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Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost


Jikkenteki

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Well well, after repeated listening I must say that this is a truly musical masterpiece. And it get's better every listen ... the first half of the album is so intensive that gives me thrills, and than comes the second part where the things calm down for a quiet and perfect finale.

What an album, people. What an album!!!!!!!!!

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Well well, after repeated listening I must say that this is a truly musical masterpiece. And it get's better every listen ... the first half of the album is so intensive that gives me thrills, and than comes the second part where the things calm down for a quiet and perfect finale.

What an album, people. What an album!!!!!!!!!

361890[/snapback]

Agreed. I wasn't sure at first if I thought it lived up to the first two (btw, am I the only person who likes Tales better than Are You Shpongled?). But as I've listened to it more I've come to feel it is the best of the three.

 

The entire album is one piece of music. It seems kind of pointless to analyze the individual tracks. But what's striking about Shpongle is that they have so many great musical ideas, they don't have to milk each one. Typically, a pop music composer will take a melody and repeat it again and again throughout a song. After you've listened to the song a couple times that melody is lodged in your brain and you'll know quite quickly if you like the tune or not (but then almost as quickly you may become tired of it due to overexposure). On Nothing Lasts there are fantastic ideas all over the place - ideas so good that lesser artists would build a whole song around them. And yet you hear them once or twice and then the music morphs into another space. So it takes longer to form that familiarity with the music - this may be why so many Shpongle fans at first were unsure how they felt about this release.

 

There's certainly been more than enough hype written about Shpongle but just for the record I'll add my bit: I believe Simon Posford is a genius. I see him on the same level as innovators like Jimi Hendrix and Duke Ellington. Only time will tell of course but already you see the tremendous influence he exerts over the whole field of electronic music. I'm sorry there won't be any more Shpongle records but at least we can look forward to many more years of productive output from Mr. P.

 

(btw, no I don't think Nothing Lasts is "perfect." There's a really cheesy electric-guitar-style pentatonic synth lick toward the end that I could do without. But it only repeats 5 times ;) )

 

Gus

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annoying cd imo... I tried and I tried listening.. some occasional good parts and elements (like a nice bassline here and there, whatever) but never even a whole track that was good... and samples, yuck, always so annoying

 

sorry thats just my opinion

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annoying cd imo... I tried and I tried listening.. some occasional good parts and elements (like a nice bassline here and there, whatever) but never even a whole track that was good... and samples, yuck, always so annoying

 

sorry thats just my opinion

362332[/snapback]

No need to apologize. You are entitled to your opinion. But I'm curious - if you don't like samples in music how can you be a fan of goa and psytrance? Samples are everywhere in this style of music.

 

Cheers,

Gus

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I dont like THOSE samples.. I dont mind samples in general, just those and in the way shpongle uses... Like the carnival sample from brazil that shpongle uses.. bah.. thats so.... annoying and pretentious and.. I dont know.. Some ppl will disagree with me though

 

 

Im not a fan of them, never got into it...

From twisted I preffer a million times Ott over them...

 

:)

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I dont like THOSE samples.. I dont mind samples in general, just those and in the way shpongle uses... Like the carnival sample from brazil that shpongle uses..  bah.. thats so....  annoying and pretentious and.. I dont know..  Some ppl will disagree with me though

Im not a fan of them, never got into it...

From twisted I preffer a million times Ott over them... 

 

:)

362417[/snapback]

Me too. These Samba De Janeiro samples are aweful... bew... Posted Image

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lack?

362939[/snapback]

Yes. Like When Shall I Be free. It's a quality tune, but the creativity and playfulness that I liked with Shpongle are nowhere to be seen.

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I'm somewhat surprised with the level of criticism for the new Shpongle album; maybe it doesn't feature the same level of innovation as it's predecessors but it compensates for this with pure musicality and incredible production and engineering values. The album is easily the most technical of the series and it takes a few listens to fully realise the complexity of the material and appreciate the way it has been seamlessly woven togther.

