why is shpongle so great?
because it’s the illustrated acid trip, that’s why

Hi All,

First post :D

I was actually searching google for something completely unrelated to this and ended up here somehow! There was a reference to Hallucinogen in the google search results and given that I am a serious fan of electronic music, I thought I would have a quick glance and ended up reading most of this thread. I bought the 2nd release of LSD on Dragonfly records back in ‘95 and it has been up there with one of my favourite tunes of all time since (one of many thousand favourites!).

I only knew Shpongle from the Sasha “Involver” mix which featured Dorset Perception which is a great tune and obviously very different from work as Hallucinogen. So, just this evening I set about hearing some more from Shpongle and I am totally sold…I will be doing some shopping tomorrow and a couple of thier CD’s are now most definitely on the list! Its funny actually, I was only thinking the other day that my current phase of tracking down all early Warp releases and anything I could find by Ulrich Schnauss was really excellent and wondered what the next big thing would be for me musically…thats been answered this evening! Thanks 8)

Oh and I wouldn’t even begin to compare the two from what I have heard…two totally different genres hitting different click points. Eat Static are another who have produced some amazing trance, goa and spectacular drum & bass over the years..although they do have a certain recognisable sound regardless of what they are playing in terms of genre which doesn’t seem to be the case for Hallucinogen/Shpongle.

So who would like to suggest what album I should go for first?!

I recommend picking them up in chronological order it will allow you to appreciate the progression each album makes over the last.

I agree and before buying them get these first:-

Mystery of the Yeti - very early Posford & Raj project
The eclipse compilation as alot of the tracks were done by Posford… :D

Well, I went to Shpongle over Hallucinogen, Younger Brother, Prometheus, but I bought the TOI first, and rarely listened to it.

Later (after a lot more of Hallucinogen, YB and Prometheus) I bought the last album, which I appreciated very well, lots of good songs, and last I bought Are You Shpongled? That one I love the most, I like practically every track on it, and I am very happy that I bought those in such a weird sequence (but that’s just me :mrgreen:)

[quote author=“dj_pa”]The big deal about Shpongle:

Shpongle is nearly, if not completely indescribable using only words. One of the important points that makes Shpongle such a big deal is the fact the music itself is timeless. For the first 100 times I heard any of the three shpongle albums, I heard something I hadn’t heard before. It’s these little nuances that are peppered throughout every track that create so much variation in the music and keeps your attention. There is also the mysticism that surrounds the music and the man. I’ve never been so sure that I’d met an alien until I met Simon. I already was pretty much clued in on it after hearing “Are You Shpongled?” With all that being said, I’ve played Shpongle for so many diffrerent people from so many different walks of life, and I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about it. More precisely, those folks all said they liked it.
Hypothetical situation: You’ve just been stomping in the woods for 12 hours straight. It’s time for a pow-wow and relax back at the flat. What cd do you put in? For me, that would be Shpongle. The music that takes you places, whether you want to go or not.

anyone see the twisted dvd? In a word, this theory was how Raja explained how shpongle came about. weird.

For a thousand reason, yet mainly for mixing the artificial (Simon’s genius electronic sounds) with the spiritual (Raja Ram’s heavenly flute solos)...such combination never stops to haunt me…and that’s why I specially enjoy Shpongle tracks with Raja Ram’s flute…I simply can’t imagine Shpongle without him..!

Hallucinogen is just generic to me.  And personally, I’ve not met a single person that dislikes Shpongle.  There are people that I work with that are from all over the world, and they all love it.  All of my friends love it.  My parents love it.  Even my animals love it… which is a bit weird, because my dogs go up on their hind legs and do pop-&-lock dancing in unison.  The female tends to booty dance though.

Well, when I posted this topic back in Feb., I never thought it would last for seven months and expand to four pages (I actually thought it would be a heated debate that would span one month and ten pages).

Since my initial post, my wife and I have been to yet another “Posford event” (which would be our third).  And for this event, we were somewhat subjected towards Shpongle, seeing that Simon opened the night off with Shpongle, then slipped his way into Hallucinogen.

Although my wife is more interested in Shpongle since my last post (probably because of the “Posford event” we attended), I, none-the-less, am not. 

And, at this point, I think I have an idea as towards why:  My first love of music was Kraftwerk; I seriously disliked music until I heard the album “Electric Cafe”.  That album changed my entire perspective of music.  That is what got me into techno, then trance, then Hallucinogen.  That album, was, in my opinion, more “dance-centric” than other things at the time.

