Pande-reviews: 2009.0 (FSOL - EBS Vol.4)

[OffLand]

Great! I would have assumed it was your first language if you hadn't mentioned anything. "V Impressed".

I've been meaning to ask the UK/US residents,
How is my English in these so-called reviews?

How would you rate it - from 1 to 10?

Any language tips?

[Pandemonium]

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms [album] (16.05.1994)
Virgin - CDV 2722, 7243 8 39433 2 6 // V 2722 // TCV 2722 // ASW 6113 // V2 72438
(also released by Astralwerks, Virgin Canada, Caroline Records)



On May 16th '94, Lifeforms was released. Probably the best electronic/organic ambient album ever made. It's on every decent top10 list about ambient, so I would not call the previous sentence a biased fan statement. The album was in production for nearly 20 months, and the guys finally delivered the masterpiece. Basically, when the album was released, there were only 3 brand new and unheard/unpromoted tracks. (see list below)

1-06. Kiss TT1 (14.09.1992) Lifeforms (5:18)
1-01. Kiss Tr1 (26.12.1992) Cascade (6:00)
2-10. Kiss Tr1 (26.12.1992) Elaborate Burn (3:15)
2-04. Kiss Tr1 (26.12.1992) Vertical Pig (6:45)
1-03. Kiss Tr2 (19.05.1993) Flak (4:53)
1-04. Kiss Tr2 (19.05.1993) Bird Wings (1:30)
1-05. Kiss Tr2 (19.05.1993) Dead Skin Cells (6:51)
1-08. Kiss Tr2 (19.05.1993) Among Myselves (5:53)
2-07. Kiss Tr2 (19.05.1993) Vit (6:48)
1-07. Kiss Tr3 (04.11.1993) Eggshell (6:46)
2-01. Kiss Tr3 (04.11.1993) Domain (2:48)
2-05. Kiss Tr3 (04.11.1993) Cerebral (3:31)
2-08. Kiss Tr3 (04.11.1993) Omnipresence (6:39)
2-09. Kiss Tr4 (11.11.1993) Room 208 (6:13)
1-02. Kiss Tr6 (25.11.1993) Ill Flower (3:25)
2-11. Essential (14.05.1994) Little Brother (5:13)
2-02. New track (16.05.1994) Spineless Jelly (4:42)
2-03. New track (16.05.1994) Interstat (0:55)
2-06. New track (16.05.1994) Life Form Ends (5:03)

Virgin was patient (for a major label), back then there was still some decency in the music of the major labels even though they were robbing the artists, but that's a theme for another day. Virgin got behind this album 100% and did all of the homework and heavy lifting promotion. Two/three months before releasing Lifeforms Virgin did promote the masterpiece on TV, radio, everywhere they could... there are at least 5 different prints of the double-CD album - printed in UK, printed in Holland, printed in EU, all of them with different distribution codes. Also, two different 2x12" pressings (gatefold and regular) and two cassette pressings, US and Netherlands.

An important part of the promo material was a VHS called simply Lifeforms. It had 13 minutes of material split into two pieces - Lifeforms A/V & Lifeforms Path. Now, the CGI graphics and the modeling were mind-blowing for 1994, alien environments, weird creatures, the electronic brain and the witch girl were all part of this amazing journey. But looking at it today, it looks very dated. This made me think, OK, the CGI were around for 20 years in 1994 and FSOL and their team didn't have the Hollywood budgets to make something better, but still, even if they had, it would probably still be dated today. The thing is, looking back at all of the legendary sci-fi movies - they all look dated once they get older than (lets say) 15. The ones that don't look dated, it's not because of the CGI, it's because they were made by some guru-director who had unimaginable budgets - something like Blade Runner comes to mind, and even that one has some dated parts. This lead me to think that FSOL knew/saw that their music is awesome and timeless and much much better than their video production and that is why they stopped making videos and most of them aren't released even today. I know that we as fans would appreciate their videos but maybe its best for them to stay unreleased. To summarize, the videos were very good for the time-periods when they came out, but the music was a thousand times better, for any time-period.

