Terence Day 2012

Terence Day 2012 by Hiddenplacemusic on Mixcloud

Terence Day is a celebration of the life and ideas of author, speaker, philosopher and futurist Terence McKenna, especially the idea of "boundary disillusion" a concept he referred to often during his many talks. It is celebrated on April 3rd, the day Terence crossed the boundary between life and death in the year 2000 after a losing battle with a rare form of brain cancer. This year's Terence Day is of special import, as some of the ideas about the year 2012 being a time of radical transformation are part of a cultural meme which Terence had a large part in initiating.
All the music in this mix comes from the excellent netlabel Ektoplazm, so all the tracks are available as free downloads under the creative commons license. Two of the tracks are from Globular's brilliant new release A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, an absolute must-have for all fans of dubby downtempo psychedelic music and a shining example of the stunning quality of music available for free at Ektoplazm.
A few extra clips of Terence McKenna talking about boundary disillusion are from Psychedelic Salon podcast 295 "The World and It's Double"

playlist:
1. Koan - At the Sunset/Entanglement
from The Signs: Entanglement

2. Ancient Core - Psychedelic Echosystem
from Mysterious Nights v02

3. Uth - Reflections Of Consciousness
from Distant Instincts

4. Digital Conception - The Mystical Quest
from The Return of Quetzalcoatl

5. Globular - To The Other Side Of Fractal Phase Space
from A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

 6. Mindsphere - Presence
from Interdimensional Gateway 2

7. Sephira - The Beginning Of The End
from Imagination In Motion

8. Globular - Feeding Back Forwards
from A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy


artwork by Smoke Jaguar

Akara - Extradimensional Ethnography

Ancient & modern, acoustic & electronic, sacred & sensual, ethereal & worldly... the music of the Akara project collapses dualities and guides the listener into a state of aural samadhi with a sonic ceremony in the form of an album called Extradimensional Ethnography. this transcendent album is an absolute must-have for fans of globally-flavored grooves with a psychedelic touch, and has quickly become my top favorite release of 2011.
the album can be streamed in full on bandcamp, and is also available on CD and from the usual digital outlets

Space Forming Vol. 3

Russian/ukrainian netlabel Gliese 581c were first introduced to me when they co-distributed several of their releases on my current favorite netlabel Ektoplazm. Gliese 581c presents a modest but growing catalog of music centered around psytrance, chillout and dub styles.
I have especially enjoyed their Space Forming compilation series, and Vol. 3 is a monster! 2.5 hours of the finest in deep psychill downtempo ambient. If you're a fan of artists like Solar Fields, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Shpongle or Bluetech, do not miss this compilation!
Direct download: ZIP (mp3)

Terence Day 2011

download mp3 98 MB 160kbps
mix currently unavailable- contact for download link

once again this mix for Terence Day was thrown together somewhat at the last minute, but i decided to post it anyway. i have been spending my time preparing for the Breaking Convention conference going on this weekend at the University of Kent where i will be helping the lads from the Shroom with a View podcast record conversations and interviews for their show. stay tuned for more on that.
once again its a [somewhat disjointed] mix of consciousness-expanding psytrance, ambient and downtempo music which features samples of The Bard McKenna (and sometimes other people) speaking. the mix begins with the audio from a rare video (embedded below) of Terence performing a wild blend of spoken word poetry, chant and glossolalia with the band Lost at Last. also included is the track El Alien by NatureLovesCourage which is better known as the theme song to the Psychedelic Salon, the podcast which first introduced me to Terence McKenna.
"each artist is an antenna to the transcendental other, and as we go with our own history into that thing, and then create a unique confluence of our uniqueness, and its uniqueness, we collectively create an arrow. An arrow out of history, out of time, perhaps even out of matter, that will redeem, then, the idea that man is good. This is the promise of art, and its fulfillment is never more near than the present moment."

playlist:
1. Terence McKenna Performs with Lost at Last
2. Space Time Continuum - Alien Love
3. Persistent Aura - Greco-Mayan Civilisation
4. Saffron Slumber - Mind Revealer
5. NatureLovesCourage - El Alien (Trance Mix)
6. Globular - Synesthesiasia
7. Ekoplex - Forest Shaman
8. Jar Jar Binks - Psychedelic Experience
9. Bezoar vs Onionbrain - Mindless
10. NatureLovesCourage - Terence McKenna @ Uxmal '98


Terence McKenna Performs with Lost at Last from Allan Lundell on Vimeo.


