We all enjoy listening to psybient and ambient dub music in the relative quiet of our homes or through the use of headphones. This is a given. While I love listening to ambient music at home I always enjoy a live music experience too, from rock to blues to jazz and many forms in-between.
However when it comes to the live psychedelic ambient music experience it's fair to say that a solo producer sitting behind a mixing deck or set of CD mixers isn't always the most amazing experience. Psytrance and techno - no problem, I can dance my ass off all night to those guys. But put an ambient producer in front of me for 4 hours and I tend to nod off pretty quickly or head off to the veggie burger stand.
Fortunately a trend of late has been addressing this very problem - the live, on the road, psybient band showcase ! Shpongle are well known for using elaborate stage designs and sets complete with psychedelic dancers, lasers and all sort of craziness. Shulman has been touring the last year or two with his group of stage sound wizards.Peaking Goddess Collective, Younger Brother and Cosmosis are a few more acts that come to mind which have been bringing their sounds to fans via live stage formats.
Some very exciting news that come out this week is that psychedelic dub producer Ott has also decided to go on tour with a full band. The group is known as "Ott and The All Seeing I" , and what a group it is ! Don't confuse these guys with "The all seeing I" of late 90s breakbeat UK chart one-hit wonder "The beat goes on" fame. This is Ott and his mates - and what a band it is ! Ott will provide the bulk of the electronic sound magic with Naked Nick ( Nick Holden, who had provided input on a number of Ott's most popular tunes ) on guitars and vocals, Chris Barker ( from Umberloid , has worked on previous Ott and Shpongle albums ) on bass and Matt White on drums.
The group will be playing live versions of Ott's material from his albums Blumenkraft, Skylon, and Mir. Dig that ! The tour is set to kick of in October this year along the eastern U.S states with a west coast tour occurring shortly thereafter. Complete tour dates will be announced around July 10th.
Update !! Here are the latest tour dates :
Date City Venue Country
08/11/12 Beech Mountain NC Gnarnia Festival United States
08/12/12 Tidewater OR Beloved Festival United States
08/16/12 Asheville NC Asheville Music Hall United States
08/17/12 Logan OH Rootwire Festival United States
08/18/12 Stephentown NY Bella Terra Festival United States
09/29/12 Norridgewock ME Heads in Harmony Festival United States
10/03/12 Baltimore, MD Soundstage United States
10/04/12 New York, NY Club 39 United States
10/05/12 Cambridge, Massachusetts Middle East Club United States
10/06/12 Philadelphia, PA City Bisco @ Mann Center for Performing Arts United States
10/07/12 Syracuse, NY Westcott Theater United States
10/10/12 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge United States
10/11/12 Minneapolis, MN Studio B United States
10/12/12 Lawrence, KS Granada Theater United States
10/13/12 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater United States
10/14/12 Fort Collins, CO Aggie Theater United States
10/16/12 Dallas, TX Tree’s United States
10/17/12 Starkville, MS Rick’s United States
10/18/12 Knoxville, TN The Valarium United States
10/19/12 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre United States
10/20/12 Atlanta, GA Terminal West United States
10/21/12 Nashville, TN Exit / In
Posted on
28.6.12
by PsyAmb TAG :
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In the past few years a lot of research has been conducted into the mysteries of the pineal gland and how one might activate it's hidden powers. Or so the pseudo-science would have us believe. Having read a number of books regarding the pineal gland and it's possible functions I am still, like much of the scientists, researches, healers, doctors, shamans, clairvoyants and third-eye enthusiast alike, still somewhat confused as to what it's actual purpose is.
The popular scientific belief is that the pineal gland is part of the endocrine system and is used to regulate the production of melatonin which in turn is used to modulate our sleep cycles. It is also active in sexual development. Seems fair enough to me. However when you put this research against what people on the other side of the fence put forward - such as the pineal gland being a third-eye into the wonders of the cosmos or even a form of alien technology used to control our evolution into a higher alien like lifeform then one is left wondering where to even begin when making the right informed decision.
