Sykonee's 'Sportsing' Surveys: SHPONGLE

You'd think, for as much as I've enjoyed psy-dub, psy-chill, world beat, and everything in between, the project that Simon Posford and Raja Ram built would be a shoo-in for my interests. And absolutely I've been interested in the act, having caught Shpongle live three times! ...okay, technically they were all Simon Posford solo shows, with him rinsing out a heavy amount of Shpongle tunes. Kinda' expensive bringing the whole band touring everywhere, especially when he was lugging around that Shpongletron totem.

But yes, if I've seen this project live so many times - more than I've seen any 'major' name within this scene! - why have I never bought any of their CDs? I really can't say. Maybe partly due to already knowing what to expect going in? Or perhaps I was worried my expectations wouldn't be met? Like, yeah, I've seen Shpongle a bunch, enjoyed the music while at the events, but never did it quite click the way some other acts do. It's a conundrum that's flumuxed me for a while now, so perhaps it's time to go head deep into the Shpongleverse, hear if there's anything I've denied myself all these years. Let's dive in, then!

















So that's another artist down. As an aside, thank GODS I made the switch over to Mastodon for this survey, what with its glorious EDIT button and all. You have no idea how many times I had to correct "Shpongle" from "Sphongle". Come to think of it, would anyone have noticed a difference between the two? Regardless, misspellings are something I'm just gonna' have to deal with for my next Discography Dive, DELERIUM! Yes, starting from their earliest dark ambient days, all the way up to... whatever it was they got up to in later years. I kinda' fell off.

(eh, you say I missed a Shpongle album? That remix project from Cosmic Trigger? The one with the shite, plastic, over-compressed dubstep riddim' beats all over the place, sullying Shpongle's vintage dynamic live drumming? Never heard of it.)

Dub Trees - Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her

LSD - Liquid Sound Design: 2000

This is the sort of CD that was destined for an 'impulse buy'. Fifty bones to drop in the music shop, with so many familiar artists floating about; yet rather predictable in what you'll get on a disc. No, I'll hold off on getting another progressive trance DJ mix or deep house label compilation. I want something new and unexpected, but just familiar enough that it won't possibly be a total waste of money. There, that CD with 'Dub Trees' on the cover. I know dub music, and with a hippie-dippy title like Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her, I've a good feeling the music will be something like Waveform Records. Hm, Youth's the main producer here. I feel like I should know that name. Oh well, Dragonfly Records usually releases psy-trance, so maybe we'll get some Planet Dog type of psychedelic dub stuff.

Yeah, we got that, and more. For a psy-dub album, Nature Never etc. etc. is remarkably diverse, Youth dipping his dubby toes deep into various forms of the genre. For his dub roots run deep, like a tree, yo' – you could even say *dons dreadlock wig* he's a Dub Tree, yeaaahh, mon! Wait, that wasn’t a pun?

Anyhow, Martin Glover had been floating about various music scenes for a while, most famously playing bass in post-punk band Killing Joke and contributing to early albums from The Orb and System 7. Along the way he got sucked into the world of goa trance, and even found time to set up a label promoting the stuff. He must have gotten right proper inspired by the emerging psy-dub sounds that were carrying on from what Dr. Alex Paterson and he had kicked off with ambient dub, taking his own stab at it with this one-off Dub Trees project. Roping in for music contributions were long-time producing partner Greg Hunter, plus Simon Posford, fresh off his first Shpongle LP. Indian world-dub fusion group Suns Of Arqa also contribute, but no Bill Laswell, because Dub Trees already gots them a bass player, mang.

With so many influences thrown into this dub soup, Nature Never yada yada yada is about as offbeat and eclectic as this music can go without stepping outside its comfort zone. There are straight-up reggae rhythms (Butterfly Trilogy), synthy interludes (Cobalt Waterfall), quirky sampling (Buffalo, La Rosa), dark meditative excursions (Orpheus), opium dens flying through space (Dreamlab), psy-dub grooves (Magnetica), and goof-ball bass drops (Concrete Tourist). All of which, natch, filtered through more dub effects than you can shake a King Tubby at.

If all this sounds like “just another trippy dub album”, you’re right, although Youth’s definitely a better song crafter than most out there, having rubbed shoulders with so many masters of the genre. This album also acts as a sort of bridge between ambient dub of the ‘90s, and psy-dub of the ‘00s, not a bad thing if you’ve endlessly debated the merits of either. Does anyone even do that?