16 w x{ © { x{ G Electronic Music and Psychedelics: W _{{ ~ i f | z | i~ }{ By David Jay Brown Simon Posford is an acclaimed British electronic musician and producer whose mu- sic spans many genres from psychedelic trance (psytrance), to rock, to electronica. Posford’s first studio album, Twisted, was released in 1995 under the artist name “Hallucinogen.” Twisted is considered one of the most influential albums in the genre of psytrance, and Posford’s connection with psychedelics was evident from the title of the very first track—“LSD,” which, to this day, remains the defining sound of a form of electronic music that originated during the late 1980s in Goa, India, called “Goa trance.” Simon Posford In 1996, Posford and Australian musician Raja Ram created one of the most popular electronica music projects of all time—Shpongle. Arguably, not since The Grateful Dead has a brand of popular music been so positively associated with psychedelics as Shpongle. Psychedelics have played a huge role in the creation, performance, and experience of Shpongle’s music, which is extremely popular among members of the electronic music community. Posford is generally responsible for coordinating a delightful eloquence to the way that Simon ex- the synthesizers, studio work, and live instru- presses himself, and a vibrant sense of creativity mentation, while Raja contributes broad musical continually comes through his words. We spoke [wy~ { concepts and flute arrangements. Shpongle’s about how his psychedelic journeys have affected unique style combines Eastern ethnic instruments, his creativity and his experience with music. x{ ww{zB flute riffs and vocals, with contemporary Western synthesizer-based electronic music, hyper-dimen- David: In general, how would you describe your {||{y{zB wz sional sound effects, sound clips from television creative process with Shpongle? shows, and spoken words. Truly genre-defying, {w{z B Shpongle contains elements of jazz, classical, Simon: Raj will turn up, sometimes with a load of dub and glitch, among others. samples or recordings. One time he went to Brazil ~ w{ w{ and recorded some stuff there. Otherwise, he’ll re- Shpongle performs live with different musicians, cord stuff off of TV shows, some spoken words, or | {w DDD dancers, and other performers, while Posford bamboo forests creaking in the wind...something masterfully controls an electronic sound board, like that. So that might spawn an idea for a track. wx { {z alchemically mixing and remixing the music, engineering, tweaking, and orchestrating the Raj is a very visual person, and he’s a fabulous z z | {ywB highly textured, multilayered music that emerges. painter, so he might come up with a visual image Shpongle’s studio albums include Are You Shpon- that, in time, I’ll translate into music. Over the yw y {{z gled? (1998), Tales of the Inexpressible (2001), years he’s come up with some inspiring imagery, Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost (2005), and such as a lake shimmering in the sky. Our most y{ | Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland (2009). recent one was about CERN, the Large Hadron Posford also frequently tours as Hallucinogen. Collider in Switzerland, and about the idea of particles colliding at high velocities, neutrinos, ~{ y D I interviewed Simon on July 26, 2011. Since protons, and neutrons smashing into each other, Simon’s music has served as the soundtrack for creating black holes explosions and new uni- numerous important personal experiences, this verses. Stuff like that. was a special interview for me. It was great fun to—as Simon put it—“intellectualize the abstract” So we’ll have a visual image. Then, when I can and “muse over the ineffable” together. There’s finally get him to shut up, Raj will sit on the sofa w x{ © { x{ G w x{ © { x{ G 17 Electronic Music and Psychedelics: W _{{ ~ i f | z | i~ }{ By David Jay Brown and do a thousand draw- developed similarly layered ings into his notebook, acoustic techniques for while I’ll sit at the computer heightening consciousness and get about translating with your music, but much our images into sound. I of it has an upbeat, joyful generally do the program- exuberance. ming, playing, and produc- tion because Raj can’t work Simon: What’s amazing the computer or any of the about Pink Floyd is that they equipment, but he’s the managed to capture it with inspiration and the muse, lyrics as well, which I find and will play flute or jabber quite hard to do—because strange vocals into the mic. lyrics often distract me from Image: Carly Marthis, MusicMarauders.com the exact feeling that you We start with just a blank in general. I think that listening to music in were describing. This is why canvas, an empty computer screen, and an altered state of consciousness can either I never got, for example, The Grateful Dead, just add more and more sounds—either until magnify the music or it can really leave you or some of the jam bands over here that it’s time to go home, I’m sick of having him cold. Hopefully, it will enrich the experi- were touted as so psychedelic. The Grateful in my house, or he’s sick of sitting on my ence, and, hence we have what we call Dead weren’t as big here in England, but sofa listening to me torture him with various “psychedelic music,” which is designed to they certainly weren’t around me and my obnoxious instruments. Then we stop, and do so. I think that electronic music can cer- friends when I was growing up. So when I later we mix it. Then we give it the acid test. tainly enhance a psychedelic experience. finally did have an experience with them, He’ll take some LSD and put the head- I probably shouldn’t mention the artist, but and then someone told me, “oh, that’s The phones on when I’m ready to mix. Then I’ll there’s a particularly commercial band that Grateful Dead,” man, I was disappointed. play it to him at high volume, and—judging sold a lot of records in the 80s and early To me it was just blues-folk music. I just didn’t by the state of his eyeballs and his face 90s, and I made the terrible mistake of get it...apparently it sounded best from the afterwards—I’ll know whether we’ve got a listening to their music while trying to have car park, which I could understand! good one or not. (laughter) a psychedelic experience in my parent’s house when I was a teenager. I put on this David: There’s such a rich tapestry of David: I love it! This leads right into my next CD, and truly heard it for the bland, pot- acoustic variation, and so many dimensions question, which is: How have psychedelics bellied, corporate, insipid, vapid nastiness to your music, that it really comes close influenced your experience with music, and that it was. to capturing the multidimensional state of how has it affected your creativity and your consciousness that can happen during a performance? So our only concerns now are, what do we psychedelic experience. I’m sure that’s why need to do to make this sort of kaleidoscop- so many people love it. Simon: I would say massively, and on a ic music that really expands the brain, in the profound level. In fact, so fundamentally same way that, I think, psychedelics do? Simon: You know the old cliché about that I didn’t even really like the type of music gazing at your shoelace for ten hours when that I now create before I took psychedel- David: I think that’s really important. One you take psychedelics? I always like to have ics. I liked bands and music with singers and of the reasons that I love your music so much a similar experience with music, where I stuff. I never got into Kraftwerk, or Depeche is because I feel really vulnerable when I’m really get into each and every guitar note. Mode, or any of the well-known electronic on psychedelics, and it seems just so vital to Each note will be analyzed, effected, and bands that my friends would listen to. Then, have the properly supportive music. I was tweaked out, with layer upon layer of instru- once I took psychedelics, I really went off listening to some of your music recently, and mentation...tambourines turned into liquid that for awhile, and only wanted to hear was thinking that some of it reminded me a drops of nectar, vocals converted to voices the alien, otherworldly, futuristic sounds of bit of Pink Floyd, one of my favorite bands in of the cosmos. electronic music, and it’s what inspired me high school. They developed sophisticated to start making the music that I’m doing now. acoustic techniques for beautifully heighten- David: Right, and there’s such an incred- In a way, it’s foundational to what I’m doing ing consciousness with their music, but much ible sense of time dilation with psychedelics. because it pushed me down this path. of it feels so sad to me, like I’m floating Everything seems to slow down, and there’s all alone in outer space, haunted by loss a lot more going on in each moment, so Also, it changed my appreciation of music of cosmic proportions. You seem to have you can analyze every detail more easily. 18 w x{ © { x{ G Normally, it all just flies by so much more experience, in the same way that, say, and that my personal taste isn’t so weird that quickly.