May 30, 2005
Album Review: Shpongle - Nothing Lasts ... But Nothing Is Lost
Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost is the third, and sadly, final Shpongle album from English producer Simon Posford and collaborator Raja Ram.
Electronic music, particularly trance, often suffers from being too genre bound. Shpongle however, since their 1998 debut Are You Shpongled?, have consistently challenged musical convention, schizophrenically blending elements of dub, breaks, psytrance, jazz, and world music to excellent effect. Nothing is Lost is no exception, and marks the full maturation of this fusion sound.
The album is one flowing piece which the producers say should be considered a sort of aural dream sequence. There's a lot more consistency between tracks on Nothing than earlier efforts, and themes from earlier tracks drift in and out giving you some reference points in the otherwise bewildering soupy soundscape.
Once again, Posford has chosen to introduce a number of vocal elements. While these occasionally grated on Tales of the Inexpressible, they work marvellously here. The Dead Can Dance like, Invocation, provides a nice contrast to the following techno oriented Molecular Superstructure, and the sung dialogue at the end of Periscopes of Consciousness between man and what is presumably a hyperdimensional creature is gorgeous.
Posford's composition is wonderfully baroque, building layer upon layer of chaotic blips, pads, samples, gulps, and arpeggios. The tracks have an astounding density, and it is a testament to his production skill that the music still remains punchy and clean. The instrumentation is varied, and the juxtaposition of the vocals and acoustics with the crunchier electronic elements gives the album an organic quality that most electronic music never approaches.
Nothing Lasts is available from Twisted Records. Friends of self dribbling bejeweled machine elves, and really anyone that loves electronic music should not be without it.
As they say, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Posted by kitsune at 12:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack