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

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Pande-reviews: 1990 (AST / Yunie / Mental Cube)

Post by Pandemonium »

In 1990 Dougans & Cobain definitely got together in the Earthbeat Studio in London. They weren't a team yet, so they tried to work on many projects and see where they'll click. Their first efforts were... well, confusing... for them... so they released under dozen of aliases in the next two years - searching for the perfect sound.

Art Science Technology - AST [single] (1990) Debut – DEBTX 3100

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A1 - A.S.T.
A2 - Esus Flow
B1 - Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix)


The very first official single signed by the legendary duo Dougans/Cobain (they were still young and silly so they signed as B.Dog and Cobain). Also, first mention of the imaginary engineer - Yage.

This is a very strange single... The AST track is actually a cover of The Stranglers song called Something Better Change, one of the first Stranglers single released in 1977. So we have the new wave punk track with some breaks and heavy sampling. The result is a very nice danceable track.

the A.S.T. track


the original by the Stranglers


The A.S.T. track, at 0:21, the one-two-three-four sample is taken from The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)


The A.S.T. track samples the drum break from Banbarra - Shack Up, a 1975 rare 7" funk song. The break can be heard clearly at 2:55

PS - rumors have it, this same break was cut/up to extremes to end up on Egypt (on the ISDN album) 4 years later...

In contrast to the first track, we have Esus Flow, a track that uses the same opening samples as Stakker Humanoid and develops into a very strong acid trip. The remix version has even more samples and ambiance - and now we see how far back the recycling of beats goes for these guys.



The opening of Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) samples the opening of Kraftwerk - KlingKlang (from Kraftwerk 2, 1972)

- The same sample will appear much much later on Environments (Gong) on the first of the Archived series in 2007. (although the original Environments was meant to be released in 1994)

The very begging of the Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) samples Vangelis - Tales of The Future (at 0:28) (album: Blade Runner, 1982) - You can even hear a bit from the vocals buried in the back.


Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) (at 2:31) samples the opening of Planet Gong - Psychological Overture (album: Live Floating Anarchy, 1977)


Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) (at 3:29) samples the opening of Planet Gong - New Age Transformation Try / No More Sages (album: Live Floating Anarchy 1977) - it can be heard here, on the full album link (at 11:17)

- Words by Gilli Smyth: "Come mystic sister. Come with me now. Everything is changing. The age of the goddess is coming. We shall go in the sky and see the stars. The old games are finished. There will be no more violence that walks down dark streets to smile at the screams"

Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) (at 4:31) samples the opening saxophone of Gabriel Yared - Betty Et Zorg - (Virgin France S.A., 1986) (this one featured on the Kiss 5 mix in 1993, but now we found out they used it much earlier)


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Yunie - I Can See for Miles [single] (1990) Debut – DEBTX 3103

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A - I Can See For Miles
B - I Can See For Miles (Astral Mix)


Their second effort is also somewhat strange. The duo is credited as "B. Dougans and G. Cockbain", Cockbain being the original surname of Cobain before he changed it to Cobain for good.

The track is trip-hop / acid jazz effort, with some smooth pop vocals (uncredited). It's not a bad track, it just doesn't sound like them, but as we said, in this period they tried out every single genre that had any connections with electronic music. The mixed B side has very little vocals and its kinda more pleasant...



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Mental Cube - Chile of The Bass Generation EP (1990) Debut – DEBTX 3104

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A1 - Chile of The Bass Generation
B1 - Q
B2 - Dope Module


...And the third try is a charm. The Mental Cube project was the first one that lived to see more than one release.
Dougans/Cobain found the chemistry and the pickpocketing begun. The tracks are heavily sampled funk breaks mashed up with some original new techno/house beats.

Chile of The Bass Generation, the opening drum break is taken from Fuzzy Haskins - The Fuzz & Da Boog, a 1976 funk track.

