Well, as far as I’ve understood, Shpongle 4 is in the making. I was just going to utter a thought… I think Nothing Lasts is great. In fact, I think it’s one notch more mature than Tales of the Inexpressible.

BUT I think the reason people still tend to like Tales of the Inexpressible better is because of the tempo of Nothing Lasts. It’s less “chilly”... harder to relax to.. requires more active listening. Now I know one of the biggest points of Shpongle is that Simon and Raja get to make whatever music they want to listen to themselves without taking into account other peoples wishes.

So in case Shpongle4 is in the same tempo as Nothing Lasts, one way of making the music less stressful is by not splitting it up in 20 tracks but keeping it as 6-8 tracks like the previous albums. Personally, I *loved* Beija Flor. As soon as Nothing Lasts was released, I found it a little harder to appreciate the first, what, 4 tracks(?). I don’t know why. But somehow I think, psychologically, it makes a difference.

Not to mention being able to play a track for your friends. I have converted at least 5 non-believers into Shpongle fans by sending them Around the world in a tea daze! By a shorter track listing you’re more effectively supporting viral marketing of your own music.  :wink:

Anyway… just a thought. Maybe it’s just me.

Really? I actuallly liked the 20 tracks more. Some of the ‘passages’, if you want to call them that, wouldn’t sound right as one big track. Take for example - Circuits of the Imagination - Linguistic Mystic - Mentalism. It wouldn’t seem right together as one track. I think it’s brilliant to have shorter tracks, it reallys lets you see the evolution of the album as a whole. Tales of the Inexpressible didn’t have as much flow to it as Nothing Lasts.

I think that each album is made uniquely and purposefully.  Afterall, if they did too similar of stuff, it would get old.  But we all know Simon and Raja are masters of their craft and probably have something epic in the making.  Each album had its own ‘feel’, so I’m sure they are looking for that right “feeling” for this next one.  We will just have to wait for more rumor confirmations and updates to give us our fix.

Yeah I guess we’ll have to wait and see… I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for fewer and longer tracks. Not that I wouldn’t buy the album anyway, but still.

BUT I think the reason people still tend to like Tales of the Inexpressible better is because of the tempo of Nothing Lasts. It’s less “chilly”... harder to relax to.. requires more active listening.

I’ve read that the third album was meant to act as the grand crescendo of the series, which explains why it is a bit more uptempo than usual.

As for the amount of tracks, unless you’ve got a pirated MP3 version then how would you know where one track ends and the next one starts anyway? Originally the album was only meant to have half a dozen tracks (before it was released), all they’ve done is add a bunch of trackmarkers. The first three tracks are still Beija Flor as far as I’m concerned!

Here’s the way I like to look at it:

01 - Botanical Dimensons / Outer Shpongolia / Levitation Nation
02 - Periscopes of Consciousness / Schmaltz Herring
03 - Nothing Lasts / Schnitzled in the Negev / Nothing is Lost
04 - When Shall I Be Free / Stamen of the Shaman
05 - Circuits of the Imagination / Linguistic Mystic / Mentalism
06 - Invocation / Molecular Superstructure / Turn Up The Silence
07 - Exhalation / Conneseur of Hallucinations / The Nebbish Route / Falling Awake

You can just tell that’s how it was meant to be before they broke it up.

Invocation and Exhalation seem like their own tracks, seperate from the rest of them.

I’m looking forward to this one. It will be interesting to see if they try a totally different approach. I’m of mixed feelings Tales of the inexpressible is truly fantastic however nothing lasts is a masterpiece album. Some wonderful intertwining tracks and I don’t think it’s too upbeat personally.  I would like a progression from this album like a story. It builds up with new albums and hopefully in twenty years time we get the ultimate finale to the story.

Which is which is which?

So….if I understand correctly, there is the potential for a maximum of THREE unheard Shpongle discs for future release?

-Bonus Disc of Secrets from Shpongleland
-Live @ Brixton Academy Recording
-Shpongle 4 LP

Of course, #2 could also be #1, or #2 could also be #3…or maybe they’re cruelly referring to the bonus disc of Secrets from Shpongleland as Shpongle 4 and will make that the Live Recording.  Ahhhhh I can’t take it anymore!!!

What’s the projected release date?  December 21, 2012? 

I think it will be very interesting to see what they do with the fourth album.  When I think of the first 3 I can’t really say which is my favourite.  Each one has re difined the audio land scape for others to try and follow.

I think the 4th will be as different again from the first 3, SP & Raj wouldn’t do one for the sake of it.  I’d like to hear other instraments such as the Saxaphone, the Indian Sitar (not sure of the spelling of that) integrated in.  MAybe they may do a real downtempo/ambient project a bit like Yeti 1 - who knows.

But one thing for sure is that it won’t be rushed!!
:D

[quote author=“NI64”]Invocation and Exhalation seem like their own tracks, seperate from the rest of them.

I find that Molecular Superstructure sounds a lot more eerie after sitting through Invocation, almost a big lead up to the madness…

the only strange thing with the tracks on Nothing Lasts is why did they separate 9 and 10 in the most impressing moment of the whole disc?? 

[quote author=“Adam Brown”]
As for the amount of tracks, unless you’ve got a pirated MP3 version then how would you know where one track ends and the next one starts anyway?

Uhm. Why does an MP3 version have to be pirated? I own the CD, but the first thing I do when I get a new album is to rip it into iTunes. And crappy iPods don’t have seamless playback, so I get an irritating hitch between tracks when I listen to music when I’m not at home. The more tracks - the more of these hitches I get. This is of course due to Apple’s inferior implementation and not something that I can attribute to the track listing of Nothing Lasts.

And I’m just uttering my own opinion in this matter. On Nothing Lasts, each “trackmarker” denotes a new chapter of the musical experience that is the album as a whole. This means however that each “track” or “track marker” is less musically diverse that would be the case if the tracks were longer (and therefore contained more musical shiftings). I can’t play just ONE track and get as deep a musical experience as I would get playing one track from any of the other albums. I need to play 2-4 tracks, and preferably tracks that were originally meant to fit together.

Again—I know this is highly personal, but for me this is not optimal. However I do - of course - appreciate other people might think otherwise, and I’m 100% certain I’ll love (and buy) the coming album, no matter what they decide to do with it.

[quote author=“raynak”]
Uhm. Why does an MP3 version have to be pirated? I own the CD, but the first thing I do when I get a new album is to rip it into iTunes. And crappy iPods don’t have seamless playback, so I get an irritating hitch between tracks when I listen to music when I’m not at home. The more tracks - the more of these hitches I get. This is of course due to Apple’s inferior implementation and not something that I can attribute to the track listing of Nothing Lasts.

Way ahead of you

Use a .wav editor to join the aforementioned track combinations together, and then convert the resulting 6 or 7 compiled tracks into MP3s

I’ve also turned my copy of the CD into MP3s, and it’s the only way to get rid of the gaps!

Well yeah I guess that’s one way of getting around the problem.

Thanks for the tip.  :wink:

or you could jsut update your iPod’s firmware and iTunes. They have had seemless playback for a few months now.

Thanks Corporal.  Unlike Windoze, Apple listens to it’s customers and EVENTUALLY fixes things.  :wink:

Speaking of new directions—what if they incorporated Rap and Country Western music into #4?