Customer Reviews

Tales of the Inexpressible

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Shpongle designs sounds to pet your brain. "Star Shpongled Banner" is a hauntingly melodious track with the kind of vocal that an oak tree would emit if it could sing. "Around the World in a Tea Daze" is an elegant masterpiece of opera/electronic music fusion. I say "electronic music" even though the term is too vague to be useful. "Around the World in a Tea Daze" hops around from quasi drum n' bass at the beginning to downtempo to more trancy goa, and from Opera to Middle-Eastern vocals back to Opera - seamlessly. Nothing forced and nothing short of brilliant.

The music is, of course, psychedelic, so don't buy it if you lack imagination (like that one reviewer who called it junk did). But, since you're on this page, you were probably checking out Simon Posford's psytrance alterego, Hallucinogen, or scoping out the more industrial Juno Reactor, or investigating Doof or Man With No Name, so I'm sure you have plenty of imagination.

If you are looking for beauty, I guarantee you've found it in Shpongle's Tales of the Inexpressible. If you are looking for new-sounding instrumentation and novel high-tech sounds, you've found it here, too. Looking for some Latin influences or some Middle-Eastern sounds and some straight-up unique musical blends? Look no further than Shpongle. Looking for trippy stuff? Found it. Looking for quality music in general? Again, this is it.
To give you a better idea of where I am coing from...I listen to trance mostly, from epic to desert to psychedelic to progressive. In addition to my taste for trance, I listen to progressive house, and like breaks, and I count Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, John Digweed, Adam Freeland, and Sandra Collins among my favorite DJ's. Plus, I like ECSM BT a little better than the import Movement in Still Life BT and MUCH more than the US Movement in Still Life BT.

I CANNOT GIVE THIS ALBUM A HIGHER RECOMMENDATION. OF ALL THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC I'VE EVER LISTENED TO, THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST. OF ALL THE MUSIC IN GENERAL I'VE EVER LISTENED TO, THIS IS AMONG THE BEST. SHPONGLE IS THE BEATLES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC - HE CAN DO MANY DIFFERENT STYLES AS WELL AS OR BETTER THAN SPECIALISTS IN THOSE AREAS.

Buy this album - many mp3's of it are inferior in sound quality and you'll really want ultra-rich sound when listening to this. "The gnomes have found a new way to say hooray," a Terence McKenna quote (he was the heir-apparent to Timothy Leary), is the happiest song - very well done. "Once Upon a Sea of Blissful Awareness" is a sublime track with divine female lyrics.

Do yourself a favor and get this album no matter you musical tastes. It will at-least stretch your mind and you will discover one of the best musicians that modern music has to offer.

That said, I think I've come to like this album a little less than Shpongle's other magnificent opus, "Are You Shpongled?" But that's really splitting hairs, this is a fantastic album that mixes some gorgeous ambience with mind-bending "post psychedelic trance," an apt term one reviewer used.

The first track, "Dorset Perception" lifts the listener up with a soaring, lovely melody that I really like, a great song, but the album hits one of its peaks with the next track, "Star Shpongled Banner" with its mesmerizing flow, divine vocals, and breathtakingly lovely air to it. Now that is a track.

This album hits a few less-than-spectacular notes in my opinion with tracks 4-6, but it's hard to top the majesty and transcendance of the first two songs anyway. But we're right back at the peak of musical innovation and enjoyment again with "Once Upon The Sea of Blissful Awareness" and "Around the World in a Tea Daze." "Once Upon..." sounds like you might expect it to - a shimmeringly lovely and fragile tune with jaw-dropping vocals that does indeed feel like you're floating upon a sea of blissful awareness." "Around the World..." is so varied, a shifting opus of the forms of electronica, that it's difficult to praise it properly here. Amazingly enough, it never feels haphazard though.

So all in all, this is a great album, perhaps I haven't done it justice, but oh well. If this is your first time listening to Shpongle I would personally recommend the even better "Are You Shpongled?" because it has it less of the world music feel and samples to it than this album, and I don't care as highly for some world music forays as some people do. I do like the world music flourishes Juno Reactor uses, but not so much in other groups' experimentations. If that type of thing doesn't bother you or you like it, then disregard the above statement.

One last note - Don't pay an arm and a leg for this CD. If you look around you can find it available fairly easily for around $16-17 which includes shipping. This is a good album, but there's no reason to be ripped off by scam artists. The same goes for "Are You Shpongled?", there's some guy on here selling a copy for $100, that's insane when a little work online will net you a copy for $20-25 with a minimum of hassle and a fourth of the price.

The first time I heard this CD, it awoke parts of my consiousness that I didn't know were sleeping.

