Shpongle is a
psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes
Hallucinogen
Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...
and
Raja Ram (one of three in
The Infinity Project). The duo are considered to be one of the
progenitor
In genealogy, the progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; german: Stammvater or ''Ahnherr'') is the – sometimes legendary – founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house, or ethnic group..
Ebenda''Ahnherr:''"Stammvater eines G ...
s of the
psybient
Psychedelic Trance, Psytrance or Psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full ...
genre - a genre combining
world music with
psychedelic trance
Psychedelic Trance, Psytrance or Psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full ...
and
ambient. Their musical style combines
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
from all over the world and vocals with contemporary western
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
-based psychedelic music. When asked to describe Shpongle's music, Posford has responded that it is "like nothing you've ever heard before."
Shpongle's first track, "Vapour Rumours", was released on TIP Records' ''Infinite Excursions'' compilation in 1996. Their debut album, ''
Are You Shpongled?
''Are You Shpongled?'' is the first of six albums released by Shpongle. ''Are You Shpongled?'' sold in excess of 30,000 copies. A remastered version of ''Are You Shpongled?'' was released on 30 June 2017, along with a limited edition super-deluxe ...
'', was released in 1998 on
Twisted Records. On 9 September 2014, Posford confirmed beginning work on a sixth album, which was released as ''Codex VI'' on October 23, 2017. On 3 October, even before the release of ''Codex VI'', the duo announced via a Facebook video that they have begun working on their seventh studio album.
Since June 30, the duo have also been releasing remasters of their previous albums, focussing on releasing special edition vinyl records.
Posford is generally responsible for the synthesizers, studio work, and live instrumentation, while Raja Ram contributes broad musical concepts and flute arrangements. Raja Ram stated in an interview that "Shpongle" is an
umbrella term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
for feeling positive and euphoric emotions. Shpongle's music is heavily influenced by
psychedelic experiences and frequently makes use of sonic textures that approximate
psychedelic states as well as vocal samples relating to
consciousness expansion
Higher consciousness is the consciousness of God or, in the words of Dawn DeVries, "the part of the human mind that is capable of transcending animal instincts". While the concept has ancient roots, it was significantly developed in German ideali ...
,
hallucinations, and
altered states of awareness. For example, the track "A New Way to Say 'Hooray'" contains a vocal sample of
Terence McKenna
Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including ...
describing the effects of
DMT.
Shpongle live
Shpongle has played several live concerts, and Simon Posford tours frequently, performing live DJ sets. Raja Ram has occasionally accompanied these sets with live flute performances.
Shpongle's first live performance was at the Solstice Music Festival at Motosu Highland in Japan in July 2001.
They returned to Japan on New Year's Eve 2003 to play the New Maps of Hyperspace event at
Tokyo Bay NK Hall
Tokyo Bay NK Hall was an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, in Japan. It opened in 1988, closed in 2005 and was demolished in 2015 to make way for Toy Story Hotel. The capacity of the arena ...
together with 1200 Micrograms (featuring Raja Ram) and Hallucinogen.
Prior to the release of their fourth album Shpongle played a sold out live concert at
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhouse, ...
venue in
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden.
History
Manor of Rugmere
Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned in ...
, North London on 31 October 2008. The band featured
Andy Gangadeen (drums), Nogera (percussion), Chris Taylor (bass), Pete Callard (guitar),
Harry Escott
Harry Escott (born 9 September 1976) is a British composer living in London. He has composed the scores to several films, including ''Shame'' (2011), ''Hard Candy'' (2005), '' A Mighty Heart'' (2007), and '' Ali & Ava'' (2021), for which he won ...
(cello), and Dick Trevor (keyboards and programming); Michele Adamson and Hari Om (voices), three dancers, and for one song only ("Nothing is Something Worth Doing")
Manu Delago
Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian Hang player, percussionist and composer based in London.
Biography
Delago was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played dru ...
on
hand pan.
This was followed on 20 December 2008 by a concert in Moscow featuring the same lineup. Shows were also planned for 7 and 9 March 2009 in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, but these were cancelled due to non-payment of the deposit by the promoters.
In 2009, Shpongle played a headlining date at the
Ozora Festival
The Ozora Festival, stylised as O.Z.O.R.A., is an annual transformational festival and arts festival near the Hungarian village of Ozora.
History and growth
The festival has been held on an estate in Ozora near the small village of Dádpuszta ...
held near
Ozora
Ozora is a village in Tolna, Hungary. It has been notable since the Middle Ages, when Pipo of Ozora built a castle at this site by permission of Sigismund of Hungary in 1416. Artúr Görgei won an important victory in this area at the Battle o ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
on 15 August;
Shpongle also played a latenight DJ set at Rothbury Festival in Rothbury, Michigan over Fourth of July weekend and two album launch shows at the Roundhouse on 30 and 31 October.
The duo returned to Moscow to play at Milk on 12 December 2009.
On 3 August 2010, they opened the Ozora festival in Hungary. This was their tenth documented live performance.
In January 2011, Shpongle toured Australia, playing dates at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, and headlining the
Rainbow Serpent Festival
Rainbow Serpent Festival is a four-day annual open-air music and arts festival that takes place during the Australia Day (26 January) long weekend, in Lexton, Victoria, west of Melbourne, Australia. The festival is mainly known for its focus on ...
in Victoria, Australia.
