<p>Shpongle are a British based electronic ambient band that features the duo of psychedelic trance music guru Simon Posford and DJ,Producer Raja Ram. The group also relies on the input of external artists to provide accompanying sounds. Their music is best described as psychedelic ambient and is often grouped into niche electronic music genres such as psychill, psybient and psyamb. </p>
<p>The early days</p>
<p>Simon Posford's musical career began some years before Shpongle as a young lad, when he had the choice of either studying plants at Oxford Uni, or jumping feet first into a job at Virgin studios. Going to Virgin was a no brainer, especially as it offered the opportunity to learn the ropes alongside such legends as Spike Stent. For a while, Simon rotated round the various Virgin studios but the life of making tea and putting up with artists egos couldn't go on indefinitely. The breaking point came when working with the UK indies band James, who had recently finished an extensive tour but had not yet abandoned tour mentality. It was, Posford recalls, an absolute nightmare.</p>
<p>Stent suggested to Simon that he should look up Martin Glover at Butterfly Studios. It was here that Simon found the freedom to work on his own ideas. He quickly produced a series of groundbreaking goa trance singles culminating in the now classic album "Twisted" under his trance moniker "Hallucinogen". At this time Raja Ram had been involved in a group called the "Infinity Project" which Simon also worked on now and then. You could say that the Infinity Project sound was the inspiration for what would later morph into Shpongle. One day, while watching a solar eclipse in India, the two friends decided to see if they could recreate the feeling of what they had just seen in the sky into sound. The outcome was the seminal track "...And the Day Turned Into Night". Shpongle had come into existence.</p>
<p>The Shpongle Sound</p>
<p>To describe the sound of Shpongle is like trying to describe the word Shpongle itself. Some what undefinable. The group describe their sound as a strange hybrid of electronic manipulation and shamanic midgets with frozen digits squeezing the envelope and crawling through the doors of perception. See what I mean ? It's not that easy to explain it to the uninitiated. At its core the sound is full of cascading psychedelic layers of synthesier melodies, wobbling dubish like basslines, echoing mountains of delay, an ocean of effects and samples as well as acoustic instruments such as flutes and tribal drums. The flute work of Raja Ram, a big part of his early musical carrer in the UK Prog/Folk band Quintessence, features heavily on some of their most popular tunes. </p>
<p>Releases </p>
<p>Shpongle has 4 studio albums released so far. Their 1998 debut CD "Are you Shpongled ?" was created in 1995 at a point in time when the psychedelic ambient ( psychill ) genre was still in its infancy and looking for a firmer foothold. ."Are you Shpongled ?" was an instant hit and the duo began touring their new psychedelic ambient sound almost straight away finding they were in much demand on the psychedelic trance and music festival circuit worldwide. This was most likely because of the uniqueness of the sound they had invented. There really was nothing quite like it at the time. A true musical landmark that is still regarded as the best psychill albumn ever created.</p>
<p>Though much in demand the pair had saturated their fan base somewhat and needed to grow their sound to discover a larger listening public. A gamble if you should not want to annoy those who had come to love their debut. With this in mind Shpongle decided for their second album "Tales Of The Inexpressible" in 2001 to include more natural instruments, relying less on the samples and hardware of their successful debut release. The new product was met with mixed reviews. To the new listeners it was an amazing release full of creativity and wonder. To the die hard fans it was seen as a bit of a disappointment. Interesting though, after many a listen these fans began to change their mind and the CD was largely seen on equal par and in some people's mind topping the first album in terms of production quality and imagination.</p>
<p>It would be four years before the release of the third album "Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost" in 2005. The intervening years had seen speculation as to if the group had decided to throw in the towel. The title of the new album also suggested as such. The album saw a return to the heady electronic sounds of "Are you Shpongled?" perhaps as a reaction to some of the negative reviews received from the previous album and its use of acoustic and natural instruments. It also made use of track mixing on each tune so that they flow into each other creating a vast psychedelic mystery trip. It was widely praised in the musical press. Also quite evident in the album was how the tunes had evolved into something that could easily support a live show with full backing band and dancers. </p>
<p>The fourth studio album from Shpongle "ineffable Mysteries From Shpongle Land" was released in 2009 and continued were the third album left off. While still quite brilliantly psychedelic, the music seemed built for a live experience. As such some listeners were a little disappointed with the release. I think the problem was that the psychedelic ambient music scene was now full with Shpongle like artists who had spent the last 10 years listening to Shpongle, trying to emulate their unique sounds. Personally I found it to be my favorite release since their debut. The album was ranked at #7 on Sputnik's Best Of 2009 list and #1 on the PsyAmb list.</p>
<p>Simon has also mentioned that the group are working on a fifth album for release in 2012. I would guess this would depend on the Younger Brother schedule and how much recording time they manage to fit into their busy schedules.</p>
<p>Albumn Artwork </p>
<p>One of the things I like of any band is the care given to album cover and inlay design. Shpongle does not disspoint having called on the design skills of Mark Neal ( Dusk Design ) and Storm Thorgeson ( designer of Pink Flyod's "The Dark Side Of The Moon" cover ).</p>
<p>Shpongle Live </p>
<p>Since the beginning the live experience has grown from two guys behind a mixing deck to show of circus like proportions complete with huge speaker systems, lighting, fire breathers and psychedelic dancers. It's not always easy to see them live however as it is quite difficult to organize all the back musicians and dancers in one place at the same time. We are not talking The Rolling Stones here ! If you have never seen Shpongle live but would like to see what you are missing out on then I recommend buying a copy of the "Shpongle Live at The Roundhouse DVD" from Twisted Records online store. Amazing show !</p>
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