Welcome to Outer Shpongolia

Salutations Mog world. I have not spoken to thee in some time

In about four days it will be a year since I've joined. It does not feel like a year has gone by, though. Seeing as it has been somewhere between five or six months since I've shared any of my musical traversings with all you hungry ears out there, I figured in order to better legitimize my Mogversary I should begin a frenzy of musical postings over the next four days. Today will just be one post I think, but the next three days should be pretty active for me.

I suppose the most significant thing to note with me over the past five months is that I have attended my first Lollapalooza in Chicago, which was, for me, simply one hell of an extravagant musical buffet. Can't wait for next year.

(Photo by Frankie Kee)

And in celebration of musical buffets I give you Shpongle!!! A psychedelic band that can travel through limitless dimensions of the human imagination. They find themselves digging through dark, underworldly places, suddenly catapulting into more angelic, transcendent melodies. Inbetween, we find ourselves exploring the sounds of microorganisms, african tribal chants, phantasmal incantations, and lilting piano virtuosity. Or perhaps that is a pile of lies; that is, who can accurately describe the music of Shpongle outside of speculatory subjectivism? Who dares tag anything in their music as a concrete "this" or "that." It is worthy to note how personal this kind of music is for each individual listener. For example, if during "Schnitzl'd In the Negev" I say "purple," you might say "chicken salad." Does that make any sense? I hope so.

(painting by Elizabeth Lyle)

Regardless, I suggest you bust out your copy of From Chocolate To Morphine: Everything You Need to Know About Mind-Altering Drugs by Andrew Weil, M.D., and begin listening to "Levitation Nation."

...Now please excuse me, I have to return to boiling oranges and knitting sunglasses.