The Best Psychedelic Music Playlist for Your Next Mushroom Trip
Looking for tunes to accompany your trip? Look no further! This list will not only support positive transformation but take you on a journey through time towards the source of the genre — the shrooming ‘60s!
It begins centered in the present moment with modern music that sprang out of neo-psychedelia and other subgenres of psychedelic music. Then, it presses on into the past as it paves a path into your subconscious.
Playlist: The Evolution of Psychedelia (& You)
This psychedelic playlist has been curated to cultivate a novel state of consciousness with a positive cadence. There are popular names listed, but each song chosen is lesser known to the world at large.
“The New Strains” — Modern Tunes For Booming
Sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s seeped into countless genres and spawned new styles of music. These songs are saturated with psychedelia!
1. Caleb Landry Jones – Flag Day/The Mother Stone (2020)
Set the stage! Whimsical and wholly dynamic, this track from popular actor Caleb Landry Jones greets you with enthusiasm and pulls you through a psychedelic portal. What’s on the other side?
2. Tash Sultana – Synergy (2016)
Enter the void! As its name suggests, Synergy is all about amazing fractal harmony within and around us. Its looped instrumentals will take shape as your shrooms kick in, leaving you awestruck.
3. Chet Faker – Cigarettes and Chocolate (2012)
Follow the love! This atmospheric and beat-driven song invites you to let go of resistance and hop on board the psychedelic express. It will prepare you to cruise toward occult concepts.
“The Spores” — Turn-of-the-Century Psychedelic Songs
For a couple of decades, psychedelic music sadly died down and all but vanished from the charts. Thank Darwin these bands spread its spores!
4. MGMT – All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (2011)
Leave Earth! This little-known banger from MGMT is upbeat, otherworldly, and mind-expanding. Explore your thoughts and place in the universe in a spaceship to another world.
5. Boards of Canada – Satellite Anthem Icarus (2005)
Arrive on Mars! Land on a different planet and soak in its atmosphere with calm clarity. Meditate on the sounds of an alien ecosystem as you introspect about your own inner landscapes.
6. Modest Mouse – Dramamine (1996)
Leave Earth! This little-known banger from MGMT is upbeat, otherworldly, and mind-expanding. Explore your thoughts and place in the universe in a spaceship to another world.
7. The Dream Syndicate – When You Smile (1982)
Party it up! One of the few bands that continued making psychedelic music through the ‘80s, Dream Syndicate drops you off at sound check so you can slowly mingle with the crowd.
“The Roots” — The Mycelium Of Psychedelic Music
The popularity of psychedelic use soared in the ‘60s and ‘70s, spurring unprecedented musical exploration. These groups changed the game!
8. Dyzan – Back To Where We Come From (1974)
Lift the curtain! Like the circus tent from Across the Universe, this song invites you in for an initiation ritual. Cleansing, primal, cool, and funky, it catapults you into your next phase of evolution.
9. Pink Floyd – Breathe In the Air (1973)
Take a breath of fresh air! Walk outside and let a wave of realization wash over you. A less-popular track by Pink Floyd, Breathe In the Air asks you to relax into your new paradigm.
10. Eric Burdon & the Animals – All Is One (1968)
Head home! All Is One calls you back to Earth with the cultural sounds of humanity. Then, the Animals hit you with an enlightening truth that will carry with you after your trip.
Common Mechanisms: What Do Music & Magic Mushrooms Have In Common?
Have you ever experienced music in a way that seemed to echo a trip? Tunes and shrooms actually have a lot in common!
- Music and psychoactive compounds alter our conscious experience and have entranced humanity for ages.
- They affect serotonin production and spark increased activity in multiple parts of the brain simultaneously.
- Each is used as a tool to enhance memories, emotions, and mental imagery for healing purposes.
- They are known to spark creativity and aid people in reconnecting with the most authentic version of themselves.
A Powerful Combination: What Happens When You Hear Music on Psychedelics?
Like to partake in music and a proper dose of mushrooms at the same time? Here’s scientific evidence to support your hobby!