A half of the Lifeforms A/V can be seen here:


Another important part of the promotion was a promo EP called Lifeforms: Extracts, containing 5 edited Lifeforms tracks for promo-spinning on the radio stations. Another promotion tool was the Lifeforms Electronic Press Kit, a 11 minute video that told the story of FSOL, starting with Stakker Humanoid, PNG, Ephidrena, Cascade, ISDN shows and culminating with Lifeforms. Also contained a short interview with Garry, have a look:

Lifeforms Electronic Press Kit


Now we arrive at the album itself. Lets start with the artwork. It's A-Ma-Zing... that's it... move on...
The art direction of the artwork is credited to Buggy G. Riphead and FSOL, an awesome trio that will collaborate for many years. Even today FSOL use the photography archives that were made by Mr. Riphead (who currently lives and works in New Zealand). The SIM and CGI done by Olaf Wendt, his Electronic Brain is here again. I talked about Olaf in detail in the Cascade single review. The front cover premiers the Witch Girl aka Sheuneen Ta, a talented little girl who played football for the lady youth team of Arsenal, and later for the national youth team of England. She went to Miami and graduated graphic arts and today she's based in Santa Monica, California - being the chief graphic designer for gotsport.com (http://home.gotsport.com/clubsite/?p=2640 - check out the website menu, there are awesome clips with her doing football tips & tricks). Other photographers that participated were: Stephen Marks, Peter Atkinson, Alistair Shay, Martin Poole & Phil Knott.

The music on this album is an unprecedented journey of organic ambient textures that that evoke a different (but always pleasant) feeling every time you listen to it. Different lifeforms evoke different landscapes and the listener is literally submerged in various alien environments. The tracks make the journey like a sine-wave, from calmed down strings and piano-synth melodies to apocalyptic beats buried in the background. The fair number of guests would be barely recognizable if they weren't credited, because the guests aren't guest-stars, they just participate in the background, making the journey more complex.

The Tracks:

1-01. Cascade (6:00)
- This 'album' version of the track is adapted (less beats & percussions) to serve the mood of the album and magnificently opens the journey. The eastern themes are also stripped off here, but the flutes and gongs still give the eastern atmosphere.

1-02. Ill Flower (3:25)
- The brighter beats of Cascade slip into a darker beatless environment rich with strings and effects, ending with strange percussions.

1-03. Flak (4:53)
- Flak brings us into the beatland again. The textures and the strings are again incredibly rich. Guitar textures provided by Robert Fripp (of King Crimson), and the writing credits have four more people (Grossart, Williams, Nightingale, Thompson) just because FSOL sampled their tracks - kinda weird, they samples tons of stuff on the other tracks and no-one is credited there...

1-04. Bird Wings (1:30)
- An environmental piece using some weird/beautiful effects.

1-05. Dead Skin Cells (6:51)
- One of my favorites here. Haunting piano melody and textures, and later comes the slow-slow beat that suggests the name of the track. The whole theme has very unique structure and tempo, it has those teasing multiple endings and it seems like it never ends.

1-06. Lifeforms (5:18)
- The title track was demo-ready 20 months ago, so it understandably takes the sine-wave up again with its beats and percussions. The eastern feel is here again, backed with distant vocals in form of chants and shouts.

1-07. Eggshell (6:46)
- Trippy opening, very beautiful environments, and even though its largely a beatless piece, it sounds very bright. Again, very rich sound with drums, percussions, synths and the calmest acid pattern that I have ever heard.

1-08. Among Myselves (5:53)
- This track scared the shit out of me with that stabbing sound at the beginning and that was all my rain remembered about it. Listening to it now again I hear there is so much more. Its actually a great background-beat-driven track and it ends the first disc with some great effects similar to the opening of Cascade.

2-01. Domain (2:48)
- This track opens the second disc with beautiful soothing almost classical sounds. It's like saying - Hey, welcome to our domain...

2-02. Spineless Jelly (4:42)
- One of the few new tracks that weren't used in the any of the Kiss/ISDN transmissions. Very strange sounds and even stranger beats that make me dissoriented.

2-03. Interstat (0:55)
- Transitional environmental piece, also unused before. I think it's here just to maintain the continuity of the sine-wave theory...

2-04. Vertical Pig (6:45)
- One of the earliest pieces, opens with beautiful flutes but at the one minute stamp turn into a apocalyptic wasteland. The name actually suggests that people are vertical pigs, and they fucked-up the Earth pretty bad and now it's a wasteland presented by this track. Probably the darkest piece here.

2-05. Cerebral (3:31)
- Definitely my favorite piece. Brilliant structures with guitars, bass and flutes. Vocal textures provided by Toni Halliday (from Curve). The most nostalgic yet beautiful piece ever made...