 

In my mind the album is the equal of it's predecessors and when all 3 albums are played sequentially they offer a beautiful and unique journey into sonic nirvana from start to finish. Only Beethoven can match the soul, intellect and musicality displayed in the Shpongle albums... and he was a genius too.

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That's funny. I looove that sample! It gets me off every time. Ah well, to each his own.

 

I completely agree with you about Ott though. His stuff is awesome.

 

I dont like THOSE samples.. I dont mind samples in general, just those and in the way shpongle uses... Like the carnival sample from brazil that shpongle uses..  bah.. thats so....  annoying and pretentious and.. I dont know..  Some ppl will disagree with me though

Im not a fan of them, never got into it...

From twisted I preffer a million times Ott over them... 

 

:)

362417[/snapback]

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Over-produced music doesn't sound good in my ear and that guitar in the end of the album ruins the whole thing :angry: I can listen this album to the point where the horns or what ever come in and always at that point I start laughing and change the music and even in the beginning it's just some music in the background <_<

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  • 4 weeks later...

For me... ALBUM OF THE YEAR. Fuck yeah! This baby took me back to shpongland! A place I very much like to visit and visit often. The last three tracks are phenomenal and will convert non-believers to the Church of Posford and Raja.

 

Final Verdict:10/10 (The only one this year!)

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  • 1 year later...

why did I not get this album sooner.

The samples I've heard gave a total false representation of what this album sounds like.

Of all three of the shpongle albums I think this one has the least emphasis on acoustic instruments which is both good and bad. still plenty of guitars and ethnic stuff though

Plenty of electronic swirly psychedlic madness going on in this drifty CD.

My favorite part was around track 11 at 1:30ish, I wish that little sound lasted lnger

Also I liked the use of slap bass around track 16 or 17, It reminded me of my favorite rock group primus

wasnt' an absolute mind blower like the first album, but doesnt really have any flaws.

10/10

get this CD and prepare for a long strange trip. The CD is one hour but it will seem like three

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  • 4 weeks later...

Most mature and must complete of the Shpongle albums. The first was a collection of great tunes but it wasn't a 100% story. The one after was insane adventure around the world and this one is more of an introspective into the human mind. Very intense, very trippy and very elaborate. This isn't my favorite Shpongle album, the first one still takes the cake but this one will continue to grow on me. Like a fine movie that I enjoy watching once in a few years. Essential material for any Posford fan and every Electronic music aficionado as well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I really like this one. I remember first listen of it. I don't know if it was weed or setting, but that inner-jorney was beautiful. Feeling of pure beaty and joy. Especially first 15 minutes are so intense. Compare to old ones this is again something new, no copying of themselves, samples...maybe too much of them, but amount of natural instruments outshine it easily.

They pushed the limits again: 10/10

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SHPONGLE - NOTHING LASTS... BUT NOTHING IS LOST

2005

TWISTED RECORDS

 

 

Track list:

 

1. Botanical Dimensions (4:37) ... B-

2. Outer Shpongolia ... (2:33) B

3. Levitation Nation (3:40) ... B

4. Periscopes of Consciousness (1:54) ... B

5. Schmaltz Herring (2:21) ... B

6. Nothing Lasts (4:28) ... B+

7. Schnitzl'd in the Negev (4:18) ... B

8. ...But Nothing is Lost (4:39) ... B+

9. When Shall I Be Free? (4:37) ... B+

10. The Stamen of the Shaman (4:11) ... B+

11. Circuits of the Imagination (3:12) ... B

12. Linguistic Mystic (1:36) ... B+

13. Mentalism (2:54) ... B+

14. Invocation (2:40) ... B / B+

15. Molecular Superstructure (4:47) ... B / B+

16. Turn Up the Silence (3:22) ... B+

17. Exhalation (2:16) ... B

18. Connoisseur of Hallucination (3:31) ... B / B+

19. The Nebbish Route (3:36) ... B / B+

20. Falling Awake (1:50) ... B

 

 

- Nothing Lasts because we all die and leave before us everything we were ever attached to as human beings.

