Friday, May 26, 2006
Water Flowing Backward Through Time Into Tomorrow
"Like the Universe sitting on your face,
Plugged into Gaia's Brain, in a Wyrd dripping cavernous Labyrinth
Following the String of semi-madness
Brain gymnastics, sonic elastics, frying the mind circuits
The psychedelic circus is in town
Shamans, pagans, pixies + elves, wizards, lizards, physicians + magicians
visible language, visual music, the carnival of the Divine Imagination" *
If an old wise man on a mountain top were to pose the questions "Why would man seek psychoactive hallucinogenic drugs" to the Universe, the Universe would respond with "go listen to Shpongle."
I don't even remember how I came across these guys (the group is composed of two individuals: Simon Posford and Raja Ram). If I recall correctly it was from back in the immediate post-Napster days when kazaa was first picking up steam. One evening I was browsing through collections and saw the name "Shpongle" and just downloaded the two or three tracks the user had. Minutes later I was hooked.
Their music is difficult to classify. It's not fast or strong enough to be Goa Trance. It isn't chaotic enough to be blip hop. Not enough words to belong to electroclash. Isn't backgroundy enough to be true ambient. The people at Wiki have classified it as "psychedelic downtempo" and "psybient." I'm more partial to the word psybient. In fact, I'm going to try and work that into a conversation tomorrow.
Regardless, the music is astoundingly beautiful, complex, and electronic in nature. As artistry goes, I know very few artists that can successfully apply musical theory, synthetic sounds, real sounds, real instruments, and fake instruments and produce something that sounds wholly organic. Much of their music is not real, but sounds more 'natural' than most nature sounds.
Shpongle puts me in my happy place. The middle of my happy place. The happy place where the unending horizon of Now arcs around a donut-like reality resembling a moebius strip.
Maybe I like it so much because it reminds me of my dreams. Something in my subconscious can't help but love the music.
Long story short, way too late, apparently last year they released another CD that I didn't know existed. Shpongle: Nothing lasts...Nothing is Lost. I ordered it less than 5 minutes after discovering its existence.
* From the liner notes of Shpongle: Tales of the Inexpressible (all rights reserved)
Plugged into Gaia's Brain, in a Wyrd dripping cavernous Labyrinth
Following the String of semi-madness
Brain gymnastics, sonic elastics, frying the mind circuits
The psychedelic circus is in town
Shamans, pagans, pixies + elves, wizards, lizards, physicians + magicians
visible language, visual music, the carnival of the Divine Imagination" *
If an old wise man on a mountain top were to pose the questions "Why would man seek psychoactive hallucinogenic drugs" to the Universe, the Universe would respond with "go listen to Shpongle."
I don't even remember how I came across these guys (the group is composed of two individuals: Simon Posford and Raja Ram). If I recall correctly it was from back in the immediate post-Napster days when kazaa was first picking up steam. One evening I was browsing through collections and saw the name "Shpongle" and just downloaded the two or three tracks the user had. Minutes later I was hooked.
Their music is difficult to classify. It's not fast or strong enough to be Goa Trance. It isn't chaotic enough to be blip hop. Not enough words to belong to electroclash. Isn't backgroundy enough to be true ambient. The people at Wiki have classified it as "psychedelic downtempo" and "psybient." I'm more partial to the word psybient. In fact, I'm going to try and work that into a conversation tomorrow.
Regardless, the music is astoundingly beautiful, complex, and electronic in nature. As artistry goes, I know very few artists that can successfully apply musical theory, synthetic sounds, real sounds, real instruments, and fake instruments and produce something that sounds wholly organic. Much of their music is not real, but sounds more 'natural' than most nature sounds.
Shpongle puts me in my happy place. The middle of my happy place. The happy place where the unending horizon of Now arcs around a donut-like reality resembling a moebius strip.
Maybe I like it so much because it reminds me of my dreams. Something in my subconscious can't help but love the music.
Long story short, way too late, apparently last year they released another CD that I didn't know existed. Shpongle: Nothing lasts...Nothing is Lost. I ordered it less than 5 minutes after discovering its existence.
* From the liner notes of Shpongle: Tales of the Inexpressible (all rights reserved)
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Friday, May 26, 2006 
Comments:
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YEAH for random music finds! Wahoo Shpongle! i forgot about them, cuz i think dan has the cd you burned for him... but i bet i could use it for jump rope! hehe. i'm off to find it!
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