2-06. Life Form Ends (5:03)
- Again very rich eastern sound and environments. Tabla-Tronics provided by Talvin Singh, the UK born Indian producer. The whooshing sounds are just awesome... (I use this word too much I know, but you listen to a masterpiece that has nothing but hi-lights, its kinda hard not to use it...)

2-07. Vit (6:48)
- Track dedicated to Vit, as I remember the story he is a friend of B&G (of east-asian origin) running a restaurant near the Earthbeat studio. The guys probably were eating there and became friends with Vit, and did Sheuneen Ta also hanged around there? Is she a relative of Vit? I don't know, but it would be interesting piece of trivia for the fans to know... We will be seeing Vit in lots of photo/video sessions in the later releases. Another weirdly structured track, apparently reflecting the psychedelic personality of Vit. (The opening plane sound and the screaming at 0:30 sampled from Mad Max 3 - Beyond Thunderdome, 1985)

2-08. Omnipresence (6:39)
- Another favorite track. Co-written with Klaus Schulze, the grandfather of kraut-psychedelia, and I could go on about him for hours, but basically if you don't know who he is, you can stop reading and go listen/learn to some music history. The thing is, I don't know if they credited Schulze because they sampled him, or they really collaborated with him... It would be awesome if they did meet.

2-09. Room 208 (6:13)
- The ending samples of this track are legendary and appeared on almost every transmission since 1992, but the track itself made its debut on the 4th Kiss transmission. By now the listener is used to the strange structures, or should I say he expects them

2-10. Elaborate Burn (3:15)
- I'm sorry but I have to use the word again - this is an awesome environmental piece that is an alternate (and very similar) version of Cascade Part 4.

2-11. Little Brother (5:13)
- This environmental piece is also new, debuted on the Essential mix two days before the album came out. It's a very good piece but I don't know why they chose it to close the album. This album should've closed with Among Myselves to make a full cycle with Cascade.


And now, lets go to the sample library:

Cascade at 1:35 samples the opening of Tri Atma und Gyan Nishabda - Mikrokosmos (album: Sehnsucht und Einklang aka Yearning & Harmony, 1982)


Cascade at 1:35 also samples soprano vocals by Alexa Spielmann at 5:10 of Pete Namlook - Je Suis Triste Et Seul Ici (album: Air 1, 1993)


Cascade and Flak sample Ozric Tentacles - Agog in the Ether (album: Pungent Effulgent, 1989) - hear it at 0:02 and 0:14 (0:01 for Flak)


Ill Flower samples Isao Tomita - The Venus Wearing the Space Uniform Shining in Florescent Light Color (album: The Bermuda Triangle, 1978). - hear it at 1:10 and 1:30. Also, the "You will awake now" sample is from a 1989 movie called Millennium (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/)


Ill Fower (at the 4th second) samples a pitched down sound taken from Knightmare (a British TV programme for kids running from 1987 to 1994) - still no info on who worked the sound on this show. The segment is called Navigating The Forest, you can hear the sample after the 49 second mark.


Flak opening samples Robert Fripp & Peter Gabriel - Here Comes The Flood (album: Exposure, 1979)


Flak samples Paul Williams & Andrew Grossart - Shining Ice (album: Atmospheric - Elements/Weather, 1986) - hear it at 0:16


Flak samples William Thomson & Trevor Nightingale - Cloud Formations (album: Atmospheric - Elements/Weather, 1986) - hear it at 1:01


Eggshell samples Tangerine Dream - Sudden Revelation (album: Canyon Dreams, 1991) - at 0:41


Among Myselves samples Malcolm Clarke - Andromeda War Machine (album: Out of This World: Atmospheric Sounds and Effects From the BBC Radiophonic Works, 1976) - at 0:10


Among Myselves samples Walter M. Schirra Jr. - John Glenn Orbits the Earth (album: Apollo 11: Flight to the Moon - Historic Moment From Manned Space Flight, 1969) - at 2:42
Also, the samples "I can hear myself" "I think I'm a bit afraid" "They were drowning me" by Stephen Lack as Cameron Vale in the movie Scanners (1981) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081455/)


Domain samples a classical piece by Johann Pachelbel - Canon in D Major (from 1680) - at 0:15


Spineless Jelly (at 1:38) samples Keith LeBlanc - Major Malfunction (album: Major Malfunction, 1986) - at 0:11

- And Keith Leblanc sampled the mission control audio commentary by Hugh Harris from the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger mission.

