Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland (2009)

Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland (2009)
Genre: Electronic, Psytrance
Year: 2009

Nothing Lasts... but Nothing is Lost is the one album that people associate with me more than any other. I've probably turned 20-30 people onto Shpongle thanks to its awesomeness. I flew halfway across the world to see Shpongle live last year. Naturally, this is my most anticipated album in god knows how long. How is it?

Pretty damn good. As good as Nothing Lasts? Nah. But what is? Nothing Lasts featured 20 tracks that were all five minutes or less, while this album -- hereby referred to as Shpongle 4 because this title is stupid -- only has 8, many of which break 10 minutes. Each song is a lot more varied than your standard song, though, with each song featuring several musical ideas that blend together quite nicely. I often am like 'is this even the same song?'

Shpongle 4 features a good amount of vocal work, at least compared to previous albums. I Am You and No Turn Unstoned are the standouts here thanks to some nice choruses that repeat throughout the song. Even those without vocals tend to feature some sort of crazy chanting. My favourite song though is the vocal-less third track, Nothing Is Something Worth Doing. It's serene and features a hang drum, an instrument I've been obsessed with since I saw them play it live last year. Damn, those things are cool. I'd buy one if I randomly had thousands of dollars I didn't want anymore.

So yeah, Shpongle 4. It's real. It actually exists. Listen to it.

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