The flute samples that start around 0:53 and sneak in & out in the entire track, are from the legendary blaxploitation soundtrack composer Johnny Pate, and the track is called You're Starting Too Fast (from 1970) - this is the same track that will inspire Liam of The Prodigy in 1994 to recycle and rework the whole track and give a brain-birth to Voodoo People, the biggest big-beat anthem of the '90s generations :)

Chile of The Bass Generation:


Fuzzy Haskins - The Fuzz & Da Boog:


Johnny Pate - You're Starting Too Fast:


The second track is the most famous one by Mental Cube, it got re-releases as a single in 1991, ended up on dozens of techno compilations, and even got a remixes release in 2011 (we'll talk about these when the chronology of my list gets to them)
- I wonder if they named the track after Q - the omnipotent being in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Mental Cube - Q:


The last track, an exclusive one to this EP, is another funky/techno sample melded track. The track title, Dope Module, later became another alias of Dougans/Cobain, so its kinda confusing (in 2008, four tracks on the By Any Other Name compilation were credited to the Dope Module alias).

Anyhow, I can't find the Dope Module track on YouTube, but the opening sample is taken from the master himself: Quincy Jones - They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, from a blaxploitation soundtrack he did in 1970. It's a genius move!

What's frightening here is that they were only 22/23 years old and already they had all this vast knowledge of quality music in their heads and all heading in the right direction. It took me until 29 to get to this level of library music knowledge - but hey, they had 15 years of music less for listening and they grew up in UK, and I'm certainly not going to compare my level of music knowledge with Dougans/Cobain - hats down gentlemen!

Quincy Jones - They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!


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Honorary mention:

Mental Cube - Live at The Empire Ballroom, London UK (19.12.1990)
bootleg / unreleased

Image

Ross quote:
GURU JOSH LIVE - Supported by guest DJs Mental Cube and Humanoid at the Empire Ballrooms London 19/12/90.
A flyer appeared on an old version of the official site. Nothing else is known about this show.
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Re: Pandemonium reviews: AST / Yunie / Mental Cube (1990)

Post by Ross »

One day I'm sure I will when I have the time.

I really like 'Crystal', and there are other bits on Global which I don't mind that much, but on the whole I tend to agree with most of what you've written in the last few days.
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Pande-reviews: 1991.1 (Mental Cube, Candese, Aircut)

Post by Pandemonium »

In 1991 the duo Dougans/Cobain went into overdrive and it it didn't stop producing until 1997.
They had close to a hundred releases in these 7 years. So, let's begin with the first half of 1991:

Mental Cube - So This Is Love [single] (1991) Debut – DEBTX 3112

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A1 - So This Is Love | 4:50
B1 - So This Is Love (Neo Neo) | 4:00
B2 - Q (Santa Monica Mix) | 4:10


So This Is Love - Not really a fan of this track, a standard house / dance thing for it's time, some nice piano line, bass-line is also cool, but the overall feel is just... old. The Neo-Neo mix has even more snarry jazzy feeling. And when I found out why the feeling was old, well, it gets as back as 1950!

The Future Sound of London alias appears here (as Producers) for the FIRST TIME EVER.

So, here is the title track (So This Is Love):


and here is the original vocal sample, from the Cinderella, a Disney cartoon from 1950! I kid you NOT!
(the original vocals are provided by Ilene Woods and Mike Douglas)
:


The talking sample on So This Is Love (at the opening at 0:07 and throughout) is Susan Bowen, the girlfriend of a friend of Garry back in 1991, sampled in the friends flat.

The Santa Monica Mix of Q - powerful stuff, it even repeats itself on the next release :)

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Mental Cube - Q [single] (1991)
Buzz – BZZXL 106033 // the 1991 release with the Original and the Santa Monica Mix
Flarenasch – 180 996 // the 1992 French re-release with a bonus Remix version. (pictured)

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A1 - Q (Remix) | 4:51
B1 - Q (Santa Monica Mix) | 4:12
B2 - Q (Original Mix) | 6:30


What else to say, I already mentioned this track a few times. A classic, it just flows... probably the most famous and the most original track by the Mental Cube alias.



