Twisted Vinyl & CDs

Review: What goes around, comes around, at least when it comes to dance music culture. The rise in new productions informed by early psy-trance and hallucinatory ambient techno jams has led to a swathe of reissues of long-forgotten releases from the 1990s. Here's another, and a chance to cop London outfit Shpongle's 1998 debut album, Are You Shpongled. As an LP, it's very much of its time, with the pair brilliantly blurring the boundaries between spacey ambient, dub, chill out room-ready downtempo grooves, intergalactic-sounding drum & bass, flute-sporting soundscapes and the kind of bustling rhythms and shroom-fuelled electronics that were once the preserve of new age travellers in brightly coloured trousers and slightly damp woolly hats.

Review: 'Shpongloid' is a word we like to throw around in our reviews occasionally; it's traceable back to Shpongle, whose defining psychedelic electronic music style is truly like no other. This reissue of the beija flor influenced 'Tales Of The Inexpressible' sheds new light on one of their densest, long-form 'single-take' trip albums. Breakbeat, new age tabla, robotic Konnakol, gated trance leads; all collide on this incredible album.

Review: British psy-trance oddity Sphongle have been traversing the highways and byways of transcendental music culture since the late 90s, and they remain as adored within the scene as ever. Their third album, Nothing Lasts - But Nothing Is Lost is considered one of their great opuses - a twisting and turning fever dream of exotic passages, mind-warping synthesis and lysergic grooves from the studios and brains of Simon Posford and Raja Ram. Split into 20 tracks, but supposedly formed of eight phases in a cohesive dream sequence, it's the ultimate trip, and it's finally getting a repress on vinyl via Posford's legendary Twisted Records, one of the true bastions of psy-trance culture.

Review: Twisted are continuing their solid reissue campaign for one of the true greats of psy-trance culture, the mighty Sphongle. Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's project of course reached beyond the trappings of dancefloor formula to become a much broader concern drawing on global music traditions and new age spirituality as much as mind-tweaking electronica. On this, their fourth album, the electronics were positively subsumed by intricately woven layers of flute, guitar, sitar, cello, hang drum and much more besides. Released in 2009 and remaining a firm favourite amongst the group's devoted fanbase, this remastered repress spread Ineffable Mysteries across three discs for maximum fidelity.

Review: Sphongle continue to gift their fans with these exquisite reissues of their illustrious catalogue, catching up to more recent times with the richly dynamic sound of Museum Of Consciousness. This 2013 epic leant in on every dimension of Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's sound, at once bristling with kinetic electronica energy while keeping their much-loved mysticism front and centre. It's a trip, like a Sphongle album should be, but it's also got a certain bite which more than stands up to the rigours of the modern dancefloor. One of the group's great skills has been in moving with the times while staying true to a certain deep-rooted, festival-friendly playfulness. Grab a slice of cosmic delight, freshly remastered for your brain to happily feast on.

Review: Perennial psy-trance masterminds Sphongle are revisiting their revered back catalogue with some choice vinyl reissues, and on this occasion they're looking back to 2017 epic Codex IV. On this particular record Simon Posford and Raja Ram took things in a particularly mellow, ambient and downtempo direction. Ram's eloquent instrumentation glides through lush soundscapes sculpted by Posford and vice versa, as one of the most iconic partnerships in all of psy-trance demonstrate their vision well beyond the trappings of generic definition. Cut across three mighty slabs of wax, this is another flawless immersion experience from one of the best acts to ever do it.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corners of outer sleeve, product unopened & in excellent condition***


Sphongle continue to gift their fans with these exquisite reissues of their illustrious catalogue, catching up to more recent times with the richly dynamic sound of Museum Of Consciousness. This 2013 epic leant in on every dimension of Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's sound, at once bristling with kinetic electronica energy while keeping their much-loved mysticism front and centre. It's a trip, like a Sphongle album should be, but it's also got a certain bite which more than stands up to the rigours of the modern dancefloor. One of the group's great skills has been in moving with the times while staying true to a certain deep-rooted, festival-friendly playfulness. Grab a slice of cosmic delight, freshly remastered for your brain to happily feast on.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


'Shpongloid' is a word we like to throw around in our reviews occasionally; it's traceable back to Shpongle, whose defining psychedelic electronic music style is truly like no other. This reissue of the beija flor influenced 'Tales Of The Inexpressible' sheds new light on one of their densest, long-form 'single-take' trip albums. Breakbeat, new age tabla, robotic Konnakol, gated trance leads; all collide on this incredible album.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corners of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


British psy-trance oddity Sphongle have been traversing the highways and byways of transcendental music culture since the late 90s, and they remain as adored within the scene as ever. Their third album, Nothing Lasts - But Nothing Is Lost is considered one of their great opuses - a twisting and turning fever dream of exotic passages, mind-warping synthesis and lysergic grooves from the studios and brains of Simon Posford and Raja Ram. Split into 20 tracks, but supposedly formed of eight phases in a cohesive dream sequence, it's the ultimate trip, and it's finally getting a repress on vinyl via Posford's legendary Twisted Records, one of the true bastions of psy-trance culture.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


What goes around, comes around, at least when it comes to dance music culture. The rise in new productions informed by early psy-trance and hallucinatory ambient techno jams has led to a swathe of reissues of long-forgotten releases from the 1990s. Here's another, and a chance to cop London outfit Shpongle's 1998 debut album, Are You Shpongled. As an LP, it's very much of its time, with the pair brilliantly blurring the boundaries between spacey ambient, dub, chill out room-ready downtempo grooves, intergalactic-sounding drum & bass, flute-sporting soundscapes and the kind of bustling rhythms and shroom-fuelled electronics that were once the preserve of new age travellers in brightly coloured trousers and slightly damp woolly hats.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corners of outer sleeve, product unopened & in excellent condition***


Twisted are continuing their solid reissue campaign for one of the true greats of psy-trance culture, the mighty Sphongle. Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's project of course reached beyond the trappings of dancefloor formula to become a much broader concern drawing on global music traditions and new age spirituality as much as mind-tweaking electronica. On this, their fourth album, the electronics were positively subsumed by intricately woven layers of flute, guitar, sitar, cello, hang drum and much more besides. Released in 2009 and remaining a firm favourite amongst the group's devoted fanbase, this remastered repress spread Ineffable Mysteries across three discs for maximum fidelity.