Ever since my personal discovery of the writings and musings of Terence McKenna in the mid 90’s I have been both fascinated & amused by a hypothesis of his that some have referred to as: The Stoned Ape Theory.

Here is a fun read on it by Kiki Dy.

The Stoned Ape Theory: Pseudoscience or Psychedelic Origin of Modern Man?

Did early humans accelerate evolution by tripping balls on psychedelic mushrooms? One psychonaut ethnobiologist says: absolutely.

Let’s set the scene: 100,000 years ago, in the age before recorded history, our early hominid ancestors started abandoning the forests and traveling across savannahs. As they foraged in new environments, they began evolving faster, cleverer brains that eventually tripled in size. How did they accomplish this? One theory suggests that they unknowingly added psilocybin to their diet and tripped their way to high-level consciousness. 

The Stoned Ape Theory is a hypothesis by one of America’s most influential psychonauts, Terence McKenna. With knowledge of ecology, conservation, and shamanism, McKenna united his interests in his study of psychedelics. McKenna earned his degrees from the University of California-Berkeley’s Tussman Experimental College, and his extensive writings served as some of the West’s first exposure to the psychedelics DMT and ayahuasca. 

Though he died in 2000, McKenna’s lifetime of advocating for the exploration of altered states of mind still influences modern psychonauts today. The Stoned Ape Theory is only one way in which he attempted to shift the world’s view of psychedelics. 

Read more - https://psychedelicspotlight.com/stoned-ape-theory-terence-mckenna-pseudoscience-or-psychedelic-origin-modern-man/

Cover art painting entitled The Stoned Ape Theory by Jim Figora
https://pixels.com/featured/the-stoned-ape-theory-jim-figora.html

Setlist: 

1. Zigoor - Magic Hour (Original Mix) Patronus Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/magic-hour/16679964
2. Jumpstreet - Gourmet Noise (Original Mix) Looney Moon Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/gourmet-noise/16641082
3. Slide, Gigi - Inside Out (Original Mix) Blacklite Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/inside-out/16530081
4. Radikal Moodz, Rugrats - Sweet Disorder (Original Mix) Looney Moon Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/sweet-disorder/16549866
5. Doom's - End Game (Original Mix) Sangoma Records
https://sangomarecs.bandcamp.com/track/end-game
6. Jimi Green - Poke Smot (Original Mix) Looney Moon Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/poke-smot/16671128
7. Hexagon 25 - Game of Nature (Original Mix) Patronus Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/game-of-nature/16679968
8. Cronyx, Braingineers - Cross The Line (Original Mix) Bom Shanka Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/cross-the-line/16611592
9. Oksha - Bakwango (Original Mix) Hekwapi Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/bakwango/16585992
10. Eargazmik - Ephemeral Infinity (Original Mix) Patronus Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/ephemeral-infinity/16679958
11. Corrupt Illusionist, Psykoveda - Indian Ghostbusters (Original Mix) Karmatec Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/indian-ghostbusters/16237288
12. Pantomiman - Liquidazer (Eritas & Terraπ Remix) Root Sector Records
https://rootsectorrec.bandcamp.com/track/pantomiman-liquidazer-eritas-terra-remix-147-2
13. Sense Datum, LowKo - Operation Midnight Climax (Original Mix) Bom Shanka Music
https://www.beatport.com/track/operation-midnight-climax/16611590
14. Loom, Kali Yuga, Tskun - Special Batch (Original Mix) Kupuri Music
https://www.beatport.com/track/special-batch/16217490
15. Dezzert, Igor LSE - Two Angry Beasts (Original Mix) SquareLab Music
https://www.beatport.com/track/two-angry-beasts/16317641
16. Act One - From Whence They Came (Original Mix) Bom Shanka Music
https://www.beatport.com/track/from-whence-they-came/16611591
17. Jimi Green - No Holds Barred (Original Mix) Looney Moon Records
https://www.beatport.com/track/no-holds-barred/16671131

Stoned Ape Theory | 148 - 151 BPM

Fatally Ísis (160 BPM)

https://hyalinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/t-rtha

tīrtha

BUY & SUPPORT

Bernstein - anurāga

ZERO-Point — not a word, but a breath suspended between presence and absence — ZERO-Point. 
Time softens, bends, collapses back into itself.

exhale the void. The pulse breathing — closer, closer — then disappears into nothing, only to return as everything. 
Breathing not as action but as being: a rhythm dissolving the borders between sound and silence, self and emptiness.

No center, no circumference. Just breath folding into breath, rippling across unfelt distances.

Feel the hollow:
A place where thoughts never land,
A spiral without motion,
A greeting without a beginning.

Beneath sound, beneath thought, there is only breath, infinitely layered yet weightless. 
Zero point, where existence folds inward, where stillness and motion become indistinguishable. 
Every beat evaporates before meaning forms, returning always to silence shaped by breath.

arrival and a vanishing. A threshold that never stops. 
A reminder that even nothingness pulses. 
Inhale the void, exhale infinity. Listen not for sound but for the absence that cradles it.