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Loleatta Holloway – Do That To Me (Set Me Free) [single remixes] (1991)
Debut - DEBTX 3124

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A1 - Do That To Me (Set Me Free) (Future Sound of London Remix) [4:07]

The FSOL alias appears here as remixers.

The flute note that you hear through the track is, again, taken from Johnny Pate - You're Starting Too Fast (1970) - you can hear the sample on the top of this page.

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Candese - You Took My Love EP (1991) Debut - DEBTX 3138

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A1 - You Took My Love (Earth Mix) | 4:17
A2 - You Took My Love (New Yorker Mix) | 5:00
B1 - You Took My Love (Instrumental) | 4:31
B2 - It's Takin' Me Over | 2:31
B3 - I Need Somebody | 3:48


The title track (even though the title says otherwise, is one Happy track) - I wonder why this one wasn't a big hit, I mean, saxophone house tracks were almost by definition big hits in the next 15-20 years, even today... (Destination Calabria, or It Just Won't Do). It's a very danceable floor track, and the same goes for the B sides. I wonder where are the saxophones sampled from...



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Aircut – Visual Attack [single] (1991) Beatfarm Recordings – BFR006T

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A - Visual Attack (From The Home of Humanoid) [4:30]
B - Let It Take You [5:06]


A project that was unknown to the FSOL fans for a long time. But now we know that on this particular single, Dougans/Cobain were in charge (you can even read it on the vinyls present in the Discogs.com database).

The title track is very hardcore, rave driven beat that will later become the mark of the Smart Systems.
The B side is more calmed down, a house version of sorts... It had 2 more remix releases in 1992 and 1996.



The words "Proceed with the visual attack" are taken from The Last Starfighter (1984) movie.

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...and the in the second half of 1991 the duo signed on Jumpin' & Pumpin' Records, and the history continued...
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.1 (Mental Cube, Candese, Aircut)

Post by dell1972 »

The Visual Attack single appeared on itunes a few years ago as well courtesy of Beatfarm Records, backed with Eternalwave and the classily yet very appropriately titled Got any Speed? It's all a bit in yer face in a Smart Systems style...
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.1 (Mental Cube, Candese, Aircut)

Post by Pandemonium »

True, but the Eternal track doesn't have any connection with Dougans/Cobain.
The Aircut was a project including many artists - but Dougans/Cobain only produced the Visual Attack single.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.1 (Mental Cube, Candese, Aircut)

Post by TheWallOfSacrifice »

zeebox stuff is unreal. classic raw industrial madness with a very original touch. criminally overlooked!
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Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Communication)

Post by Pandemonium »

In the second half of 1991 the duo signed on Jumpin' & Pumpin' Records.
They obviously still weren't comfortable with one alias, so they kept the experiments on...

Indo Tribe / The Future Sound of London - The Pulse EP (1991)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' – 12 TOT 11

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A1 - Indo Tribe - Bring In The Pulse (MFK Mix) // Producer - Mental Cube
A2 - Indo Tribe - In The Mind of a Child (First Born Mix) // Producer - Mental Cube
B1 - The Future Sound of London - Hardhead (Frothin' at The Mouth Mix) // Producer - Yage
B2 - The Future Sound of London - Pulse State (831 AM Mix) // Producer - Yage

And this time, finally, the first appearance of FSOL as an original artist of a track. Indo Tribe also makes a first appearance. (Written by Dougans / Cockbain.)

- In The Mind of a Child (First Born Mix) - appears the next year on the Earthbeat 'compilation', without the (First Born Mix) addition, but it's the same track.

- Pulse State (831 AM Mix) - appears later that year on the FSOL debut album, the Accelerator, also without the (831 AM Mix) addition, but it's the same track.

- Bring In The Pulse (MFK Mix) - this is an interesting unique to this release techno track (yeah it came out in 2008 as a part of a digital remaster of the 4 Pulse EPs, but we can still count it as a unique track for Pulse EP1). I wonder where the title words 'Bring in the pulse!' are sampled from. The 'Hallelujah' scream is apparently sampled form the gospel/soul singer Tramaine Hawkins, from the 1985 single 'In The Morning Time' - you can hear it clearest at 5:05 (it also appeared on the album 'The Search Is Over' the next year).

