This summer marks the debut Perth performance of Simon Posford, better known as the mastermind behind Shpongle and Hallucinogen. His Twisted Records label is home to some of the world's most respected psychedelic artists with styles ranging from mind-bending psytrance to chilled, oozeing dub. The latest Shpongle album, "Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost", has just been released and is confusing people everywhere with its lopsided linguistics and back-to-front basslines.
Adam Brown caught up with Simon to talk about all things Shpongled.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Simon.

Your summertime visits to Australia are almost becoming a tradition, this is your 3rd visit in as many years. Do you find yourself looking forward to your annual trip downunder at the end of each year?
It is great to get out of the Euro winter back home. Australia has been good to me with some really good friends. I really enjoy the variety of good wines. If I could organise myself a bit better I would like to do some recording in the mountains with a view of the ocean or something, as something completely different.

Congratulations on the release of the new Shpongle album. It feels a lot more energetic and dancefloor-orientated than previous works, it almost acts as the grand crescendo of the series. Was it the plan from the start to create a more energetic album?
It was definitely the crescendo, as all trilogys should be. I'm glad it reached you as energetic, I'm sure Raj would be pleased to hear that he is being viewed as more energetic and less eccentric as he approaches his 70s.

Do you have a soft spot for any tunes on the new album? Does the flowing nature of the album make it harder to separate any one of the tunes from its neighbours?
You go through stages pre- and post-production. I like to think of it airing at the moment and wouldn't want to bias anyone with my personal view.

You once said that your Shpongle work is probably best explored using headphones, but do you enjoy seeing the universe of Shpongle take on a life of its own when your fans experience it on the dancefloor?
There was a moment last year at Earthcore when I was DJing, I walked off stage and brought up Raj. That was a more memorable experience of seeing the Shpongle universe take on its own.

You're also in several other musical collaborations including Younger Brother and the much-awaited Metal Sharon project. How does your production process differ when working in collaboration as opposed to alone?
I find it easier to work with people, although it is hard to coordinate. I think we bring our own vital ingredients, the core of what makes us up as musicians. We throw it into the brew and then taste test it to our liking.

Are you a visual person when it comes to writing music? Do you try to visualise different experiences or states of mind to interpret into the music?
Definitely, Shpongle was developed on this entire concept. Raj would create a vision and we would then set to work on it.

As well as being enviably well produced, another classic 'Posford trademark' is the humorous nature you give to your work. Songs like Molecular Superstructure have a definite silly streak to them; do you enjoy making music that could be considered funny?
I think this is the spice of life, to not take things too seriously, or if you do at the very least include humour along the way. I don't always set out to make it funny, it just seems to continuously venture into this field.

The complete Shpongle live stage show involves quite a number of live musicians, but I understand the logistics behind it are quite involved... Have you yet performed any of the new album this way, or plan to in the future? How would you translate the new album into a live show?
We haven't played it out live yet, although this is the ultimate expression. It seemed to become more complicated the further we developed it. Maybe our own expectations for translation have grown immeasurable as well.

It may be too early to tell, but how are sales of the new album going? A lot of labels are worried about the impact of the internet on their sales, I'd say that the new Shpongle album would be the ultimate benchmark to test just how true those sentiments are.
I believe it is selling better than previous albums; I know this is true in Australia. But these are more distribution driven than technology. We only hope that the music is presented and produced in a manner that listening to an inferior product isn't a consideration. If some people are introduced to us in this way we only hope it isn't long before they are converted to the original source.

Artists such as Nine Inch Nails have been experimenting with music in 5.1 surround; this sort of project seems to have your name written all over it. Do you one day hope to produce a psychedelic album this way? I shudder to think what sort of trickery you could unleash if you mastered the art of producing music in surround sound. 
The guys from Blue Room did a lot of work with B&W on this prior to the DVD explosion. Sure it provides a variation on the usual format, but the original music quality has to be available. I know a lot of people who have very ordinary sounding 5.1 systems in rooms that are not configured correctly. If it was a choice between dodgy 5.1 there is no comparison. The possibility of pushing the experience I will always welcome.

Rumours have been floating around for some time now regarding your upcoming 'Metal Sharon' collaboration with Merv Pepler, how do you feel about people referring to it as 'the unofficial 3rd Hallucinogen album'? Is this a fair title, or will it have a slightly different slant to it?
It is definitely a little bit weirder than Hallucinogen. So in that respect I don't think the title fits nor does that credit Merv with his effort. I would prefer people to draw comparisons after we have finished the work in progress. We are still on the journey.

Simon Posford, thank you for your time and we look forward to your first visit to Perth!

Simon is unleashing a 100% live Hallucinogen set and a Shpongled DJ set on Friday 2 December at Heat Nightclub.