Get ‘Shpongled at the Marquee
Kyle Jones
“My head feels like a Frisbee…twice its normal size. Feels like a football and somebody’s moved the goal posts. Everything is slightly out of joint and weird…disconnected. I can’t hold onto the walls,” lyrics to Shpongle song “My head feels like a Frisbee” off of their hit album “Tale of the Inexpressible.”
Combining instruments from around the planet, elaborate synthesizer tunes, and mind-bending lyrics, Shpongle produces a one of a kind trip that has taken thousands of listeners away to states of musically induced euphoria that is difficult to describe.
Formed in 1996 by eccentric world-renowned flute player Raja Ram and at the time up and coming psytrance DJ Simon Posford, Shpongle has taken their message of mind expansion and modern shamanism to people’s homes and concert stages worldwide as they continue to bring in new fans.
Their tour last summer, “Sphongle presents the Shpongletron experience,” was a DJ heavy laser light spectacular that put Psoford inside the “shpongletron.” Which was a light up platform about 15 feet above the stage that shot out lights and videos of eyes watching the crowd, complete with an all seeing eye up top that shot out lasers
With four critically acclaimed albums on their resume, Shpongle is preparing to release their fifth and are currently on the first stretch their new tour, “Shpongle presents The Masquerade,”
What it means to be “Shpongled,” according to flutist Raja Ram.
“It is an umbrella term for feeling positive and uplifting emotions; the kind of feelings that the group is always aiming to bring out in its listeners,” Ram said.
MCC Student Patrick McElroy describes being “shpongled” “as a state of peace and understanding brought about through an open mind and a couple blotter tabs.”
The band achieves this feeling by composing their music in a very nontraditional manner. They shun the standard 3 minute radio riff-raff and dive right into extensively elaborate compositions with a progressive and flowing nature.
Rather than writing a musical riff or a chorus and basing the song around that, the group conceptualizes the music as surreal landscapes of light and color, and builds the song from there.
Shpongle is bringing the Masquerade to The Marquee Theater in Tempe on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m., and tickets are running $20.
Get them at http://shpongle.frontgatetickets.com.