Spineless Jelly (at 2:16 & 3:33) samples Keith LeBlanc - Heaven on Earth (album: Major Malfunction, 1986) - at 3:53 & 3:56


Vertical Pig samples Isao Tomita - A Space Ship Lands Emitting Silvery Light (Tomita: The Arrival of a UFO) (album: The Bermuda Triangle, 1978) - at 1:53
Also, the whooshing sound is again, from Scanners (1981) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081455/)


Cerebral samples Edgar Froese - Aqua (album: Aqua, 1974) - at 3:40 - currently not available on YouTube...

Life Form Ends (at 2:50) samples Ewok sounds (at 0:50) from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)


Vit samples Pod - Lifeforms (from The Vanguard EP, 1992) - at 0:03


Vit also samples (at 0:22) Kraftwerk - Mitternacht (album: Autobahn, 1974) at 1:54


Omnipresence opening samples James Horner - Bavmorda's Spell Is Cast (album: Willow, 1988) - at 7:31


Omnipresence samples Klaus Schulze - Airlight (album: Beyond Recall, 1991) - at 0:01


Room 208 samples Throbbing Gristle - I.B.M. (album: D.o.A. The Third and Final Report, 1978) - at 0:07


Room 208 (at 1:22) samples the opening trumpet from Klaus Schulze - Picasso Geht Spazieren (album: Silver Edition CD6, 1993)


Room 208 (at 1:05) samples Aphex Twin - Analogue Bubblebath (1991) (at 2:45) - it is also a slowed/delayed down sample.

(the question remains, is this the original source of that sound..?)

And to summarize this masterpiece, here's a picture of the entire front artwork. How awesome is that the other half of the Witch girl's face from the same picture ended up as a CD artwork for Dead Cities two years later.


Appendix A:
- Just a reminder, Dougans and Cobain were 27/29 years old (entering their FULL musical maturity) when they released Lifeforms.
- other important albums surrounding Lifereforms were: (just to feel-out the awesome year of '94)
Portishead - Dummy
Massive Attack - Protection
Laika - Silver Apples of The Moon
Woob - Woob 1194
Tetsu Inoue - Ambiant Otaku
FFWD - FFWD [The Orb feat Robert Fripp]
The Orb - Pomme Fritz
Spacetime Continuum - Sea Biscuit
Pete Namlook & Klaus Schulze - The Dark Side of The Moog
Pete Namlook & Bill Laswell - Outland + Psychonavigation
Pete Namlook & Plastikman - From Within
- WTF did Namlook do in 1994 working with the best of the best he should've done some albums with FSOL too

[Ross]

The Schulze credit is just for the sample in the opening. Shauneen came from a modelling agency. I wonder if she found all the photoshoots with the band strange.

Lifeforms is my favourite piece of art in any form ever. Maybe one day I will be able to put that in more detail, but for the moment... Yes.

[seedy]

pande your english is great

[Pandemonium]

Thanks about the language comments guys,
but I still feel I could do better,
in terms of phrases and eloquence...
There is a certain kind of maximum when it's not your native tongue and you don't live in a English-speaking country...

Well, I'll keep trying I guess - these writings serve as exercises

[Ross]

There's the odd sentence which comes across slightly awkward, but 99% of the time you really can't tell it's not your native tongue. I know a lot of English people whose English is worse than yours.

[Pandemonium]

FSOL - Deep Into Your Subconscious I Slide
(from Excursions In Ambience: The Third Dimension) (June 1994)
Astralwerks - ASW 6119-1 // ASW 6119-2



Excursions In Ambience: The Third Dimension is a compilation CD that contains Deep Into Your Subconscious I Slide, an exclusive track by FSOL that doesn't appear anywhere else. This track is definitely a leftover piece from the Lifeforms Paths sessions with Liz Fraser. I don't know why she isn't credited here too - the voice patterns are clearly hers. Deep Into Your Subconscious I Slide is alternate version of Lifeforms Path 4. Some very nice flutes too - this piece should've definitely been something like Path 8... It was used in the Fripp Essential Mix, Rome ISDN and many more after.