In June 2011, Shpongle played at the Electric Forest Festival with the Shpongletron.
New unreleased material from the forthcoming album was incorporated in the 2011 tour, the Shpongletron Experience. The tour featured the
Shpongletron, designed by visual artist
Zebbler
Zebbler (Peter Zebbler Berdovsky) is a visual artist, video jockey and the founder of Zebbler Studios, who is known for his work with Shpongle, EOTO, and Zebbler Encanti Experience. Zebbler first gained worldwide fame for the 2007 Boston Mooninit ...
. The Shpongletron included a DJ booth and multiple custom-made,
video-mapped projection surfaces.
"Shpongle Live" performed at Camp Bisco X on 8 July 2011 in Mariaville, New York. This was Shpongle's first ever performance as a full ensemble in the United States and was greatly received by fans and newcomers alike. The band also performed two sold-out American shows on Halloween weekend in 2011, playing at the
Hammerstein Ballroom
The Hammerstein Ballroom is a ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,500 people for theat ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on 28 October, and at the
Fox Oakland Theater
The Fox Oakland Theatre is a 2,800-seat concert hall, a former movie theater, located at 1807 Telegraph Avenue in Downtown Oakland. It originally opened in 1928, running films until 1970. Designed by Weeks and Day, the theatre is listed on the Nat ...
in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
on 29 October. They debuted the first track from ''Museum of Consciousness'', called "Brain in a Fish Tank," on 28 October 2011.
For 2012, Shpongle toured the United States performing DJ sets entitled "Shpongle presents The Masquerade". The last set of this tour was performed on 31 October 2012, at Terminal West in Atlanta, Georgia. On 3 November, they performed with Younger Brother, Hallucinogen, and other Twisted Records artists. Their set included live keyboards and flute, and debuted many new tracks from their most recent album.
After the ceremony in 2010, on 6 August 2013 Shpongle is once again opening O.Z.O.R.A. Festival with a world premier concert for their new material called ''
Museum of Consciousness'' (2013).
Oct. 2013 full band live in London at the
Troxy
Troxy is a Grade II-listed Art Deco music venue on Commercial Road in Stepney, London. Built as a cinema in 1933, it closed in 1960 and became a training school for the London Opera Centre. In the 1980s the building was used as a bingo hall, an ...
. The show was filmed and is available on DVD, released in 2015.
Shpongle played live with a full 12 piece band at Red Rocks Amphitheater in
Morrison, Colorado
The Town of Morrison is a Colorado municipalities#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 428 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Red R ...
, on 10 May 2014. The concert was filmed, and released on 23 October 2015 as
Shpongle - Live at Red Rocks.
On 19 November 2014, it was announced via social media that Shpongle would once again begin touring in the United States throughout early 2015, featuring Phutureprimitive as special guest, the return of "Shpongletron 3.1," and with visuals by
Zebbler
Zebbler (Peter Zebbler Berdovsky) is a visual artist, video jockey and the founder of Zebbler Studios, who is known for his work with Shpongle, EOTO, and Zebbler Encanti Experience. Zebbler first gained worldwide fame for the 2007 Boston Mooninit ...
.
On 21 September 2018, Shpongle announced their last full public concerts, two consecutive nights at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the Western United States, western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, flyi ...
on 3/4 May 2019:
Although this is their last full public concert, Shpongle will continue to enchant and delight with future studio recordings and album releases, with some Shpongle 7 productions receiving their world premieres at this performance.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Are You Shpongled?
''Are You Shpongled?'' is the first of six albums released by Shpongle. ''Are You Shpongled?'' sold in excess of 30,000 copies. A remastered version of ''Are You Shpongled?'' was released on 30 June 2017, along with a limited edition super-deluxe ...
'' (1998)
* ''
Tales of the Inexpressible'' (2001)
* ''
Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost'' (2005)
* ''
Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland'' (2009)
* ''
Museum of Consciousness'' (2013)
* ''
Codex VI'' (2017)
EP albums
* ''
Divine Moments of Truth
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
'' (2000)
* ''
Dorset Perception'' (2004)
* ''
The God Particle'' (2010)
* ''
Carnival of Peculiarities'' (2021)
Remix albums
* ''Remixed'' (2003)
* ''Remixed volume 2'' (2005)
* ''Unreleased Remixes'' (2008)
(download only)
* Shpongle & Mad Tribe – ''Stoned Remixes'' (2016-05-09,
Tip Records, ''download'')
Shpongle & Mad Tribe - Stoned Remixes
Tip Records etrieved 2016-06-12/ref>
Other songs
* "The Sixth Revelation" on ''The Mystery of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls'' (2001)
* "The Seventh Revelation" on ''The Secret of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls'' (2003)
DVD releases
* ''Live in Concert at the Roundhouse London 2008'' (2009)
* ''Live in London 2014'' (2015)
* ''Live at Red Rocks Amphitheater'' (2015)
References
External links
Official Shpongle website
Shpongle at discogs.com
Simon Posford's myspace.com profile
Twisted Records
Shpongle at reddit
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1996
British electronic music groups
Psychedelic trance musical groups
British musical trios
Musical groups from Surrey