MUSIC FOR PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY

Welcome to a new techno-chemical frontier

When DJ friends from the underground techno scene started making mixes for patients to listen to in legal ketamine clinics earlier this year, I sniffed something new in the zeitgeist winds…

Then I was invited to a “ceremonial concert” organized by mushroom musician East Forest in Austin, Texas last month, where electronic music producer Jon Hopkins debuted his forthcoming Music For Psychedelic Therapy (out on Domino Records November 12) —an album that he designed specifically for ketamine (and DMT) trips.

That’s when I realized the new frontier of psychedelic music has shifted to therapy—unlocking a whole new world of creative possibilities for music producers, and a lucrative new market for soundtracks designed to accompany trips using ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin, DMT, and other psychedelics on the brink of legalization.

So I started digging, and found an array of AI-driven apps using algorithms to optimize the perfect musical journey for psychedelic trips. I also cheekily reviewed the playlists curated by psychedelic researchers for clinical trials, dipped into the history of psychedelic music (from traditional ayahuasca icaros to The Grateful Dead), and dove into the fascinating research into music and psychedelics’ synergistic effects on our brains.

The results appeared in the print edition of The Guardian today—check it out here. (I just love the idea of British grannies reading about k-holes with their cups of tea.)

So much good shit couldn’t fit into the article, so I will also be publishing my notes and exclusive interviews with Jon Hopkins, East Forest, and the AI app researchers here in this newsletter in coming weeks :)

Subscribe to get access to these conversations and support my work spelunking into the depths of our subconscious—as usual, your subscription gets you a juicy look behind the scenes.

Have a great weekend! And wish me luck, cuz I’m spending mine in Vegas at EDC…