07. FSOL - Deep Into Your Subconscious I Slide // Engineer – Yage // Written-By, Producer – FSOL* [3:53]



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The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms Paths [longform single / EP] (28.07.1994)
Virgin - VSCDT 1484 // VSCDXJ 1484 // VST 1484 // VSCT 1484 //
Astralwerks - ASW 6114-1 // ASW 6114-2 // ASW 6114-6



This EP came out one month after Lifeforms, and it looks like Lifeforms in every possible way, plus it has Liz Fraser as a guest collaborator. I think that this EP should've been built in the Lifeforms album - then both discs of the album would clock around the 60 minute mark and the awesome masterpiece would've hit infinity and it would've been without any doubt the indisputable best ambient album ever made. But, (there's always a But) the record companies had some shitty misunderstandings and Liz Fraser didn't appear on the album. Apparently one month later the misunderstandings were over and this EP was allowed into existence. Talvin Singh is here again, contributing Tabla-Tronics.

The EP is a bit darker than the album, which is normal because it was made after most of the album pieces were over, and the band has moved on into the darker ISDN sound. But damn it, this should've ended up on the Lifeforms album! Liz Fraser is brilliant, but I feel she wasn't used enough by B&G. Maybe because they too thought that these sessions will end up on the album and didn't wanted the album to contain singing lyrics or some sort of a hit track. If they knew that this will be a stand-alone release I think they'd definitely used the vocals more. I even remember (I think) that Garry in one interview said they didn't used her talents enough, like Massive Attack did in Teardrop 4 years later. But nevertheless, they did a brilliant job, no-lyrics and lush ambiance was their thing then, and they made another masterpiece out of it.

Tracklist:
1. Lifeforms (Path 1) (4:43)
- Very creepy swamp and bird sounds, the water rhythm effects are insanely good, as well as the percussions and Fraser vocals.

2. Lifeforms (Path 2) (6:49)
- Cool environment build-up using the Singh tablas, evolving into a dark-beat at the end. Fraser vocals are weird/original/eastern...

3. Lifeforms (Path 3) (5:24)
- actually the album version.

4. Lifeforms (Path 4) (9:03)
- the craziest and most wonderful piece - flutes, piano sounds, Fraser at her best, basslines, just... beautiful. Uses Pink Floyd samples at the end.

5. Lifeforms (Path 5) (6:02)
- This one is actually an extended version of Life Form Ends from the album.

6. Lifeforms (Path 6) (2:48)
- Short and environmental, uses the same part of Path 4.

7. Lifeforms (Path 7) (4:02)
- The most eastern version, with sarangi and tabla used in a more traditional / Indian way. The water rhythms appear again to connect the full cycle with Path 1, making the Paths a neverending journey.

Promo version:
1. Lifeforms (Radio Edit 1) (2:51)
2. Lifeforms (Radio Edit 2) (2:49)
3. Lifeforms (Radio Edit 3) (2:49)
4. Lifeforms (Album Mix) (5:15)
- The album version is completely different from the radio versions. The radio versions are edits of Path 4.

FSOL - Lifeforms Paths (1 to 7) - enjoy...


Lifeforms Path 4 samples (at 0:00) Deuter - Cicada (album: Cicada, 1982), birds chirping (or maybe they're synths... because... Germans...) most clearly heard after the 2 minute mark (and the next 20 seconds). Same sample used later in Hallucination, and other chirps landed on FSOL Deseo Reconstruction.

Lifeforms Path 4 samples (at 8:32) Pink Floyd - On the Run (album: The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973) at 1:53


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The Future Sound of London - Expander EP (July 1994)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' - CDS TOT 37 // 12 TOT 37



A totally unnecessary release. J&P tried to ride on the glory of Lifeforms, and somewhat succeeded. All tracks are previously released and reviewed.
Ross quote:
"Released to fill the band's contract with Jumpin' & Pumpin', "Expander" was the second and final single from Accelerator. Despite no promotion from the band or label, the group's commercial success from Lifeforms allowed the single to chart, albeit in the lower half of the top 100."

1. Expander (Radio Remix) [3:48]
2. Expander (Remix) [4:53]
3. Moscow (Remix) [4:55]
4. Central Industrial [4:22]

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FSOL & AA - Bring Me Home & Subliminal Aura
(from Signed Sealed Delivered 2) Virgin - VV SAM 23



Signed Sealed Delivered 2 is also a compilation CD, made by Virgin to promote their new batch of weird artists. It contains two exclusive tracks, one by FSOL and one by AA. 'Bring Me Home' is probably some kind of ISDN leftover, the beats are hard and dark, but the vocals are... well... terrible, and they ruin a perfectly good track.

FSOL - Bring Me Home (please ignore the Cascade picture on the clip, this has nothing to do with Cascade...)