Memory & Mental Imagery
Using music in conjunction with psychedelic compounds causes more information to flow from your parahippocampus toward your visual cortex. This increased connectivity leads to enhanced mental imagery and recollection of autobiographical memories.
Comfort & Emotional State
Music is a powerful tool to soothe and reduce stress. It has been shown to lessen opioid requirements and improve outcomes post-op! [2] Set and setting are crucial in making the onset, peak, and comedown of a psychedelic experience comfortable, and music helps do just that.
Insight & Creating Meaning
When we listen to music, we can’t help but interpret its meaning or infer our own. That is part of why it’s so moving! When we pair it with psychedelics, we have increased blood flow and activity in our cortical midline brain regions, boosting this instinct for more profound insight.
Openness & Mystical Experience
The entropic brain states you encounter on psilocybin get an extra push from music, increasing your chance of having a mystical experience. Studies suggest that this makes you more “open” once you return to reality… resulting in a more curious, creative, and perceptive you!
Pro Tip: Nostalgia & Prolonged Benefit
MRI scans have shown that music-induced nostalgia is a powerful context cue for vivid and meaningful memory recollection. [4] Combine that with the synergistic effects of tunes and shrooms, and you have a hack to get back to your psychedelic experience — Just hit play!
There Is More to Psychedelic Music Than Meets the Eye
While music itself is conducive to a positive trip, psychedelic songs have an especially profound effect on us. Here’s where they shine in particular!
Wonder & Timbral Complexity
Timbre is defined as the shape, spread, or character of a sound. Studies suggest that this musical property not only conveys strong emotions but determines their implications on a psychedelic experience.
Psychedelic music tends to have high timbral complexity, or a high range and density of different timbres. This translates to an increase in the feelings and brain activities that music evokes — like wonder!
Time to put on some psychedelic tunes, grab a therapeutic field guide, and get tripping!
Looking for tunes to accompany your trip? Look no further! This list will not only support positive transformation but take you on a journey through time towards the source of the genre — the shrooming ‘60s!
It begins centered in the present moment with modern music that sprang out of neo-psychedelia and other subgenres of psychedelic music. Then, it presses on into the past as it paves a path into your subconscious.
Playlist: The Evolution of Psychedelia (& You)
This psychedelic playlist has been curated to cultivate a novel state of consciousness with a positive cadence. There are popular names listed, but each song chosen is lesser known to the world at large.
“The New Strains” — Modern Tunes For Booming
Sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s seeped into countless genres and spawned new styles of music. These songs are saturated with psychedelia!
1. Caleb Landry Jones – Flag Day/The Mother Stone (2020)
Set the stage! Whimsical and wholly dynamic, this track from popular actor Caleb Landry Jones greets you with enthusiasm and pulls you through a psychedelic portal. What’s on the other side?
2. Tash Sultana – Synergy (2016)
Enter the void! As its name suggests, Synergy is all about amazing fractal harmony within and around us. Its looped instrumentals will take shape as your shrooms kick in, leaving you awestruck.
3. Chet Faker – Cigarettes and Chocolate (2012)
Follow the love! This atmospheric and beat-driven song invites you to let go of resistance and hop on board the psychedelic express. It will prepare you to cruise toward occult concepts.
“The Spores” — Turn-of-the-Century Psychedelic Songs
For a couple of decades, psychedelic music sadly died down and all but vanished from the charts. Thank Darwin these bands spread its spores!
4. MGMT – All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (2011)
Leave Earth! This little-known banger from MGMT is upbeat, otherworldly, and mind-expanding. Explore your thoughts and place in the universe in a spaceship to another world.
5. Boards of Canada – Satellite Anthem Icarus (2005)
Arrive on Mars! Land on a different planet and soak in its atmosphere with calm clarity. Meditate on the sounds of an alien ecosystem as you introspect about your own inner landscapes.
