Shpongle – Tales Of The Inexpressible

The first Shpongle album I'd heard, just after it was originally released. Their debut is probably stronger, but nostalgia has this firmly planted as number one for me. Funny story, this is also how I found out a really good friend at the time who had a lot of shared musical interests was super racist. Apparently the tribal/world nature of the music really disgusted him, and he went on this long diatribe about the superiority of whites blah blah blah. Pretty weird thing to freak out about, but I guess psychedelic music makes people freak out in different ways.

How and when did this become so popular, by the way? Strange to me that all these college hippie dorks latched onto this, but you ask them about Dimension5, Hallucinogen, Pleiadians, Etnica, etc etc and they have no clue what you're saying. Does this appeal to the Phish/GD/jam band wannabe hippies more than the others?

This needs another repress for those of us who discovered this amazing band late

Na ja... Ganz nett, aber eigentlich nicht der Rede wert.
Nee, eigentlich doch eher furchtbar. Klingt heute irgendwie peinlich. Zwei Hippie Opas geben sich die Kante und die Kiddies schreien Hallelujah! Klingt 2020 ziemlich angeranzt. Von der Zeit links und rechts überholt. Aber ich kann verstehen, dass einige das ganz doll toll finden. To whom it may concern...

The only way I can describe this music is contrived drivel. I guess if enough people say something is great, people start to believe it.

it is confirmed by Twisted, that limited edition on 2xLP will be released soon: Remastered Super Deluxe Limited Edition Tales Of the Inexpressible 2xVinyl Album which has just gone into production. It looks super nice and even features some of Raj's water colour paintings that have never been seen.

Posford and Raja Ram come out with my favorite album name of all time - who can resist one like that? Without disappointing, 'Tales Of The Inexpressible' has a lot to offer, and is probably one of the more accessible psychedelic works in the electronic genre, major thanks in part to its 'World Music' influence. Typically, that's a genre tag that is cringe-inducing - not here, folks! It works because the duo integrates said music into an absurd, non-cliche and, of course, psychedelic context. The end product is a truly unique release.

Shpongle opens with 'Dorset Perception', which is an effortless introduction of that 'world music' tag in our psy-music context, without the irreverent craziness that comes in subsequent tracks. The vocals and guitar work wonders alongside the dance track, resulting in one of the best pieces in this album.

After that, we encounter the psychedelic daze of Shpongle, jumping all over the place, across the world and across worlds, experiencing loud noises, melting walls and meeting gnomes and whomever - relatable, right? This is best-executed in 'My Head Feels Like A Frisbee', aptly named for its dizzying whirlwind through time, space, place and soundscape, as well as in 'Around The World In A Tea Daze', my personal favorite piece on the album. On this latter track, we experience multiple different cultures and their respective musics, all while on some speedy train gaining momentum - and we can't disembark until we reach the destination. Are you shpongled, yet? Other than that, we find punctuating, lucid moments of beauty in 'Once Upon The Sea Of Blissful Awareness' as well as in the outro at 'Flute Fruit'.

My one major regret in the album appears in 'Shpongleyes', which adds nothing to the duo's repertoire, nor does it make much sense in the mix of these tracks. It's frankly boring, and I always end up skipping the track.

Give it a listen. Then a listen again, albeit in a different state of mind. Then again...

3.5/5 Stars

since when I heard this the first time, I listened it every night, for a 2 weeks. I was so much impressed. Particularly with the "A New Way To Say "Hooray!", later "Star Shpongled Banner", "Shpongleyes" and my favorite "Around The World In A Tea Daze". Just like the text from this. Exactly, it makes a brings tears to my eyes. Also the parties of Raja are so great! I like it, flute with psychedelic sounds and other instruments... real Shpongle, other state of mind, I see then amazing places...I'm there. such beautiful. I never had this with other music. Only it. Oooooaaa

Shpongle – Tales of the Inexpressible

Album: Tales of the Inexpressible
Artist: Shpongle
Released: May, 2001

There are some albums in this world which are so far-reaching (in terms of musical style) yet easy to listen to, no matter what your musical taste is – you must have them. 'Tales of the Inexpressible' by Shpongle is definitely one of them, and as the title perfectly suggests, the vibe and atmosphere you get by listening to this musical (some might say even cultural) piece of art really is inexpressible.

'Tales of the Inexpressible' shifts around numerous musical genres and really brings a new definition to mixing electronic music with acoustical instruments, but is still sounds organic and natural to our minds, a rare thing these days.

Starting off with arguably the best album intro ever written, 'Dorset Perception' sets the vibe of the album with it's latin-based atmosphere, an oriental journey with an uplifting state of mind featuring an extreme vocal editing on the voice of multi-talented Michele Adamson.
The second track in the album takes a more down-tempo approach and brings a deeper sense to the listener ear, as the album progresses one can really feel the strong 'i-am-in-a-dream' state, it really is kind of massaging your brain in a weird way.
My favorite track out of this album is called 'My Head Feels Like a Frisbee', this track is exactly the reason I like Shpongle, what starts as a chilled yet groovy track, progresses with a bit humorous approach and at last explodes into an undeniable celebration, a mixture of an old Brazilian anthem with today's top-notch production and high-tech sound, this track is ridiculously mind-blowing.

Even though this album was released for more than a decade now, its still as relevant and important as it was back then, undeniably a huge stepping stone in the development of mixing acoustical instruments with electronic features and sampling old authentic voices with the capabilities of todays production level, an undeniably powerful experience. 5\5

Very good album.... if you like world music, if you're planning to go on a acid/mushroom trip and listen some great psychedelic music, please pass on this one.
Is a good mainstream album but has not the spirit.
This guy should go back to hallucinogen, we have enough shpongle for good.

This album has grown on me substantially since I first heard it. I always liked it, but lately it's rocketed to being one of my favourite releases in general, and certainly in the psychill style. Every track is a gem, filled to the brim with shifting, well-controlled musical styles, and surprisingly few cliches. Shpongle helped write the book on this kind of delirious psychill (or whatever you'd like to call it), and this album is a prime example of why. It's serious, beautiful, playful and humourous all at once, which is no easy feat. "Star Shpongled Banner," "Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness" and "Around the World in a Tea Daze" are my three favourite tracks, but everything here is of the highest quality. Definitely seek it out if you're into progressive electronica of any kind, and certainly if you have an affinity for psychedelic, dub, downtempo, etc. It's an absolute classic.