10. FSOL - Bring Me Home // Engineer – Yage // Producer, Written-By – The Future Sound Of London [3:13]
11. Amorphous Androgynous - Subliminal Aura // Engineer – Yage // Producer, Written-By – Amorphous Androgynous [5:28]

Subliminal Aura has an interesting story. For 13 years it was an exclusive track and then it appeared on From The Archives Vol.3 titled 'Stomach Acid' and I don't know why, but everyone kinda forgot that Subliminal Aura had existed long before and started calling this track Stomach Acid. Not fair...
BTW the track is a leftover from the Tales of Ephridina, or to be more accurate its some kind of version, or at least its made in the same session with the title track Ephidrena, using same acid loops and beat patterns.

Amorphous Androgynous - Subliminal Aura |AKA| FSOL - Stomach Acid

[Ross]

Going to have to listen to Subconscious and Subliminal again, never noticed those links before. I always think of the track as Subliminal Aura.

You know, looking at the cover of Expander, the link to Hamish McDonald seems less strange. They do look a bit like a late 80s goth band.

[LooseLink]

Very readible man, you should make an app and put all of this info on there! Or let Ross have your own section on his website Awesome wealth of knowledge here!

[Pandemonium]

Ross is very welcome to use these on his website

I've been thinking a few times to make a fan site myself,
but time seems to be always against me + there is no point of having too many fan sites...

I don't know what platform is Ross using, I would offer to update and re-vamp his site,
but Ross probably wants it to be one-man fan site, which is OK...

[RazorJack]

Thanks for your great posts, Pandemonium, they're excellently written and I'm learning tons of new stuff about FSOL.

[Ross]

Next website update later in the year will be a redesign that should hopefully see it become more interactive.

[Pandemonium]

Good to hear Ross, I was expecting this too, so if I can help in ANY way, just give me a PM.

[Pandemonium]

Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool [single remixes] (07.09.1994)
Stealth Sonic Recordings - SSXCD3 / SSXT3



In September, along with the beginning of the second wave of the 3D Headspace tour, FSOL did a remix of a tune that was around (and in their transmissions) for some time. Liquid Cool by Apollo 440 was one the coolest euro-techno ambient anthems at the time.
The original track has a very smooth sound, and the synth theme is just brilliant and makes the track legendary.
The remix however, is very dark and resembles the smoky trip-hop of ISDN. Lots of percussions, guitar stabs and effects. It's a very fine effort, but I think I can say this is the first time when the original track is actually better than the FSOL remix.
The 12" version of the remix is about a minute longer than the CD version.

03 - Liquid Cool (Future Sound Of London Remix) // Engineer – Yage // Remix – FSOL* [6:54]

AA1 - Liquid Cool (Future Sound Of London Remix) // Engineer – Yage // Remix – FSOL* [7:54]

Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (the original album version)


Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (Future Sound Of London Remix)


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FSOL - ISDN Transmission 4, Netherlands (VPRO Radio) [live mix] (09.09.1994)
- bootleg / first official release 01.02.2010



It's hard to tell, but this transmission is (probably) a bit better than the New York transmission. It's just an awesome arrangement of what later will become the ISDN album - the first 45 minutes are practically the album itself. And today (mid 2013) after 7 Archives series and 4 Envoronments, we still have about 8 unknown pieces... weird and wonderful...