6. Modest Mouse – Dramamine (1996)
Leave Earth! This little-known banger from MGMT is upbeat, otherworldly, and mind-expanding. Explore your thoughts and place in the universe in a spaceship to another world.
7. The Dream Syndicate – When You Smile (1982)
Party it up! One of the few bands that continued making psychedelic music through the ‘80s, Dream Syndicate drops you off at sound check so you can slowly mingle with the crowd.
“The Roots” — The Mycelium Of Psychedelic Music
The popularity of psychedelic use soared in the ‘60s and ‘70s, spurring unprecedented musical exploration. These groups changed the game!
8. Dyzan – Back To Where We Come From (1974)
Lift the curtain! Like the circus tent from Across the Universe, this song invites you in for an initiation ritual. Cleansing, primal, cool, and funky, it catapults you into your next phase of evolution.
9. Pink Floyd – Breathe In the Air (1973)
Take a breath of fresh air! Walk outside and let a wave of realization wash over you. A less-popular track by Pink Floyd, Breathe In the Air asks you to relax into your new paradigm.
10. Eric Burdon & the Animals – All Is One (1968)
Head home! All Is One calls you back to Earth with the cultural sounds of humanity. Then, the Animals hit you with an enlightening truth that will carry with you after your trip.
Common Mechanisms: What Do Music & Magic Mushrooms Have In Common?
Have you ever experienced music in a way that seemed to echo a trip? Tunes and shrooms actually have a lot in common!
- Music and psychoactive compounds alter our conscious experience and have entranced humanity for ages.
- They affect serotonin production and spark increased activity in multiple parts of the brain simultaneously.
- Each is used as a tool to enhance memories, emotions, and mental imagery for healing purposes.
- They are known to spark creativity and aid people in reconnecting with the most authentic version of themselves.
A Powerful Combination: What Happens When You Hear Music on Psychedelics?
Like to partake in music and a proper dose of mushrooms at the same time? Here’s scientific evidence to support your hobby!
Memory & Mental Imagery
Using music in conjunction with psychedelic compounds causes more information to flow from your parahippocampus toward your visual cortex. This increased connectivity leads to enhanced mental imagery and recollection of autobiographical memories.
Comfort & Emotional State
Music is a powerful tool to soothe and reduce stress. It has been shown to lessen opioid requirements and improve outcomes post-op! [2] Set and setting are crucial in making the onset, peak, and comedown of a psychedelic experience comfortable, and music helps do just that.
Insight & Creating Meaning
When we listen to music, we can’t help but interpret its meaning or infer our own. That is part of why it’s so moving! When we pair it with psychedelics, we have increased blood flow and activity in our cortical midline brain regions, boosting this instinct for more profound insight.
Openness & Mystical Experience
The entropic brain states you encounter on psilocybin get an extra push from music, increasing your chance of having a mystical experience. Studies suggest that this makes you more “open” once you return to reality… resulting in a more curious, creative, and perceptive you!
Pro Tip: Nostalgia & Prolonged Benefit
MRI scans have shown that music-induced nostalgia is a powerful context cue for vivid and meaningful memory recollection. [4] Combine that with the synergistic effects of tunes and shrooms, and you have a hack to get back to your psychedelic experience — Just hit play!
There Is More to Psychedelic Music Than Meets the Eye
While music itself is conducive to a positive trip, psychedelic songs have an especially profound effect on us. Here’s where they shine in particular!
Wonder & Timbral Complexity
Timbre is defined as the shape, spread, or character of a sound. Studies suggest that this musical property not only conveys strong emotions but determines their implications on a psychedelic experience.
Psychedelic music tends to have high timbral complexity, or a high range and density of different timbres. This translates to an increase in the feelings and brain activities that music evokes — like wonder!
Time to put on some psychedelic tunes, grab a therapeutic field guide, and get tripping!
Thomas Wrona is a writer, designer, and wellness coach who believes that nature’s wisdom provides an antidote to the stress of modern life. As a former pro athlete, he’s all about staying in motion! When he’s not writing you’ll probably find Thomas outside.
