On the new Shpongle:
Shpongle have made a career of ignoring the formula and going their own way, which is why "Nothing Lasts..." which more-or-less stuck to the Shpongle formula was a step down. I feel that "Ineffable Mysteries..." keeps going in that direction. It's Shpongle, and that more or less sums it up, and that's wrong, because earlier on in Shpongle's career this music could never have been summed up. There's less inspiration and innovation here than on the previous disk, which in itself was less inspired and innovative than what went on before. It feels to me that Shpongle are more cynical than inspired, but then again this disk was created due to fan pressure so that's only to be expected.
The beats are now more acoustic but also more generic. Somehow the presense of acoustic instruments in electronic music seems to automatically warrant praise, but you have to know what to do with them. Spectral made acoustic beats complex and original, but here Shpongle doesn't seem to do so well. Also the poppy, commecial singing on "No Turn Un-Stoned" is jarring and drastically out of place.
On the plus side I do like the shift towards more Indian melody and Raja Ram's flute is, as always, impressive and even more prominent.
So, on the whole this is a good disk with a lot of great tracks and a lot of very good melody. But this is Shpongle. They're supposed to be brilliant. Merely good doesn't cut it. I have a feeling that they have already said everything that they wanted to say musically in the first 2 disks, and are now simply trying to find different ways of saying the same thing to please the fans that simply want more. I'd rather they leave it be, and go onto other projects. If you start making music out of cynisism it will affect your writing abilities. You have to constantly innovate and create from inspiration, or you will wither.
Good disk, but I think other artists are starting to leave Shpongle behind. Maneesh De Moor's "Sadhana" for instance has a lot of that vivid freshness and inspiration that's missing here.