That may seem to be an overstatement but I assure you it isn't. It truly re-awoke my passion for music. Expecting trance/techno, I got a more world/shamanic voyage instead, and something even more indefineable that has kept me listening to it for years. From the first song, Dorset Perception, it grabs your ears and mind and doesn't let go until the soft finale of Flute Fruit.

Hightlights are:
Dorst Perception (superb intro)
Star Shpongled Banner (what a journey)
Once Upon the Sea of Blissfull Awareness (gorgeous, soothing female vocals)
Around the World in a Tea Daze (how can it get any better?!? oh, it just did)

The entire album is wonderful though and should be appreciated as a cohesive whole.

Like Alexiel and Doug and the other reviewers have stated here and on the other release page, this is the best of the best. The tribal and latin grooves totally blend into the trippy positive beat. Each song is a voyage that takes a little time to get into but is WELL worth it. They start off slow (if you can call it that) and build up to subliminal heights! You don't need chemicals to get the full effect of this music, though I'm sure they would enhance and already "fantastic voyage."

I would reccommend this CD and their first to just about anyone. The first, Are You Shpongled? is almost as good, but lacks the refinement and evolution of this one (I've since re-thought that, it is just as good, just a bit different). The album's standout track ...and the day turned into night, is a must hear though. Also good is their 3rd album Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost. It doesn't quite grab me like their first two, but hey, it's SHPONGLE! Keep an eye out for a promised 4th album.

Shpongle really floats in a genre all of it's own making--somewhere in the rainbow-ether between trance, psycadelic, jungle, world and electronic music. But don't just take my word for it, read the other reviews.

One more thing. Listen to this on a great sound system for the best effect. I loved hearing on my mini-system, but when I got my new car with a high-end sound system, I can't believe all that was missing the first time around, especially in the base end. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The prices I've seen used copies going for here on Amazon are outrageous. Do yourselve a favor and track it down elsewhere on the web, or download the MP3s. For me though, this is a must-have CD.

This album is something that comes along maybe once every 10 years. I havent' heard music that makes me tingle, fly, laugh, and dance like this one for more than ten years prior to this one and for the few years since. It's incredible.

These two guys, when they get together, do some incredible things. Their blend of eastern instruments and other ethnic sounds with the melodies and samples that they've chosen is outstanding. Their ability to change the tempo of the tracks from one minute to the next is unparalleled. In one album, even in particular tracks, they manage to take you on a journey all across the globe delving into some of the world's different cultures. This album will blow you away. It's as you can tell by now, one of my all time favorites, and Shpongle is one of my most revered bands of all time. No joke. Enjoy.

A couple years back, I was introduced to the first Shpongle album. With layer-upon-layer of a perfect blend of "organic" and "electronic" sounds, this blew me away! It re-defined music itself with the use of some of the strangest time-measures and effects I've ever heard, all fit together beautifully!

Then "Tales of the Inexpressible" was released. Once again, I was floored! If you're expecting another "Are You Shopngled?" you won't find it here, as this album seems based off of much more conventional music, compared to the highly electronic feel of the first one. It is quite a different style, although even better!! There is a lot more "energy" comming out of this one than their last, and many more genres are plowed through.

One of the fantastic things about this album is how each track morphs into something quite different than the beginning. Simon and Raja get you comfortable with incredible "soundscapes", and then twist and transform them into something completely different. These transitions are done as smooth as silk!

It's Inexpressibly Fantastic! I highly recommend this for any music-appreciator. Once you can get past the sheer detail, numbers, and strangeness of these sounds, You'll start noticing what these sounds are doing together and to eachother, which is the most fantastic stuff I've heard come out of my stereo. Ever.

-=- Matt/Strumpling -=-

Immediately one of the best psychedelic albums ever made, possibly the best to date? I certainly think so. Having had this album for many months, and listening to it repeatedly, it can't compare to anything else. It blows all other music away! I believe it has something to do with the ups and downs of the music. Many albums are full of repetition: all happy, or all sad, or all something. Each song on Tales of the Inexpressible is a rollercoaster, taking you from fear to joy to awe and back again. Granted, some songs are better than others, but they all flow into each other - making the album the thing, not the songs. You definitely want to hear the whole thing from beginning to end.

You could download this album on MP3, but I'll tell you why you shouldn't. First of all, this truly is a masterpiece of production, and you will want the best quality you can find, and you wont easily find high quality MP3s. Second, the CD gives you a smooth flow between songs. I had this on MP3 and burnt a CD of it, but you can definitely tell when a track changes by the moment of silence. On a bought CD you get a seamless flow.

Now, this is pretty obvious, but if you really want to blow your mind, this music is a perfect mix... Lights off, music blaring, lying down... you will believe. Remember, there are other travellers listening with you, so dont pause or skip any songs ;)

Are You Shpongled?