[Obviously, being between 10-12 years old at the time, my memory is somewhat “foggy”, so do forgive me if you think there were other songs/albums that r0x0rz more.]

Kraftwerk is basically “concrete”; it’s either “on or off”; no gray when it comes towards Kraftwerk.  And for whatever reason, I’ve loosened up a bit, and found Hallucinogen to be rather creative and overtly playful.

For example, I find “Shabby Trance” to be much more enjoyable than “Arcadia Magik”; simply because “Arcadia Magik” is a very rigid and overly structured song (wow, talk about irony).

But, why have I not “loosened” up to enjoy Shpongle?  At this point I would have to say because Shpongle is still too “organic” for me, and I do truely enjoy synthetic based sounds, probably because of Kraftwerk.

I guess that’s just me.

Thank you all for your replies.

I would stll love to read anyother reasons for why you think Shpongle is a “big deal”.

Madox,,

That’s an interested feedback on the topic which has been good to read. I can relate to your love of Kraftwerk and yes their sound is solid. mechanical, minimal and nicely put concrete.

Kraftwerk are true pioneers of electonic music from the 70’s and if it wasn’t for them todays music may in some was sound different. Like yourself in the early 80’s I was 14/15 at the time in 1984 when I was heavily into the electro/hip hop scence and was a massive infuluence on me.

Did you have an interest in the early 80’s electro scene by any chance of which Kraftwerk were the biggest influence, there’s not many electro heads left!

I guess this a weird time to pop in, what with my username and such?

Back to Shpongle discussion, it’s been a decidedly weird journey for me.  I started off with Are You Shpongled? after a coworker sent me DMT through IM.  The 10 or 11 minutes that I spent locked inside Shpongolia was truly mind-blowing, uplifting, and made me feel centered.

After listening to their debut, it climbed it’s way up the ranks of my favourites, surpassing The Who, Pink Floyd, and most other rock bands I was into at the time.  The use of organic and electronic instruments simultaneously to create new and unique soundscapes appealed to me the most, especially the Shpongle Falls - Monster Hit segment.

Tales Of The Inexpressible was later added to my iTunes (it’s extremely hard to get Shpongle CD’s without paypal or a credit card), and for the next 3 or 4 months rocked my balls consistently.  It’s now tied with AYS?

Unfortunately, the sounds and production of the latest release disappoints me.  It isn’t as layered or as intricate, and it sounds.. silly, to these ears.  There aren’t any truly orgasmic moments like the demented synths in Vapour Rumours, the percussion ending in DMT, or the epic-ness of Tea Daze.  It’s almost as if there was somebody else in the mascot uniform at the high school sports gathering; the mascot and outside identity is exactly the same, but the inside core doesn’t have that same special touch, making the mascot seem like filler rather than part of the spirit.

If you couldn’t understand that long-winded and random analogy, what I mean is that Nothing Lasts.. essentially doesn’t give off any character like AYS? and TOI gave off (almost immediately too).

That’s the deal about Shpongle.

[quote author=“digitalex”]i’m not sure you can describe what the “big deal” is, exactly. i think when it comes to music, you either see it or you don’t. trying to explain why you enjoy one artist to someone who doesn’t is similar to describing color to a blind man. we are all “blind” to one style or another, i think. haven’t met anyone yet that digs all music under the sun. as far as shpongle goes, you can rattle off a list of attributes, i.e. world music influences, changing time sigs, blending of the electronic and organic, and a person can understand these ideas, but to “get” the music involves much more than appreciating a bunch of reductionist elements. people’s tastes are what they are, and if you don’t see it, i doubt anyone can change that.

cheers..

That is very well put. Just like I don’t get Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake but plenty of other people do. I do however really dig the work of shpongle.

hey all…tripping my face off on some hawian mushies and invariably listening to track 3 on nothing lasts. FUCK IS THAT GOOD.

seems like all of it’s just a collection of beautiful sounds engineered in a way that sets your soul on fire…how else to describe it? ott and benji too..fuck man i was bouncing my head INSIDE my speakers gooooooooooodddd night

simon i have no doubt the new album will be sheer, effortless brilliance.

I envy you living in the dam digitalex

Track 3 is one of my faves on the album also. It has such a good feel to it I love the guitars. I use Nothing Lasts to get me going when sitting on the train stuck on the Sudoku puzzle. It’s usually when I get to Levitation Nation that I start putting in the numbers   It really helps me I don’t know how but I don’t care.

Hope you enjoyed your shrooms you lucky sob    

Please mam’ I want somewhore