Flaming Lips Know Mushrooms

02/02/09 6:09pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

The Flaming Lips live experience is probably the most psychedelic thing you'll see on stage these days, so it's probably appropriate that they've soundtracked a film called Know Your Mushrooms.

The documentary was written, produced and directed by Toronto's Ron Mann (Grass, Go Further) and follows mushroom experts Larry Evans and Gary Lincoff "on a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi," according to the film's website. Know Your Mushrooms features a combination of live footage shot at Colorado's Telluride Mushroom Festival, archival material and animation. (Of course, no film about 'shrooms would be complete without animation, just like Alice intended.)

The Flaming Lips provided all the original music for the film as well as "The Wizard Turns On..." from 2006's At War With The Mystics. You can hear the soundtrack's "Anything You Say Now I Believe You" on The Flaming Lips' MySpace page. The movie also features music from The Sadies, who recorded the 2006 soundtrack for Mann's Tales Of The Rat Fink.

Know Your Mushrooms is screening at Toronto's Royal Cinema until Tuesday, and you can also see it at the Victoria Film Festival until Feb. 7. Here's where it will screen after that:

March 14 Austin, TX @ South By Southwest Music and Film Festival
March 13-15 Winnipeg, MB @ Cinematheque Winnipeg
April 3-6 Vancouver, BC @ The Vancity

Here's the trailer for Know Your Mushrooms: