If you’re going through a sober binge, and you still want to alter your mind, there are ways. There are ways, my friend. On the other side of the coin: If you’re looking for something harrowing to do during an altered state, there are ways to do that too. I’m going to share with you some of my favorite technologies that can do both of those things for you.
As technology to create apps and mind-bending puzzles of sorts becomes more accessible to create, people are coming up with some provocative shit. With feline curiosity, we find ourselves exploring these strange corridors of absurd innovation.
We recommend none of these apps for people with epilepsy. We’re pretty sure they’ll have a seizure or something.
Image: Google Play
Image: Google Play
Radiohead has always been an interesting group, and Thom Yorke alone is said to be the product of aliens. It’s no wonder that such a man would be part of a project like PolyFauna, which was made in collaboration with Universal Everything. PolyFauna is an app for your iPhone or Android phone or iPod or iEyes (probably coming soon) that transports you into a dreamy landscape while ambient music based on Radiohead’s song “Bloom” plays in the background.
Using your screen as a window into this world, as their website puts it, you literally move your device to locate a red dot that explodes into psychedelia when you focus on it for long enough. The app is a creepy waltz through a vibrating and ever-changing atmosphere. If you’re not intoxicated when you use it, you’ll surely feel that way.
CONDUCTAR: MOOGFEST TEASER from Odd Division on Vimeo.
While you can only fully experience Conductar if you live in Ashville, North Carolina and have a brain wave sensor available, the creators have plans for expanding where the app can be used, according to Fast Company.
Conductar is an app that hooks up with your iPhone and a brain wave sensor so that you can hold the phone up and see neon lines pulsing around the silhouettes of the shapes in front of you. The brain wave sensor picks up on your mood and produces music accordingly. It is a sensory experience like no other. It looks like something from a Gorillaz music video, as you wander through a post-apocalyptic, psychedelic maze of abnormal colors and lines.
3. SoundSelf
SoundSelf E3 Demo from Evan Balster on Vimeo.
SoundSelf is apparently supposed to turn your brain toward an ecstasy-like experience, basing its visuals off of psychedelic influences. It’s kind of like a more interesting iTunes visualizer that you use with an Oculus Rift, which is a virtual reality headset that you can play 3D games with.
SoundSelf is a little hippie-dippie, as the point is supposed to be to put you in a “meditative state,” but we’re confident you can use it to have a number of unusual experiences that fit whatever personality type you subscribe to. The app’s website encourage you to “amp up the volume,” so make sure you have some appropriate music.
Frequency Domain is like riding a wave runner on your own music. FD is another Oculus Rift game. When you put your song into the app, the music becomes waves the lay out in front of you. The app gives you the appearance of moving toward the waves and bouncing off them, high into the air and back down.
FD moves you left and right, up and down, and it actually makes you feel like your stomach is rising with each jerk of the direction. The most terrifying part by far is when it suprises you by making it appear that you did a corkscrew. Don’t vomit.