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Best Of 2011, Guest Editors: Ben Lee On Ayahuasca

As 2011 has come to an end, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite posts of the year by our guest editors.

Ben Lee had barely cracked the puberty code when he fronted renowned Aussie alt-rock combo Noise Addict, and as a well-weathered 16-year-old, he began his debut solo album, the mature yet still naive Grandpaw Would. Lee’s third album, Breathing Tornados, garnered best male artist and album of the year nominations in Australia. After 2002’s big-selling hey you. yes you., Lee started his own label and released the most upbeat album in his increasingly dark catalog, 2005’s Awake Is The New Sleep, requiring him to compose acceptance speeches for best male artist, best independent release and single of the year wins at home. Lee’s impressive string of successes continued with 2007’s Ripe, but the streak stopped with 2009’s The Rebirth Of Venus. The quasi-concept album of Lee’s ruminations on women was almost universally derided as half-baked philosophical twaddle set to a weirdly diverse pop soundtrack. Simultaneously, he was also examining the inherent power of dreams with Dr. Jan Lloyd, whose death last year inspired Lee to again brave the concept-album waters with Deeper Into Dream (Dangerbird), a loosely threaded set about the mind movies our brains script, direct and discard every single night. Lee will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.

Lee: There is something truly remarkable occurring in the Western world at the moment, and that is the increasingly widespread ceremonial use of ayahuasca, a medicinal psychotropic plant from peru. It is referred to reverentially by people that use it as “the medicine” and the experience of being under its influence as “doing the work.” It’s hard to describe, but it’s important to note that this is in no way a “party drug” and seems to have little chance of being taken in a recreational direction. I have experienced it several times, and each time, it was like every cell in my body and every fibre of my being was being examined and stretched and cleansed and taught. In the amazon it is sometimes referred to both as the “death vine” and “the grandmother,” as it takes you through a death and rebirth experience with a loving touch, pushing you to reach the potential of your being.

Video after the jump.