Bring In The Pulse (MFK Mix):


Tramaine - in The Morning Time:


- Hardhead (or Hard Head), the original, came out years later in 2007 on the 'From The Archives 3' CD. The mix of Hardhead that we have here reminds me of the Smart Systems sound.

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Various Artists - Pulse Two EP (1991) Jumpin' & Pumpin' – 12 TOT 14

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A1 - The Future Sound of London – Stolen Documents (Jazz Dub) // Producer – Luco
A2 - Smart Systems – Zip Code (Stress Ball Mix) // Producer – Mental Cube
B1 - The Future Sound of London – In 8 (W-O-W Mix) // Producer – Mental Cube
B2 - Indo Tribe – I've Become What You Were (Insider Mix) // Producer – Mental Cube

And now ladies and gents, we have the first appearance of Smart Systems. (Written by Dougans / Cockbain)

Another techno EP that will later form the sound of the Accelerator album, and the rest will go on the Earthbeat 'compilation'.
When I think of it, the Earthbeat is actually B-sides of Accelerator.

- Stolen Documents and Innate (or 1 in 8) both appear on the Accelerator later, without the (Jazz Dub) / (W-O-W Mix), but they are the same tracks.

- Zip Code and I've Become What You Were are the unique ones here, both very interesting tracks.

Smart Systems – Zip Code (Stress Ball Mix) - a heavy one:


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Intelligent Communication ‎– Principles of Motion EP (1991)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' – 12 TOT 15

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A1 - Drive | 5:07
A2 - Open Loop | 4:10
B1 - Flight | 4:35
B2 - Critical Ebb | 4:56


Ambient techno melodies, interesting enough, I wonder why they never re-released this on anything else than the 12" (maybe they totally forgot it exists). Drive is probably the strongest track, and Open Loop would easily fit on the Accelerator.

EDIT: they DID re-release it in 2015 by demand of the fans of this very board - with bonus tracks too!

Dougans / Cockbain. produced by The Future Sound of London. Artwork by Buggy G. Riphead.
The record is "a collaborative venture with Freaky Deek Records" (???)

Drive:


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Various Artists - Pulse Three EP (1991) Jumpin' & Pumpin' – 12 TOT 16

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A1 - Smart Systems - Tingler (Four By Four Mix) (4:32)
A2 - Indo Tribe - Owl (I Can See You Mix) (4:52)
B1 - Indo Tribe - Bite The Bullet Baby (Jaques Reynoix Mix) (4:28)
B2 - Yage - Calcium (Elemental Mix) (5:08)


Probably the strongest of the 4 Pulse EPs. We have Yage here for the first time as an artist, but later this track's assigned to FSOL and comes out on Accelerator without the (Elemental Mix) addition. (Written by Dougans / Cockbain. Produced by FSOL.)

- Tingler (Four By Four Mix) - this track scares the shit out of me when I'm under any kind of influence, alcoholic or something stronger... Anyway - you can just feel the sound production is taking another level. Wonderful track, just brilliant ravey beat. The (Four By Four Mix) is actually the same with the (State Side Swamp Mix) that will come out a few months later as a stand-alone Tingler single (we'll talk about that one later too). The Earthbeat version is different.

Tingler samples a 1988 house track by Liaz, called House Sensation & a 1985 funky house track by Jocelyn Brown, called Love's Gonna Get You.

