Why no love for the Ineffable Mysteries album?
I think it’s their best yet (God Particle EP aside)...

Cloudwalker - 13 September 2011 01:30 AM

Why no love for the Ineffable Mysteries album?
I think it’s their best yet (God Particle EP aside)...

i can break it down for you.

half of the album is brilliant, the other half is really disappointing. the thing is, i’m not even referring to entire songs. aside from maybe nothing is something worth doing and ineffable mysteries, not a single song holds it together for its entire duration.

best example i can give is invisible man - first half of the song is brilliant, it builds really well, then once the brass comes in it just goes downhill. this seems to be a common story - most of the songs start out really well but just don’t sustain it. the transition between movements is often sloppy, or at least not well thought out.

on top of that, i am you and no turn unstoned i consider weak tracks overall. i know other people have different opinions.

for the record, the intro to shpongolese spoken here is one of my favourite pieces of music ever. it’s one of those shpongle moments when you feel that these guys can do anything with sound, that they can manipulate it in an almost god-like way. when i first heard it i nearly pooped myself.

so yeah, although the last 2 albums have some of the standout shpongle moments, overall the first two albums are far superior in terms of consistency and subtlety of sound.

i really enjoyed the god particle EP (though don’t discount benji’s involvement), so i’m really curious what the next shpongle album will sound like.

Well..
Out of the 4 main shpongle albums, IM has me the most wide-eyed and jaw-dropped.
From an artistic, technical, and ‘musical journey’ point of view… it takes the cake for me.
All the abstractions and bizarre changes…the shifts between nitty-gritty and floaty material…
Nothing in the first 3 albums has made me cry, laugh, or brainfucked as much as IM has.

What we have here is a serious case of people having too much expectation of how it ‘should’ sound.
(Same goes for Vaccine)

The music is perfect.
It was made with love and care, and it’s exactly as it was intended to be by Simon and Raj.
Other people’s views of the music are, however…....imperfect and diverse.

Hope the next album is even more controversial.

Cloudwalker - 13 September 2011 06:14 AM

The music is perfect.

sorry mate but i find that laughable (unless you meant it tongue-in-cheek).

the music is very beautiful, that’s not in question, but it could definitely be better.

I was starting to write a big long post trying to explain this shit…
but naaaaaaaaaaaah. fuck it.

I just think people have too many preconceived notions and expectations.
That’s all.

put it this way - ask simon if he thinks his last album, really any album, is perfect.

any musician worth their salt will tell you that there is always room for improvement.

That improvement isn’t up to the listener to judge, or rather… it’s invalid.
If anyone thinks they know how to do it better, then by all means, they should go make their own shpongle album.

I’m also sure any artist worth their salt wouldn’t release something unless they were satisfied with it and wanted to share it with the world as it is.

good lord…we completely derailed this topic. hahaha

are you saying that all critique of art is invalid?

should all album reviews be 10/10?

i definitely think a listener can qualitatively judge a piece of music. certainly not all listeners are in a position to make a ‘valid’ assessment, but generally that gets done through comparison.

for example, why do you think you’re in a position to say that IM is perfect and better than the last 3 albums?

i think you’re contradicting yourself.

You’re completely missing my whole point.
“Perfect” meaning; It is what it is, and it’s exactly as it was intended to be by the artist.
This applies to any meaningful artistic work made with love and care. Not just IM, not just shpongle.

The listener’s opinions and judgements really are invalid.
(I’m not aiming this next part directly at you flav, just anybody in general)
Any opinions or judgements you may have…are about YOU and YOUR biased expectations/comparisons of what YOU think the music should be.
Don’t blame disappointment on the music, it’s all on YOU.
The music is exactly as it was intended to be.