 

- Nothing Is Lost because we are everything and connected as one in spirit.

 

That is what the meaning of the album title seems to be.

 

This album rocks. What were you several very disappointed people here expecting, cocaine? :D

 

As for the talk of The Matrix movies on pages 4 and 5... OF COURSE the original was the best one and I don't think that's a good analogy because Shpongle 2 was great while Matrix Reloaded... Read my reviews on the sequels here and focus on the point of this thread. If you must write me NOT on this thread obviously.

 

http://www.epinions.com/content_99999125124

 

http://www.epinions.com/content_117776879236

 

 

I really like this album. It's soft, hard, light, dark, aggressive, wild, imaginative, ethnic-influenced, spontaneous, beautiful, occasionally motive and moody, and fun. It's filled with groovy, danceable rhythms and melodies. In some ways I think this release is great. Sure they used some classic tracks, ideas, and concepts from the first two. And I suppose there are parts that feel more like transitions than anything else apart from the stronger tunes and tracks.

 

Expectations with Shpongle are in music are like expectations with the third part of a film in a big budget, so far great trilogy. So many people throughout the world know of Shpongle. It has quite a cult following to say the least. Everyone is expecting the next level but in some ways this psuhed that level without raising us up to the next one in a sense. Nothing Lasts isn't groundbreaking like the first. It doesn't push the limits and introduce as much as I felt the strong follow-up did either. Unlike the second it isn't as focused on creating a handful of strong tracks. Rather this third album breaks the world up into 20 tracks.

 

I will admit that with each time the general song really changes up we're often already wisked to the next track. In other words, the songs are less epic and complex due to the production choice made to split everything up into more tracks, one continuous mix. Naturally this creates one giant flowing track in a sense but some may argue this. I can't say I love or hate the idea. It's a different approach. That's all. And part of me prefers the way it was before because the fewer tracks generally had more depth. However this album lets you experience more aspects and places I feel, if even in smaller quantity.

 

For instance, songs like "When Shall I Be Free" are great. They introduce something new. They're complete sounding at the length they are. The same goes for a handful of other tracks songs here which can easily stand on their own. Personally I find the album's best to listen to straight through. It's really superb in spots and soon after we reach one of these parts it generally lasts shorter that on previous Sphongle albums because fewer tracks were often greater tracks and longer unlike here. Nonetheless, this is still a Shpongle album and it blows away almost every Down-Tempo release from its year

 

In conclusion, this is one of the best albums from 2005. An observation is that a handful of what takes place here has been done before. It isn't new. However it is integrated into new and generally creatively crafted work that does at times involve new ideas and elements in the Shpongle Universe. A gripe is that some tracks seem to have easily been a conclusion or introduction to the one before or after it. It appears possible that the artists may have split up a longer track two or so times in order to create more tracks and sell more copies. That's a theory of course, however one that doesn't seem impossible to me at certain times here. Relative to the score below. It is very difficult to individually rate each track because so many correlate so well into the next, they're often supported by the track before and after them. In that sense many tracks are good but as a whole, the way it's put together I think this is a great album. Not spectacular.

 

 

Favorite tracks: 2, 9, 10... and the more aggressive, harder beat driven tracks in the middle for starters. I prefer to hear the album straight through. There's a handful of excellent moments.

 

 

B+

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  • 1 year later...

It's not so good as their previous "Tales of The Inexpressible" but pretty enjoyable.

I liked when Simon and Raja were into making long tracks with a great story/

This one was done in a formula of many small pieces mixed together to create a very long sometimes interesting sometimes not journey.

So it's just not what it was before, and i think if they wouldn't change that formula we could have heard much more interesting sound structures.

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  • 1 month later...

Unlike the first two Shpongle albums, I haven't listened to this in almost three full years. Simply no lasting appeal.

Some on Tales were played maybe twice, but it's normal to be out of shpongle for 2-3 years.
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