cover image by Dominic's pics

A Shroom with a View

a couple weeks ago i had a lovely skype conversation with nexus112 from A Shroom with a View podcast. we talked about conspiracy theories, the technological singularity, creative commons music, meditation, entheogens, being your own shaman, the meaning of the psychedelic experience, and probably some other stuff ive forgotten about. somehow we managed to record it and Nex made it into episode 20 and 21 of his podcast. i cant promise it will be remotely interesting to anyone else, but i had a good time, and the SWAV podcast is definitely recommended if youre interested in mycology, psychedelic thinking, celtic music and odd scottish humor.

hiddenplace music mix 8: Terence Day 2010

Download mp3 75 MB, 160 kbps

"Terence Day" is celebrated on April 3rd in honor of Terence McKenna, an ethnobotanist, philosopher, speaker, writer and futurist. some people use this day to celebrate and explore the concept of boundary disillusionment, which is a concept that McKenna talked quite a lot about in his talks and lectures over the years. according to him, the dissolving of the artificial boundaries which society has set up is essential for the human species to grow and survive as we move into the next stage of our evolution.
this year marks the 10th anniversary of McKenna's death, so i wanted to put together a special mix of consciousness-expanding music, some of which features clips from his lectures. the mix ends with the stirring finale of a performance he gave with Space Time Continuum in the early 90s.
even if youve never heard of Terence McKenna before, i hope this mix inspires you to give some thought to the boundaries we create between ourselves and the environment, between "us" and "them" and between our ego self and our fellow human beings.

tracklist:
(00:20) stockfinster. - Sailing Through The Bardo [Sutemos]
(05:40) Alkor - One Day Above The Clouds [Kahvi, Ektoplazm]
(11:25) Trebolactiko - Pskalibur [Ektoplazm]
(17:08) Pan Psychic - The Last Reality [Ektoplazm]
(22:55) Xamanist - Machu Picchu [Ektoplazm]
(30:27) Rage Against Comics - Juggernaut Mass Culture [Ektoplazm]
(36:02) Spire - Helical Scan [Ektoplazm]
(43:03) Space Time Continuum - Timewave Zero

cover artwork by holodelic
...

ManMadeMan – Children Of The Light

one of my favorite netlabel discoveries recently is Ektoplazm. they have just about everything i look for in a netlabel-- a simple but distinctive website design, a nice variety of sounds while staying centered on a specific genre (in this case, psytrance), high-quality production values and professional mastering, a reasonable release schedule, plus lossless flac and wav downloads.
one release which i particularly enjoyed recently is Children Of The Light by ManMadeMan. the style is based in Ektoplazm's signature trippy psytrance sound, but also ventures into downtempo, ambient and chillout atmospheres. pulsing synths and beats are deftly combined with reverberated pianos and voices for a thrilling, mind-bending journey. music which is equally at home on the dacefloor, in the lounge, or in your headphones.

AmbiScience

one of my favorite apps for the ipod touch lately has been the AmbiScience series from Tesla Software. these apps play loops of ambient music which can be combined with various brainwave entrainment sounds, including settings for increased alertness, meditation, and deep sleep (i definitely recommend reading up on brainwave entrainment if youre not familiar with it already, its really fascinating). the apps work great as a sleep aid, and a timer is included which will shut down the app after a certain time. even without the entrainment options, the ambient loops are very enjoyable to listen to, well-produced and usually long enough so that the loop is not immediately noticeable. the Pure Sleep and Brain Power editions feature more organic sounds somewhat in the style of Steve Roach or Michael Stearns, and Androids Odyssey naturally has a more electronic, classic sequencer spacemusic feel.
and as an added bonus, An Android's Odyssey is free at the iTunes store for the next few days. definitely recommended for fans of ambient music who own an iPhone or iPod touch!

Uniquetunes

the lads of the russian band Uniquetunes have been steadily honing their skills with a series of live recordings released on the ElectroSound netlabel. on their latest, self-titled studio release (as always, freely downloadable from ElectroSound) their endless hard work is in full effect, and listeners are rewarded with an extremely tight set of indie progressive jazz jams. so-called 'jam band' music can often fall into boring, self-absorbed repetition, or pointless technical showing-off, but Uniquetunes hits just the right balance of technical mastery and artful composition, while laying down some seriously deep funk in the process.
the album begins with several seconds of random radio noise. for me, this was the only negative point on the release-- the intro seems rather pointless and a bit annoying if you have to download the tracks individually! but after the intro, Uniquetunes launches into 7 tracks of some of the best psychedelic jams available. according to the release page, the album was recorded without the use of computers, and it sounds great. as with most new releases from the netaudio.ru family of netlabeles, it is offered in 192kbps streaming, as well as 320kpbs mp3 & flac downloads, so the sound quality as well as the musicianship is really stellar. pleasantly chilled grooves, melodic sax solos, lush swirling delays and tight precision drumming make this a perfect release for a warm & active spring evening.