Another meme is that governments of the world have been systematically dulling our spiritual consciousness by adding fluoride to our water which in turn calcifies the pineal gland and reduces our ability for original, imaginative thought processes.
Further fuel is added to the fire by the research of respected scientist Dr Rick Strassman whose research into the psychedelic drug DMT ( which occurs naturally in all living things ) lead him to conclude that it's production is centered in the pineal gland and that the gland releases large amounts of DMT prior to death and is responsible for what many term a Near Death Experience ( something my mother experienced actually ).
Anyway, what I wanted to present today is some ideas I ran across recently about the possibility of 'activating the pineal gland' or 'exciting it' to a state where one might experience something on the level of a psychedelic trip or form of 'mind opening' so to speak.
The idea is that because the gland is constructed of a piezoelectric crystal matrix it should be possible to stimulate or excite this crystalline structure to allow it to 'tune in' to a frequencies of trans-dimensional lifeforms ! Sounds pretty incredible right !
The first method of activation is through listening to sounds at a certain frequency and you need to look no further than YouTube to find a plethora of pineal gland activation videos, some with over 2 million views ! There are also a ton of companies online selling "mind power mp3s" CDs and so on. Personally I wouldn't bother with those CDs as I suspect it's the same as what is available on YouTube anyway. Here is one to try :
The second method is also a sound based method, however in this case you don't use headphones or music. All you need to do is cover your ears while making the sound "nnnn" for a few minutes then switching to a "mmmm" sound and finally saying "ngngng" for a few more minutes. I guess this is closely related to the ideas of chanting "ohm" to open up chakra lines and the like.
The next method I have seen is a physical method where one taps the back of your head in a series of rhythmic trance inducing patterns that apparently resonate with the frequency of the gland and open it up to all possibilities. Here is a video that explains the process in some detail :
This final method I've seen is through focusing thought and light to activate the gland. In this idea you need to sit in a comfortable position with your back as straight as possible. The room you are in should be completely dark so as to trigger the pineal gland to begin the production of melatonin. You need simply focus all your thoughts onto the pineal gland at the center of the brain. While you are focusing your thought you need to remain as calm as possible, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
So there you have a few things to get started with. All in all I'm still not sure what to make of it. A lot of the so called research I read on the topic makes liberal use of words such as "apparently","possibly","could it be","don't you think" which always raises a few red flags with me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic so if you have any experience in this area please feel free to add a comment below.
As a closing thought I'd like to offer you this link to the movie
"From Beyond" in which scientists make a device that allows the pineal gland to resonate and open a portal to a hostile alien universe ! Perhaps the pineal gland is best left alone after all ....
Posted on
27.6.12
by PsyAmb TAG :
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While catching up on some mixes over at the Isratrance chillout forum I came across this tasty mix by Alucine that I though you might all get a kick out of. Some really excellent tunes here in the psybient, psystep styles. Slackbaba, Brujo's Bowl and Bird Of Prey are three of my favorites when it comes to funky bass-driven psychedelic shenanigans.
I think Alucine has a done a superb job with the mixing and maintained a really nice tempo - perfect driving music ! Looking forward to hearing more from this guy.
Tracklisting :
- Intro (mote. - Life Is Large vs Allix - paisagem sonora)
- Tripswitch vs Gaudi - On the Edge
- Brujo's Bowl - Brujo's Entheogenic Soup
- Tara Putra - Dubland Mountains (Harmonic Frequency Remix)
- Brujo's Bowl - Najd's Squelch
- Slackbaba - A Drop in the Ocean
- Brujo's Bowl - Brujo's Drift
- Bird Of Prey - Kiva
- Slackbaba - And the Beat Goes Om
- Birds of paradise - Wingspan
- Celt islam - the silk road
> You might also like this
psystep mix
Posted on
7.6.12
by PsyAmb TAG :
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