Tracklist:
00:00 Transmission intro - the ending effects of Room 208...
00:29 Just A Fuckin' Idiot - (from ISDN) - at the end we can hear the sample "I had killed a man..." which will end up on Dead Cities.
06:35 The Far-out Son Of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman - (from ISDN) - ends with informative talk about indian musicians.
12:47 You're Creeping Me Out - (from ISDN)
20:57 Smokin' Japanese Babe - (from ISDN) - another answerphone piece at the end...
26:37 Tired - (from ISDN)
27:13 Fractional Difference - (From The Archives Vol.2) - ends with the "We're losing the war on drugs..." talk
31:42 It's My Mind That Works - (from ISDN)
39:07 Slider - (from ISDN) - ends with a WEIRD talk about acid that I'd completely forgotten so it kinda surprised me...
46:58 Environments - Birds - (From The Archives Vol.1) - the 18 degrees to the left talk is here also... at the start...
48:10 Environments - Gong - (From The Archives Vol.1)
49:20 ????? - sounds like two short environmental pieces, first synth, then ambient with the virtual reality talk...
51:11 ????? - some acid synths, old-skool break drums, very interesting piece...
54:40 ????? - starts with the original full-length 'turn the lights off' talk, goes into some kind of modern classical piece and builds to some braindance beat... ends with hardcore fucking strongness...
57:29 ????? - starts with garage drumming and then goes into jazzy ambient... strange... goes again into ambient weirdness... ends with 'Mu mind that works' talk...
1:01:03 A Diversionary Tactic - (from Environents 3)
1:03:38 Appendage - (from ISDN) - actually longer and more beautiful than the album version.
1:07:04 Dirty Shadows - (from ISDN)
1:10:52 ????? - wtf is this... a no-comment weird one...
1:14:38 The Teeth of the Wind - (From The Archives Vol.3)
1:19:34 Wanting - (From The Archives Vol.2)
1:23:10 ????? - saxophone weirdness... extraordinary...
1:24:58 ????? - some cool LFO sounds...
1:27:54 Black and Blue and Green - (unreleased, ISDN outtake) - ends with some movie blaxploitation talks...
1:31:13 Brujo - (From The Archives Vol.2) - ends with 'into weirdness' talk...
1:35:54 ????? - very cool beat track that should be released on future Archives...
1:38:05 Are They Fightin' Us - (from ISDN)
1:44:36 Tired - (from ISDN)
1:47:16 A Study of Six Guitars - (from ISDN)
1:50:24 FSOL/Dead Can Dance Sound Samples
1:55:35 Unassumed - (From The Archives Vol.6)
1:58:03 Off The Net - (unreleased)
2:01:09 Transmission End

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FSOL - The 3D Headspace Tour [live mixes] (1994)



This bootleg collects the rest of the bootlegs that the people from Disenchanted didn't know how to name
The first one, WMNF Radio, Tampa, Florida got something like a collage from the Kiss mixes and the newer ISDN tracks. Looking at the tracklist - as much as I could update it, the first part is all parts from the Kiss mixes, and the second one is not far from it.
The second un-named bootleg is probably also re-arrangements of the Kiss mixes, seeing how it contains the unique version of PNG that was only played on Kiss FM.
The third, Radiotrance mix, is very similar in mixing with the other two. Since we don't have exact dates of these transmissions, we can only assume they were mixed in May with the first part of the 3D Headspace tour.

Tracklisting:

Bootleg 1, WMNF Radio, Tampa, Florida:
Part 1:
00:00 DJ intro
00:32 Transmission intro
01:40 Gabriel Yared - Betty Et Zorg - (Virgin France S.A., 1986)
04:04 ????? - doesn't sound like FSOL... at least the main theme, the environments above it are FSOL...
08:42 ????? - again, sounds like Vangelis got covered by FSOL
14:00 ????? - environments...
15:45 ????? - middle east themes, kinda...
17:20 ????? - middle east vocals mixed with some techno beats...
21:04 The Dust Brothers aka The Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats - (Collect Boy's Own, 1994)
27:04 DJ outro
28:08 End

Part 2:
00:00 Black and Blue and Green - (unreleased, ISDN outtake)
02:00 Subliminal Aura aka Stomach Acid - (from Signed Sealed Delivered 2, Virgin, 1994)
06:37 Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches - (Columbia, 1959)
07:33 ????? - sounds very familiar, there are a few similar tracks in the Archives, but not quite like this one...
09:28 Tired - (from ISDN)
10:32 ????? - the same track that reminds me of AFX strikes again just to annoy me with it's mystery...
14:39 Vit - (from Lifeforms)
21:16 John A. Glover-Kind - I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside - (from 1907)
21:52 Off The Net - (unreleased)
22:25 Eggshell - (from Lifeforms)
27:49 Off The Net - (unreleased)
30:38 Transmission End

Bootleg 2:
00:00 Transmission intro
00:55 ????? - some warm-up environments, mixed pieces of vocals by Liz Fraser
02:55 Papua New Guinea - (Kiss Mix?) - as heard on earlier Kiss mixes, some kind of unique mix...
10:30 Environments - Birds - (From The Archives Vol.1)
11:50 Environments - Gong - (From The Archives Vol.1)
12:43 ????? - heard it before on older transmissions...
17:07 Lifeforms A/V - (from Lifeforms)
22:02 FSOL/Dead Can Dance Sound Samples - (unreleased)
25:17 Tired - (from ISDN)
27:45 ????? - the piano/saxophone/distant voice piece
28:50 Amorphous/Hendrix Voodoo Chile - (unreleased)
29:32 End

