Posted by Libra on 10/22/2009, 11:22 am
75.71.160.202
Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland
I don't know if anyone here cares about it, but when I heard the duo was making a new album, it's been my most anticipated release since I heard Portishead was making a new one. It leaked a couple of weeks ago (official release date is Nov 2) and I picked it up yesterday.
Early verdict -- well it's not as good as Nothing Lasts, but I wasn't expecting it to be. When NL came out in 2005 I listened to it multiple times a day for over a year, never tiring of it, and even four years later it's one of the best, most compulsively listenable albums I've ever come across -- easily within my five favourite albums if not my single favourite.
Ineffable is damn good, though. No sign of it being a cash-in (Nothing Lasts was supposed to be their last album together, so when I heard they were reuniting for a new one I couldn't but be suspicious). I've no clue where they dug up these samples, and it's oddly free of Terence McKenna, but there's some weird shit on it, but by Shponglestandards, it is a fairly tame outing, more melodic singing, far less trance-oriented than the band's earliest work. They've always been really removed from what most people think of when they hear the word 'techno', which is one of the reasons I dig 'em so. There's a little bit of corniness -- I Am You is kind of a newage cliche (I was kinda concerned when I saw the tracklisting), but it's oddly presented in a non-preachy manner, and the music is gorgeous. There's a couple of Shpongle-cliches, just in terms of style and sound effects and motifs that have been on their past albums, but it's usually presented differently.
It does kind of feel out of place in their discography, though, since all of their work was a steady progression upwards. Their debut (Are You Shpongled?) was like a blueprint for the band, more a great album waiting to happen than a great album, which would happen with the follow-up, Tales of the Inexpressible. Then, when it seemed they could no longer imrpove, they dropped Nothing Lasts, which destroyed all of my conceptions of what music (electronic or otherwise) could be, incorporating mad amounts of world, jazz, classical, folk, rock, heavy metal elements, along with the techno-fusion they'd perfected. It really seemed like there was nowhere to go.
Despite all of that, Ineffable doesn't seem tacked on to their career, maybe a little like the Hail to the Thief to Nothing Lasts' Kid A, and it wouldn't be a stretch after just a couple of listens for me to name it the best album I've heard in years. My baby likes it a whole hell of a lot.
Anyone interested should check out "Nothing is Something Worth Doing" or the aforementioned "I Am You," though if you're not familiar with the band's work, I wouldn't say this album is the best starting point.
I picked up some shrooms the other day, so I might give this its proper listen soon.
BTW, Trent -- Every time I type out a proper reply to your post. Making it short, the Feelies song you posted is dope.
NP: Shpongle - Invisible Man in a Fluorescent Suit
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