Shpongle feat. Benji - The God Particle EP

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Shpongle feat. Benji

Title: The God Particle EP

Label: Twisted Records

Date: October, 2010

 

1. Before The Big Bang

2. The God Particle

 

 

What is iconic? Webster's defines icon as usually a pictoral representation or an object of uncritical devotion.

 

 

Yep, that qualifies. Well if you overlook the gambling problems and incredible amount of infidelity. Allegedly.

 

 

 

Surely. Well, minus the pedophilia, elephant man bones collecting, Bubbles loving, and Elizabeth Taylor connection. Or because of them. Who's got the Jesus Juice?

 

 

 

No question. I would guess that more people know who this is than know who Justin Beiber is.

 

Shpongle is Simon Posford and Raja Ram who have written the book on psychedelic downtempo ranging from beautiful ambient to experimental...I don't know what the f*ck. There are many that think music ends and begins with Shpongle. Hell, there is even a thread on this forum saying just that. The late Justice Potter said this: "I shall not today attempt further to define pornography; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it…."

 

I would say that defines Shpongle's music. It is so out there with a ridiculous amount of stuff that it defies genres. But you know it when you hear it. This is a little EP that sees the duo work with Benji, aka Prometheus. Which shouldn't be strange because Benji works with Simon on the Younger Brother project. There are only 2 tracks so to not go through each one in detail would just be lazy.

 

Before The Big Bang- The beat is a booming quake slowly trudging its way forward as sounds trickle across your ears. It has a futuristic feel as if something is unraveling. The sounds are like echoes in a cave with a bouncing percussive element. A breakbeat emerges with a running synth. When the beat drops out I feel as though I am adrift in space. Psy-chill that is done pretty well.

 

The God Particle- Wow, the first dozen times I heard this I was like

 

Wtf?

 

Skittering sounds and nothing downtempo to speak of. It's like a techno nightmare complete with a flute appearance. A synth warbles out of the blue amid squeaky effects and picks up speed, hurtling towards certain doom. The short breakbeat is thunderous and funky as hell. But soon it's right back into the fast paced delirium. It becomes noisy and just when you can't take anymore the beat drops out and we are treated to some fine spacey ambient with soaring pads and floating melodies. Booming bass drums rumble as if you had front row seats to the big bang. I, ummm...still don't know what to make of this.

 

I am convinced that this sums up Shpongle and their approach to music:

 

Nudity warning!

 

They have seemingly achieved so much that they can do whatever the hell they want. Some will like whatever they do as their fanbase is pretty rabid and think they can do no wrong. I listened to these two tracks so many times trying to get to the meat of them and I feel I still have a long way to go. There is so much in there that I can appreciate the complexity. The only problem I have is that sometimes I feel they add sounds just to make noise and create entropy, which takes away from my enjoyment. If you are in the mood for some experimental music with lots of details, then sink your teeth into this. I liked it....I think.

 

Beatport

 

Mdk

[Strumpling]

Way better than anything they've put out since Tales of the Inexpressible in my opinion.

 

Thx Benji!

[Penzoline]

I seriously think this is one of the best things they ever did with the shpongle moniker. Both of the tracks are just trippy, fun, deep with lush soundscapes. This EP reminds me of the stuff they used to make in the 90's, which is why I bought it. Colour me surprised. With Posford, allegedly, making new stuff with the Hallucinogen project later this year, this EP really keeps my hopes up it will be something good.