Zero breath.
Breath remembers.
And so it goes.
____
Artist: αnnø-nÿm 
Title: Marcello
Label: Entropic Minds Rec.
Format: Digital 
Genre: Electronic Style: #experimental-ambient 
Release date: February 12, 2025 - FullMoon
Mastering by Marc Wittenborn 
Artwork: Polyminds
____
Contact: maggowitsch@wittbronsky.de

Mercello

Marcello

Kaleidoscope

Ocean Soul

OUT NOW

ŁMIZCREDI

Overdeepening - K

electro cyclone miles jackson

This episode features music made by Naviar's community inspired by Kagami Shikō’s poem “Even though afar / a feeling of coolness / comes from those mountain pines.”

Tracklist:

tetkik ve tedavi - Forest Magic https://soundcloud.com/tetkik_ve_tedavi/be7da0d1-de7b-4746-86b2-2ae893de2bd2
Addisonic - Moutain Pines https://soundcloud.com/addisonic/moutain-pines
Debroc - Feeling of coolness https://soundcloud.com/user-99036881/feeling-of
Terry Mullett - atmospheric perspective https://soundcloud.com/terry_mullett/atmospheric-perspective-naviarhaiku575
Ray Cobley - Coolness from Afar https://soundcloud.com/ray_cobley/coolness-from-afar
Anne Versailles - Coolness feeling https://soundcloud.com/user-576728462/coolness_feeling
Robert Knote - a feeling of coolness https://soundcloud.com/robertknote/a-feeling-of-coolness-naviarhaiku575


Credits:

music intro: “This ruined house” by Tuonela
voice intro: Ian Joyce
cover image: Micah Hallahan

Naviar Broadcast is a radio programme curated by Naviar, broadcasted on Resonance Extra every Wednesday at 7pm UK time. Thirty minutes of experimental music made in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem.
To have your music featured on the show, you'll have to participate in the Haiku music challenge: https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
support the show: https://www.naviarrecords.com/support-us/

Naviar Broadcast #352 - Even though afar – Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Another track of many that you usually can only hear at Grains of Sound performances.

Enjoying? Please consider clicking the [Repost] ↻ button!

Support us at alterculture.com

unreleased demo

Mindless Faith - Momentum (Grains of Sound remix demo)

Recording of my DJ / Livey hybrid set at Something Else Festival 2019 - New Zealand. 

Currently accepting bookings for 2020 : bookings@cosm.co.nz

Track List :

00:00 // Khainz - Stranger Things [Unreleased]
04:22 // Maksim Dark - Dreams Are Destroyed (Christian Cracken Remix) [Dense Audio]
06:55 // Layton Giordani - Chrome [Drumcode]
10:43 // Ido Ophir & Miki Litvak - Shnorkel [eVapour8]
13:38 // Engi - The Conclave (Christian Cracken Remix) [Rubik's Recordings]
17:06 // Martin Kinrus - Paradox [Set About]
20:08 // NEM3SI$ - After Dark [Black Square Recordings]
22:27 // Dimi Mechero - Ethernal [Set About]
29:13 // Peter Groskreutz - Abwärts [Magic Hand Records]
31:22 // Daäna - Little Animals (Trilingo Remix) [DigitalDiamonds050L]
32:51 // Hobo - Incise [Minus]
35:34 // Tom Cosm - Untitled [Unreleased]
43:32 // Plastic Robots & Thayana Valle - Gaia [Underxpression Records]
44:04 // Marie Davidson - Work It (Soulwax Remix) [Ninja Tune]
47:33 // Detuned & Waveback Luke - R.a.i.d. (Produse Remix) [Sick Society]
50:00 // TBA - Unreleased [Unreleased]
53:36 // Grouch - Hyperion (Tom Cosm Remix) [Unreleased]
60:03 // Greenwolve - Battle (Original Mix) [Doubsquare Records]
63:22 // Flexb - I Like It Dirty (FlexB, MiniLow Remix Extended) [Abstract Channel]
66:15 // Tom Cosm - BDE 1.10 (Feat. Zaftig & Glackenspiel) [Unreleased]
69:11 // Plastic Robots - Ballons (Extended) [House Mag Records]
70:41 // Marten Hørger & SkiiTour - Redlight [New State Music]
72:24 // Black V Neck - Sex, Drugs, Alcohol [Dirty Bird]
73:08 // Wehbba - Third Wave [Drumcode]
76:20 // Kaiserdisco - Bipolar Disorder [KD RAW]
78:34 // DJ Lion - Only High [Harthouse]
80:46 // Miss Kittin & ANNA - Forever Ravers [Kompakt Extra]
84:17 // Maksim Dark - Rainbow [Nothing But]
88:16 // Caitlin - Freaks & Misfits (Victo Ruiz Remix) [Electric Ballrom]

Stalk :

//Discord - https://discord.gg/cBm96BY
//Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/tomcosmnz
//Soundcloud - http://www.soundcloud.com/tomcosm
//Twitter - https://twitter.com/tom_cosm
//Website - http://www.cosm.co.nz
//Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/tomcosm
//Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/cosmcosm

Tom Cosm At Something Else Festival 2019

NEW MUSIC and NEW TOUR DATE 2023 AND 2024!  Also collaborating with X-Dream!