Anyways, I’m done. No more.
Let’s just agree to disagree, eh?

flavius - 13 September 2011 03:37 AM

Cloudwalker - 13 September 2011 01:30 AM

Why no love for the Ineffable Mysteries album?
I think it’s their best yet (God Particle EP aside)...

i can break it down for you.

half of the album is brilliant, the other half is really disappointing. the thing is, i’m not even referring to entire songs. aside from maybe nothing is something worth doing and ineffable mysteries, not a single song holds it together for its entire duration.

best example i can give is invisible man - first half of the song is brilliant, it builds really well, then once the brass comes in it just goes downhill. this seems to be a common story - most of the songs start out really well but just don’t sustain it. the transition between movements is often sloppy, or at least not well thought out.

on top of that, i am you and no turn unstoned i consider weak tracks overall. i know other people have different opinions.

for the record, the intro to shpongolese spoken here is one of my favourite pieces of music ever. it’s one of those shpongle moments when you feel that these guys can do anything with sound, that they can manipulate it in an almost god-like way. when i first heard it i nearly pooped myself.

so yeah, although the last 2 albums have some of the standout shpongle moments, overall the first two albums are far superior in terms of consistency and subtlety of sound.

i really enjoyed the god particle EP (though don’t discount benji’s involvement), so i’m really curious what the next shpongle album will sound like.

 

 

I can fully relate to this description you’re doing. Except that for me, it quite applies to shpongle 2 as well, but not to shpongle 3

You’re not gonna tell me that Around the World in a Tea Daze doesn’t get fucked up at some point while it started really good?(Thanx Ott for the remix btw!!) or that Dorset Perception is particularly consistent, especially as the album opener? or that the little latino part in My Head Feels Like a Frisbee doesn’t sound terribly awful?? This is just like shpongle 4, half good, half bad…

Shpongle 3, brilliant intro, incredible flow throughout the album, some noticeable peaks here and there, ‘... But Nothing is Lost’, ‘circuits of the imagination’, ‘exhalations’, wonderful and soft closing for the album…Nothing too cheesy(where shpongle 4 failed to me), even the brazilian part as one of the numerous ‘world-ish’ shpongle explorations doesn’t turn out to be that bad!

Cloudwalker - 13 September 2011 01:30 AM

Why no love for the Ineffable Mysteries album? long face
I think it’s their best yet (God Particle EP aside)...

Beside, I’m surprised Cloudwalker that you liked the god particle EP as it clearly indicated a return to the early influences of shpongle. It REALLY doesn’t sound at all like Ineffable mysteries.

Just opinions here…

Cloudwalker - 13 September 2011 09:32 AM

You’re completely missing my whole point.
“Perfect” meaning; It is what it is, and it’s exactly as it was intended to be by the artist.
This applies to any meaningful artistic work made with love and care. Not just IM, not just shpongle.

The listener’s opinions and judgements really are invalid.
(I’m not aiming this next part directly at you flav, just anybody in general)
Any opinions or judgements you may have…are about YOU and YOUR biased expectations/comparisons of what YOU think the music should be.
Don’t blame disappointment on the music, it’s all on YOU.
The music is exactly as it was intended to be.

Anyways, I’m done. No more.
Let’s just agree to disagree, eh?

I’ll happily agree to disagree.

I do get where you’re coming from, but I just think that it leaves little room for debate about the music - which, for me, is second only to the actual listening experience in terms of enjoyment

.

generix - 13 September 2011 09:46 AM

Beside, I’m surprised Cloudwalker that you liked the god particle EP as it clearly indicated a return to the early influences of shpongle. It REALLY doesn’t sound at all like Ineffable mysteries.

Nor anything else really.

4g of mush + headphones + God Particle…. does unfathomable wonders to the human mind.

Cloudwalker - 14 September 2011 07:31 AM

4g of mush + headphones + God Particle….

nice one.

I read on Facebook last week that Simon mentioned they were starting on the new album in the next 3 weeks.  I think it will be a while before it’s out as Benji and Si are also working on the YB remix stuff and Simon had also mentioned that he was going to start on new Hallucinogen manterial too at the end of the year.

I’ll keep an open mind as to what comes first..