Shpongle

Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music group from the United Kingdom, active from 1998 to the present. It is made up of Simon Posford and Ron Rothfield, who is also known as Raja Ram. The project is associated with ambient, chillout, electronic, electronica, goa trance and psybient.

Style and approach

Shpongle is often described as one of the early acts to shape psybient, a style that brings together world music, psychedelic trance and ambient. Its music combines traditional sounds and vocals from a range of cultures with western synthesizer-based psychedelic production. The project’s work is strongly influenced by psychedelic experiences and often uses sound textures and spoken samples connected with consciousness, hallucinations and altered states of awareness.

Members and roles

Simon Posford, also known as Hallucinogen, handles synthesizers, studio production and live instrumentation. Ron Rothfield, who has a long association with The Infinity Project, contributes broader musical ideas and flute arrangements. Raja Ram has described the name Shpongle as an umbrella term for positive and euphoric feelings.

Releases

Shpongle’s first track, “Vapour Rumours”, appears on TIP Records’ Infinite Excursions compilation in 1996. The debut album, Are You Shpongled?, is released in 1998 on Twisted Records. Later work includes Codex VI, which follows after the group begins work on its sixth album, and the project later starts work on a seventh studio album. The track “A New Way to Say ‘Hooray’” includes a sample of Terence McKenna speaking about the effects of DMT.

Background

The project forms in 1996 and develops a reputation for blending global instrumentation, vocals and electronic production into a distinctive psychedelic style.