

With over 80 years experience collectively Simon Posford
and Raja Ram are more than qualified for the exploration into the
unclassifiable music frontier they have ventured into; 'SHPONGLE'
is a new world of traditional sounds, acoustic guitars, Moroccan
drums, Turkish operatic singing, cello, double bass, backing vocals
and silver flute blended together by the computer wizardry of Simon
Posford's studio production. Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen) has
long been reputed as the, 'Hallucinogenius', an imitable pioneer
in sound experimentation, from his seminal first album, 'Twisted'
which reached No.28 in the French charts selling over 50,000 copies
worldwide, up to his recent Millennium hit, 'Mi-Loony-Um' with its
up-to-the minute modem melodies. His international fan base has
mushroomed from countrywide to worldwide in the last five years.
Since his humble beginnings at Youth's Butterfly Studios
in Brixton, he has worked in the Olympic, Sarms, and Virgin Studios
amongst others. He has played hundreds of gigs across the planet
since the success of this first album. This year alone he has played
over 16 sell out gigs around the world; each with a capacity of
over 1500 people, in Australia, Israel, New York, Pittursburg, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Moscow, Geneva, Montreal, Tokyo to name
just a few. In Tokyo Simon & Raja have received a lot of TV and
press coverage for their ambient project, 'Shpongle' which has intrigued
the Japanese audience with its international blend of traditional
world cultures and modern musical mastery.
They have recently licensed and released the album
on BMG in America and have had several requests for collaborations
from musicians in the U.S., including Alan Parsons who engineered
Pink Floyd's, 'Dark Side of the Moon', asking to work with Simon.
Raja Ram, is the innovative sonic co-pilot producing alongside Simon
and providing inspiration for the album as well as his unmistakable
flute solo's in C Major and artwork for the covers and the website.
As a founding member of the band Quintessence in the sixties Raja
has many years of band experience in the music industry. Not only
a band member but also the creator of TIP Records along with their
infamous party sound and energy, he is not only a brilliant flautist
but the creative mind behind the 'Shpongle' concept. Shpongle has
been a working project since the release of the first album, 'Are
You Shpongled', in 1998 filtered out into the underground in which
Twisted Records is so renown for its dance music. Having sold 30,000
copies without any marketing or promotion Simon and Raja are now
ready to hit the world with their unique sound again and have been
on a mission to express the new Shpongle sound since finishing the
album over the winter, Raja has played a series of 16 parties in
Brazil as well as the Shpongle tour with Simon including a LIVE
premiere under Mount Fuji in Japan. Now finally the UK has a chance
to catch up on this worldwide phenomenon with further gigs at The
Womad festival and Glastonbury 2002.
The latest
album, 'Tales of the Inexpressible' is a second chapter in the exploration
of diverse sound production unleashing the multiverse that is 'SHPONGLE'.
See - shpongle.com for more
details...
|