Shpongle
Are You Shpongled?

The word psybient doesn't mean anything to you, or worse, you don't even know a single record of the genre? It doesn't matter, in the chaos of names—and clones—of this 'hallucinatory' genre that mixes the styles of Israeli goa and psy-trance à-la Infected Mushroom, Juno Reactor, and Astral Projection with the progressive downtempo rhythms of the nineties by Leftfield and Banco de Gaia, there are very few who can truly claim to be original, genuinely psychedelic, and creators of works that are 100% successful.

Simon Posford, English, a celebrated producer with a thousand tricks up his sleeve, responsible for that monster that went by the name Hallucinogen (a seminal goa project), and the crazy old Australian man Raja Ram, a source of visionary, winding, languid, and slightly flute-extended music, are Shpongle, before even being a strange couple, an entity that, despite recent lapses in tone and clear inability to renew, is undoubtedly among these names, and if you happen to decide to listen to just one psybient album, make sure it's the majestic debut of this duo, "Are You Shpongled?" 1998, which is now, in every sense, a milestone, not just of the psybient world, but of electronic music in particular.

It's precisely this album that launches and entirely outlines this genre imbued with mysticism and a psychedelic and mysterious sound, but it has the flaw of never being able to completely renew itself, almost always repeating the alchemic formulas that the now-famous duo launched in this work. As glimpsed in "Shpongle Falls", "Monster Hit", and "Behind Closed Eyelids", nothing is missing from these stylistic elements, which effectively became the guidelines of the genre: meticulously arranged compositions down to the smallest detail, extended suite-like durations of progressive school (the longest track runs twenty minutes), very slow tempos, uneven changes, solid beats, psychotic ambient diversions, dub bass lines, acidic synths, harmonic progressions drawing from mother goa (the classic 'talking synths') as well as from the cosmic music pathos of Tangerine Dream (synth arpeggios that expand in space). There are also oriental-tinged mantras between sacred and profane with typical instruments from various traditions (tabla, winds, sitar drones, didgeridoo, gamelan, mantric vocalizations), thus calling back to a certain type of ritual ambient with more ethnic and equatorial overtones (see sacred monsters of the calibre of Robert Rich, Jon Hassell, Jorge Reyes..) which, working much on the concept of hypnosis, immediately lead to scenarios more surreal than exotic, abandoned equatorial forests, and ecstatic journeys rather than meditative landscape-sound oases more typical of certain B-series new age.  

Clearly, the classic hymns to LSD that characterized the entire movement and Simon's creations cannot be missed (mentions of the guru Terence McKenna, always producing under acid, they say, grotesque artwork, bongs placed everywhere) as well as references to prog, which are not limited to the arrangements and suite format (just listen to the crimsonian flute in "Vapour Rumours" or the floydian psychedelia in "... and the Day Turned to Night"). A necessary note for the production, which, like any psy production that respects itself, is ultra-layered, varied, dense, and progressive—and thus with repetitions reduced to a minimum—but all multiplied by ten if Hallucinogen is behind the machines (not only does the concept of a loop not exist, but there are an estimated 200/300 sounds, effects, and synths per track... the best example is surely "Divine Moments of Truth") and in this sense the flute of the seventy-year-old veteran Raja Ram is the perfect organic complement to Posford's efforts, always weaving hallucinatory and vaporous phrases that enhance that touch of the profane and the balance between acoustic/electronic that is never missing.

A long-recognized masterpiece, an album that has undergone six reprints in thirteen years, regularly selling out, a timeless masterpiece, and the crowning moment of Shpongle's genius.