syd Barret’s underground heyday, playing an
improvised set at the UFO club in bizarre costume was something of a phenomenon. Temples’ bassist Tom Warmsley published an ode to The Doors, praising the way they transcended each genre. An extract reads; “The way they blend styles- mixing jazz and psychedelia and everything- was a sound I’d never heard before.” With a hugely successful year under their spangled belts, Heavenly Recordings and protégés Temples have paved the way for young experimental acts that will follow. The dreamy riffs and madcap visuals are fast becoming the go-to formula. “We recently went to SXSW festival when we stumbled across a new band, “Fever the Ghost,” Danny tells me. “We watched them, and they are a bit like MGMT, playful, fun and psychedelic. They have great songs and some mad videos; it is good to see a band not taking themselves too seriously. We did a handshake deal with them on the spot.” Heavenly Recordings’ psychedelic takeover is far from over. And if to be psychedelic is to transcend genre, blend unfamiliar sounds and recollect forgotten worlds, the new kids in the block have a richer palette than ever. MGMT passed the baton onto Tame Impala and Melody’s Echo Chamber, and now the British indie scene is overflowing with both progressive guitar and electronica influences. Tune in, turn on and drop out to the hallucinatory, feel-good sounds.
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THE HIGHEST FREQUENCY
With the constant bombardment of media, information and tabloid headlines becoming commonplace in our highly driven society, perhaps it is little surprise that the Western world has begun to seek solace in ancient Eastern practices. Meditation is hardly a new phenomenon, but its recent rise to popularity is a welcome one. Guided meditation apps like Headspace allow downloaders to escape the hectic world of staying connected…with the help of their iPhone. Technology exists to solve a problem, so it was inevitable that the thing we are trying to escape would give us the means. Headspace gives a slice of the hippie-centric spiritual
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Our gener ation’s buzzword is “wellbeing”.It may not be rock and roll, but our need to escape the manic, button-pushing intensity of the rat race has reached a fevereous pitch
lifestyle that busy commuters can relate to: accessible self-discovery neatly packaged for the demographic who arguably need it the most. The revival of binaural beats epitomizes this. Despite being invented in 1839 by physicist Heinrich Wilhem Dove, they were largely ignored until home-audio editing software and YouTube were invented. Binaural beats also have an intriguing USP: they can get you high. No, this isn’t legal salvia volume II. But binaural beats are quickly emerging as our “digital drug”, based on the sensations they create within the brain. Because these beats operate on brain waves, they are capable of
causing hormonal imbalances along neurotransmitters. Two beats of similar frequencies are played into each ear through headphones, and the brain integrates the two signals, producing, in effect, a third sound called the binaural beat. In this way, the brain can effectively keep the beat of the external music, allowing for a surreal introspective experience. Examining our perception of sound, or how the brain translates it, as measurable data is a thrilling concept. But do the psychedelic effects of these beats live up to the hype? Paradigm editor Trudie Carter and meditation enthusiast Connor Bryan give an honest verdict.
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Pineal Gland Activation, mountainmystic9
5-HTP secretion for happiness, DrNepal
Opening the third eye may seem an intimidating feat, but the benefits are abundant: lucid dreaming, euphoria, perhaps a spiritual awakening. The pineal gland secretes melatonin, which creates imagination, and effects sleep, biorhythms and the ageing process. Headaches are normal; the pineal gland is rarely used, so its activation will cause discomfort.
This comes with an intensity warning and promise to enhance positivity and lower depression levels. It’s basically audio MDMA, right? The secretion of 5HTP, a naturally occurring amino acid more widely known as serotonin, could cause a hormonal imbalance affecting mood, stress levels, sleep and memory. An increase in serotonin is responsible for euphoric highs commonly associated with almost every recreational drug on the spectrum. Could this track boost mood, fight depression and possibly set a shaky comedown straight?
Trudie Carter: Well, I fell asleep towards the 20-minute mark, for maybe half an hour, and woke up feeling like I’d slept for YEARS. Honestly I had little recollection of whatever the fuck I’d been doing or why I felt so groggy. Connor Bryan: I made a conscious effort to fall asleep, and managed to achieve a lucid dream. I believed my eyes to be closed, but a massive shape appeared in front of me. Reaching out to grab it, I realized my hands had become detached in an astral projection. Psychedelic rating: 7/10
Crown Chakra Activation and Healing Meditation, AudioEntertainment
Binaural beats are quickly emerging as our “digital drug”, based on the sensations they create within the brain.
Trudie Carter: Apart from the sound of gently lapping waves, which I’m pretty sure is meant to happen; I could detect a thin whine that lowered into a vibrato. Am I making this sound or listening to it? Focusing on this noise is definitely uncomfortable; it is the sound of absolute silence. I felt no rise in euphoria. Psychedelic rating: 2/10
Marijuana High/THC Beat/ Purple Haze Digital Drug, HQ Binaural Beats
Those with the highest energy radiating from their crown chakras are said to be highly intelligent, intellectual thinkers with innovative ideas. Think I’ll let Connor take this one.
This beat aims to replicate the reaction the brain has to marijuana. There are no obvious psychological benefits here, but this could be an interesting, legal alternative to getting stoned.
Connor Bryan: As usual when I meditate, I felt less conscious of my breathing as it become shallower and my thoughts were detached. Then, I became really aware of colours and shapes, normal ones at first. As I felt more entranced, I saw intense shades of pink light. It was basically like tripping out. I felt relaxed and euphoric afterwards.
Trudie Carter: This was by far the buzziest. The sound was a monotonous vibration that eventually took over my body and seemed to come from within. After 4 minutes my fingers started tingling, and I felt lethargic but very relaxed. The ambient sounds of faraway winds air came and went, but I found when I focused on them, I felt a falling sensation.
Psychedelic rating: 9/10
Psychedelic rating: 5/10
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