Can't remember where the words 'In my dreams, so beautiful' are taken from - someone remind me please...
EDIT: 'In my dreams, so beautiful' taken from Dune, the 1984 movie ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/ )

Smart Systems - Tingler (State Side Swamp Mix) / (Four By Four Mix)


Liaz - House Sensation


Jocelyn Brown - Love's Gonna Get You


- Owl (I Can See You Mix) - Ross wrote on his fan-site that the version "Indo Tribe - Owl (I Can See You Mix) (Exclusive version featuring rap sample) Features on "Breaks, Bass & Bleeps 3" (CD - RAIDCD506, LP - RAID506)" is exclusive on that compilation - this is not the case. I downloaded recently a fresh FLAC vinyl-rip (from DB9) from the original Pulse EP3 12" and the rap samples are there. Actually they are edited out on the Earthbeat version.

Owl (I Can See You Mix) samples brilliantly this small chunk from Enya - Orinoco Flow (Watermark, 1988) (at 2:12)


- Bite The Bullet Baby (Jaques Reynoix Mix) - almost as good as the Tingler. The Earthbeat version in 70 seconds shorter edit. 'Bite the bullet baby' again, I can't remember where these words are taken from - my brain's feeling frosty today [remind me, someone, anyone...]
EDIT: Twin Peaks (1990-1991), Season 1, Episode 8
Walter Olkewicz as Jacques Renault, "Bite the bullet baby" @0:07 - sampled in "Bite the Bullet Baby" by Indo Tribe

- Calcium samples a 1982 track by Malcolm McLaren, called Buffalo Gals - it's the opening flute-like sample:


Calcium also samples a short vocal sample from a 1989 track called Tears by Frankie Knuckles & Satoshi Tomiie, the vocals are by Robert Owens - at 2:10 you can hear the "I'm Drowning" vocals that are sampled in Calcium at 3:03 & 4:18

(most likely taken from the acapella version that's not present on YouTube, but it was for sale on two different vinyl pressings back in 1989)

It will take another evening and one more (3rd) post to finish the 1991 releases :)
Read you later...
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by dell1972 »

Good work Mr. Panda, the Bite the Bullet Baby sample is from Twin Peaks, in particular the character Jacques Renault
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Dennis »

Ha, so 'Jaques Renoix mix' refers to Jaques Renault I assume.

Question: Is 'Owl' a different version on the Pulse ep fsoldigital cd than on the 12"? (btw I love that track despite its old-schoolness. It still kicks ass.)
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Pandemonium »

Most of the tracks on the Pulse CD are remastered and re-edited in comparison to the original 12" - I will get to that soon and you'll have your answer track-by-track :)
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Ross »

In my dreams, so beautiful... Dune, I think?

Principles of Motion is my favourite of all their early releases, absolutely brilliant.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Tito Lozano »

Great Work with all reviews Mr Pandemonium

This is a excellent post that started with some of my favourite items, the first stuff from Fsol with their alias was a very experimental era and i have great feedbacks on my mind about listen all tracks on diferent moments of my life...
Rave intelligent music pre-lifeforms era is always welcome!
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Communicat

Post by Pandemonium »

Pandemonium wrote:Owl (I Can See You Mix) - Ross wrote on his fan-site that the version "Indo Tribe - Owl (I Can See You Mix) (Exclusive version featuring rap sample) Features on "Breaks, Bass & Bleeps 3" (CD - RAIDCD506, LP - RAID506)" is exclusive on that compilation - this is not the case. I downloaded recently a fresh FLAC vinyl-rip (from DB9) from the original Pulse EP3 12" and the rap samples are there. Actually they are edited out on the Earthbeat version.
Ross, not sure if you read the whole post - but because I know you have Pulse EP3 on 12",
can you confirm the quote to me?
(I want to know that I have the right thing - I mean it's a pretty good source, but still)
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Ross »

I don't have the 12" so I always presumed it was the same version as on Earthbeat, but I could well be wrong.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 1991.2 (Pulse EPs, Intelligent Comm.)

Post by Pandemonium »

OK, I contacted the ripper on DB9 too, he assured me it was his own rip,
so we can definitely conclude that the Owl (I Can See You Mix) of Pulse EP3 has the rap samples,
and the Owl Earthbeat version has no rapping :)

PS - I found some other little mistakes on your site - stay tuned I will post more 1991/1992 reviews these days.
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