It's interesting the way God/Fate/Life has lead me into the music of new artists. I was listening to a Pete Namlook CD in my iTunes library, and decided on a whim to see what Namlook CD's were available in the iMusicStore. They had more than I expected...I was unaware that Namlook was such a prolific musician (who I recommend highly, incidentally). I then decided to come over to Amazon to read some reviews of his other CD's, and one reviewer somewhere alluded to Shpongle. That name set off a little memory bell in my head--I remember someone from my past mentioning that Shpongle was a group I needed to look into. So: back to iTunes I went, to see if Shpongle was available there. Lo & behold, all 3 of their CD's plus the Remixes disc were there. I started sampling their music, and proceeded to get knocked out of my chair. I then did something I've never done before: I proceeded to order all 4 discs as downloads from iTunes since I couldn't WAIT to have (virtually) everything they had. I am now absolutely NUTS over Shpongle's music, and only a handful of bands have ever grabbed me as immediately as this (examples: YES, SIGUR ROS, PORCUPINE TREE).

Many have already said that words fail them in attempting to describe this band, and I have to agree, but they are definitely at the top of the electronica heap. Simon Posford is an absolute electronic genius and the warm flutations of Raja Ram are icing on an already delicious cake. (Is he, by the way, the same Raja Ram who used to belong to the early 1970's Krishna-Rock band called QUINTESSENCE? If so, cool, and hi, Raj! "Upon the Sea of Immortality/Keep your raft afloat with Harmony...")

It should go without saying that if this is the first Shpongle CD you've treated yourself to, you WILL want to own everything they've done. As someone who's been an electronic music freak since first hearing Tangerine Dream's PHAEDRA in the sweet summer of '74, I can truly state that this is some of the most innovative electronica these ears have ever heard...very difficult to just listen to this disc in segments, as its very nature begs you to go for the entire journey each time you put it on. And trust me...at the end of each listening, you feel as if you HAVE been on QUITE a journey (with or without the use of psychedelic stimuli). It's hard to draw comparisons, but in my own field of experience, I can recommend Shpongle to those who love Future Sound of London's LIFEFORMS, the wonderful extended instrumental passages on Junkie XL's LIVE FROM THE COMPUTER HELL CABIN, the earlier Enigma and Delerium releases, and in their softer moments I even hear traces of the underrated Norwegian electronic ensemble Amethystium. On a grander scale, though--and as has been stated already--this will appeal to not only electronic music fans, but also to those who are sick of the pablum that's being shoved down our throats by major-label "artists" who have all the originality of a fast-food hamburger. Listening to Posford and Raja Ram execute their music on all 4 of their releases gives one serious pause to question whether they are, indeed, from this planet.

So be brave, musical pioneers, and check out Shpongle with an open heart and mind. The chances are very, very good that you will walk away feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, blessed, and with a very big smile on your face after your first listening. I know I did. Peace/Love/Om Shanti.....Doug

About 3 years ago I was clickin around on Amazon and stumbled upon SHPONGLE, read some reviews and decided to give it a listen without ever hearing it. And I will never be the same. The album is one solid movement like 'Dark Side of the Moon' or 'Aenima,' meant to be listened to in full. Only then can the awesome power of this music be realized. Anyone who has a deep, open mind and yearns to witness all that the universe can offer will fall in love with these inexpressible tales. I recommend this album over their debut, not because it's more complex, but because it presents a more colorful and defined atmosphere. This album changed my life and those of my friends (even my mother), and will certainly open new doors in your own mind if you'd like. Next month I'm getting my original TotI CD framed along with "Ok Computer" and "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan."
peace out

This music is the most beautifully done electronica you will ever hear. Elegant and surreal all at the same time. This is the only CD I own that I thoroughly enjoy every song. From the ambient sounds of nature in 'shpongleyes', to the latin beats of 'dorset perception', to the powerful and glorious 'around the world in a tea daze', this CD provides a great variety in sound; maintaining musical excellence through it all.

If you only buy one CD in this genre, make it this one.

I recommend anyone with eclectic tastes listen to this cd. Simon Posford and Raja Ram aka Shpongle are the masters of psy-trance music and its cousins. This cd is not a doof cd, rather it encapsulates a vast array of beautiful music from around the world and adds a trance slant. Each track is different: from a spanish summer tune opener through to salsa through to tribal with some quirky vocals here and there, and reaching a crescendo with the wicked 11.5 mins 'around the world in a tea daze' with its multiple changes in rhythm - go to the 10 min mark of this track and the ensuing cranking trance beat and breakdown that follows are as good as it gets in this dance music genre. All I can say is listening to this cd lifts my spirits and that's the way it should be! To those who listen, enjoy.