Tune In, Turn On, And Shpongle Out

Shpongle
Album: Tales of the Inexpressible
Star Shpongled Banner

I'm not a big fan of Monet, but I absolutely lurve Matisse.  Henry Moore ain't my cup of tea, but Barbara Hepworth is the sizzle in my steak.  Pynchon leaves me cold, while Vonnegut warms the ol' cockles.  Why one and not the other?  Ummmm...dunno.  All are regularly cited as exemplary, but some invoke in me an emotional response while others I find almost boring.  Go figure.  I'm sure if I knew more about painting, sculpture, and literature I could better analyse this and come up with a rational answer, but as it stands my responses are a mystery.

I've already mentioned that electronica is my least favorite of all musical genres.  I prefer the human touch.  And all that bleeping and blurping gets awfully old, awfully quickly.  Occasionally, however, I hear a band that seems to maintain a sense of humanity in spite of itself.  Shpongle is one such group.

Shpongle was recommended by a friend.  Repeatedly.  In fact, it wasn't until he wrote the name in permanent marker on an empty Coke bottle that I managed to remember the name long enough to suss out its music.  It characterizes a sub-genre of electronic music called "psybient," and "Star Shpongled Banner" in particular is an example of "downtempo" psybient, in which slow beats and loops are manipulated to hypnotic effect.  Good tripping out music, from what I've been told.

Which brings me to my point.  Why, I wonder, do I prefer Shpongle to...oh...let's say Aphex Twin?  From one point of view the question is akin to the mystery of a preference for Matisse over Monet, especially in that superficially the music is quite similar.  But while Aphex Twin meanders -- we hear the same sounds repeated and combined in much the same way throughout the tune -- Shpongle offers a sense of evolution or growth, or perhaps more simply, a sense of narrative arc.  By analogy, Aphex Twin is a collection of sweet sounding words, an interesting but necessarily limited refrigerator magnet poem, while Shpongle is a relatively well-defined short story.

This is a good demystifying start, I suppose, but I must admit that my inexperience with electronic music leaves me grasping at straws a wee bit.  The best I can offer, I think, is that much as I respond emotionally to Vonnegut and not to Pynchon, so too does Shpongle elicit an emotional response while Aphex Twin, for the most part, bores me.

I should also note that "Star Shpongled Banner" is particularly interesting from a musical standpoint in its world music connotations.  Indian ragas comprise much of the melodic element, while tabla provides a polyrhythmic component to the basic groove.  I really enjoy the tune's mellow vibe; perfect music to chill out to.

Lie back and smoke it if you've got it, dude.  Peace out.