Progressive psy-trance to downtempo psychill to beatless ambient - dance, chill, or zone, Grains of Sound has you covered.

Tour 2023-2024
Dec 9 - TBA
Dec 26 - TBA
Dec 31 - TBA
Jan 6 - TBA
Jan 19 - TBA
Feb - TBA

Tour 2022
Aug 1-7  Ozora Fest Hungary
Sep 3    Tribe Fest Czech
Sep 10   Goa'T Budapest, Hungary
Sep 17   Be Psychedelic Gdansk, Poland
Oct 19-24 Astronox Festival Austin, TX

Tour 2020 POSTONED

Tour 2019
Apr 13 Floral Frequencies (Philly, USA)
Jul 13 Organic Festival - Forest Air (PL)
Jul 20 SUN Festival (HU)
Aug 10 Peace Temple (NY, USA)
Sep 13-15 Dreamtime Festival (CO, USA)

Tour 2018
Aug 13-19 New Healing (DE)

Tour 2017
May 30-Jun 1 - NY, 1 Harvest Migration
Jun 2 - NYC with Berg
Jul 13 - Berlin, Germany
Jul 20-24 SUN Festival (HU)
Aug 4 - Ozora Festival (HU)
Aug 19 - New Healing (DE)

Tour 2016
Dec 31 - Odyssee, Berlin, Germany
Apr 16 - Love & Light, NYC, USA
July 8-10 - MA, FractalFest
Sep 10-11 - NY, Native Noise Fest
Oct 21-23 - PA, Mystery Fest

Tour 2015
Dec 31 - Berlin, Germany
Jan 17 - Sopot, Poland
Jan 31 - London, UK
Feb 01 - Brighton, UK
Feb 27 - Berlin, Germany
Mar 20 - Berlin, Germany
Mar 21 - Warsaw, Poland
May 02 - Berlin, Germany
Jun 11 - NYC, USA
Aug 7-9 - NY, USA
Aug 21 - NYC, USA
Sep 04 - NY, USA
Sep 14 - NYC, USA
Nov 14 - PA, USA
Dec 06 - NYC, USA

Tour 2014
Dec 13 - Berlin, Germany
Dec 06 - Poznan, Poland
Oct 11 - NY, USA - Fall into Future Fest
Sep 13 - NY, USA - private
Aug 29 - NY, USA - GOA CONNECTION FEST
Aug 15 - PA, USA - VOMA
Jul 20 - NYC, USA - PsyBBQ
Jul 04 - Germany - Independence Day Festival
May 14 - Morocco - Zagoa Festival
May 02 - Berlin, Germany
Apr 30 - Berlin, Germany
Apr 19 - Sopot, Poland
Mar 02 - Brighton, UK
Feb 22 - Berlin, Germany
Feb 08 - Warsaw, Poland
Feb 01 - Krakow, Poland
Jan 24 - Poznan, Poland
Dec 31 - Berlin, Germany
Dec 14 - Tychy, Poland

Grains of Sound is the progressive psy-trance to downtempo psychill to beatless ambient project from brothers Chris (Exeris) & Jason Sevanick, - dance, chill, or zone, they have you covered. If that wasn't enough, the brothers gained notoriety with their industrial act, Mindless Faith.

In 2017, Grains of Sound performed, among other festivals, in The Chill Dome at Ozora, the renowned global gathering. Their latest release is an EP on their own AlterCulture Records called "The Dome" which features five psychill and one beatless psybient tracks and attempts to share the amazing ambient experience of The Dome.

In 2007, Grains of Sound released their double-disc debut album "Rays of Life", comprised of Vol. 1 Down (downtempo) and Vol. 2 Under (ambient), on AlterCulture Records. Their follow up triple-disc album "Sine Language" (2010) received even greater acclaim for their exploration of different styles and energy levels. From atmospheric progressive psy-trance, to lush soundscapes and deep downtempo beats, to vast evolving layers which leave all beats behind, pure ambient intoxication. 

In 2012 Pharmacy Music released "Eager Fingers" and "Paradigm Bag" which showcased the duo's beautifully rich soundscapes driven by a progressive psychedelic trance core. So in 2013, Pharmacy asked Grains of Sound to remix "Beyond the Limit" by John "00" Fleming and Christopher Lawrence.

Grains of Sound has also had tracks featured on various compilations including most recently on BMSS Records. Grains of Sound  continues to perform in the US and Europe, past festival bookings include: Ozora (Hungary), New Healing (Germany), Life Celebration (Croatia), Goa Dupa (Poland), Zagoa (Morocco), and Gaian Mind (US).