Psytrance has been one of the craziest genres of electronic music, if not the craziest. Artists in the scene are not at all afraid of breaking boundaries of conventional music and pushing their production software to the limit. Only in psytrance do we hear the maximalist sounds created by phasers, frequency shifters, grain delays, auto filters, and many other effects.
Shpongle, the biggest and longest lasting name in psytrance history, has taken the genre to new heights every single time they release a new album. Their most recent Museum Of Consciousness is definitely their best produced. It contains sounds I never even knew existed. Full with surround sound effects and versatile production overall, Museum Of Consciousness is one of the most cinematic albums I have ever heard. However, one cannot really appreciate how far an artist like Shpongle has come unless he has heard their very first works. Are You Shpongled? was released in January of 1998. It set the standard for the Psybient genre worldwide, and the song Divine Moments Of Truth became in itself a worldwide sensation. Starting slow with tribal beats and a low rumbling voice, Divine Moments Of Truth creates a very ambient, eerie soundscape. As the tune progresses, Shpongle very swiftly changes time signature, adds subtle effects, and creates smooth melodic loops, gradually increasing intensity into a monumental, overwhelming ending.