Bootleg 3 (Radiotrance Mix):
00:00 Transmission intro
02:13 FSOL/Dead Can Dance Sound Samples - (unreleased)
04:30 ????? - this unknown track is on almost all of the Kiss mixes...
09:11 Dirty Shadows - (from ISDN)
13:02 Take a Sample There - (unreleased)
13:59 Vertical Pig - (from Lifeforms)
17:00 ????? - the piano/saxophone/distant voice piece again...
18:07 Amorphous/Hendrix Voodoo Chile - (unreleased)
19:27 More Noise Please - (unreleased)
20:35 Environments - Birds - (From The Archives Vol.1)
21:45 Environments - Gong - (From The Archives Vol.1)
22:48 ????? - lots of different talks, environments...
25:02 Lifeforms Path 5 - (from Lifeforms Paths)
29:00 Transmission End

- A poster mentioning the 3D Headspace Tour


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FSOL - Kiss FM '94 Transmission [live mix] (1994)



This transmission is one strange cookie. I'm fairly certain that we got confirmation from Brian that all the Kiss mixes were done in 92/93, confirming that the Kiss 12 Hour Show is not real - but it's the old shows re-arranged by the radio. But what about this transmission? The tracks indicate that it's definitely 1994, so the only possible alternative would be that it was not transmitted to Kiss FM and the bootleg somehow ended up titled Kiss FM '94. That, or FSOL simply forgot that they did a Kiss transmission in '94 because it was the busiest year with two albums and up to 50 transmissions...
Anyway, it's a lovely set, big respect for Ross who found out all the Archive/Environment tracks, I'm sure it wasn't easy.

Tracklist:
00:00 Transmission intro
01:02 Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (FSOL Remix) - (Stealth Sonic Recordings, 1994)
07:44 ????? - some short environmental piece...
08:31 Nearly Home - (from Environments 2)
11:40 Tired - (from ISDN)
12:39 Distant Memories - (From The Archives Vol.5)
16:35 She Fell Backwards - (From The Archives Vol.6)
19:32 An End of Sorts - (from ISDN)
23:58 ????? - absolutely no idea what this could be...
27:50 Tired - (from ISDN)
29:50 Lifeforms Path 4 - (from Lifeforms Paths)
31:30 Hot Knives - (from ISDN)
34:42 ????? - some movie blaxploitation talks...
36:36 Brujo - (From The Archives Vol.5)
39:46 ????? - interesting piece, the structure reminds me of the Accelerator era...
43:14 Are They Fightin' Us? - (from ISDN)
43:26 Nadir - (From The Archives Vol.2)
46:28 Egypt - (from ISDN)
50:27 Deseo Reconstruction - (unreleased, later on High Street Records, 1995)
56:41 Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead - (from ISDN)
1:00:38 End

Want to read about the other ISDN mix series? (bootleg or otherwise) Click away:

Mixing It (09.05.1994) // ISDN Transmission 2 New York (11.05.1994) // ISDN Transmission 5 Rome (16.05.1994)
ISDN Transmission 4 Netherlands (09.09.1994) // The 3D Headspace Tour (1994) // Kiss FM '94 Transmission --> it's this post.
ISDN Transmission 14 Barcelona (22.10.1995)
BBC Radio 1 Steve Lamacq Session (26.10.1996) // ISDN Transmission 3 Edinburgh (28.10.1996)
BBC Radio Leicester (01.11.1996) // BBC Radio Aire Leeds (02.11.1996) // ISDN Transmission 6 France (05.11.1996)
ISDN Transmission 7 Manchester (06.11.1996) // VPRO Radio Netherlands (11.11.1996) // ISDN Transmission 11 Berlin (06.12.1996) // Fritz Radio Berlin (06.12.1996) // London UK (1996)
ISDN Transmission 8 Los Angeles (22.01.1997) // ISDN Transmission 16 France (27.02.1997) // ISDN Show (1997)
ISDN Transmission 9 London (25.03.1997) // Fun Radio France (13.06.1997)

[Ross]

I remember stumbling across that Kiss mix and was amazed that tracks like Distant Memories and She Fell Backwards are on it.

When talking about the Kiss shows, I'm sure Brian told me they didn't do anything for Kiss in '95 - nothing else. I'm pretty sure the mix is a legit Kiss mix. We'll see if/when the Pod Room gets updated. I'd love to have a higher quality copy of that show. And all the 3D Headspace stuff, those mixes are fantastic.