Is it just me or ...

[mcbpete]

... is the ending of While Others Cry creepily similar to Through Your Gills I Breathe?! Only noticed it for the first time today on the tube to work and just now crudely whacked the two together in Reaper. Note I haven't pitch corrected them or anything just crossfaded from one to another -

http://www.ilovecubus.co.uk/pete/fsol_mixed.mp3

How have I never noticed that before, and I wonder if that means not all of their Dead Cities album was made around the same time at all !

(or (more likely) is it just coincidence !)

[Ross]

Hah - never noticed that at all but they are incredibly similar. Possibly just a coincidence, similar idea appearing more than once, but they definitely use the same sort of arpeggio and the same kinds of sounds... strange.

[Tito Lozano]

:O Great spot Pete, indeed have same movement, maybe a piece of a piece of piece finally installed on both tracks?

[Pandemonium]

You don't post often lately Pete, but when you do ...

How have I never noticed that before, and I wonder if that means not all of their Dead Cities album was made around the same time at all!

- Brian mentioned to me (more than once) that almost all of their work is accumulating over many many years, everything post-Zeebox is connected. Filed recording from the Zeebox era (released & unreleased) still appear in the newest tracks / mixes.

- He also mentioned that everything they released was not made in the timeframe of the actual release, except Stakker and ISDN (the black album) - they were the only two pieces released in the right timeframe - that's why ISDN is his favorite album (pre-2000).

[Ross]

Yes, in a conversation with Gaz on Facebook lately he mentioned how Lifeforms was largely recorded before 1993, which is incredible to think about really. Record labels...

[Blu Mar Ten]

Yes, in a conversation with Gaz on Facebook lately he mentioned how Lifeforms was largely recorded before 1993, which is incredible to think about really. Record labels...

is that surprising? lifeforms only came out may 1994 so i'd expect the bulk of material to have been written 92-93.
If you factor in at least a 3 to 6 month promo / manufacture / distribution window the album would have to have been sealed and delivered by autumn 1993 at the very very latest.. probably earlier.

[Pandemonium]

It is a little bit weird, because Tales of Ephidrina came out at the end of July 1993, and there were very little hints of this album in the Kiss mixes - it probably means it was entirely recorded in the first months of 1993. But it was the first release for Astralwerks - still considered small/indie back then, so...

We knew Lifeforms sessions begun in 1992, we have evidence that 4 to 9 tracks (up to 45%) were sketched in 1992, but "largely recorded in 1992" is a bit surprising... On the other hand, Gaz (...both of them actually) has been known to give partially wrong tracklists and dates, like when they released their own mixes on fsoldigital.com in 2008 - a good number of them had wrong dates, a number of fans confirmed this - having listening to these transmissions live in the 90s, taped them and written dates on the tapes

[mcbpete]

Sure I've heard some of the Tales of Ephidrina stuff in the really early live sets from about '92 (the ones where they were 'Yage' and 'Cyberface')

EDIT: Yep, 1:49:25 here -

[Pandemonium]

Correct Pete, I've talked about it in detail here: ( http://www.ilovecubus.co.uk/fsolboard/v ... t=75#p3934 )
- the last paragraph before I go into track-by-track.

- But the main point stays, Lifeforms sessions begun before Ephidrina and ended after Ephidrina - making Ephidrina basically some kind of leftovers or b-sides of Lifeforms, but before Lifeforms even came out - weird, but hey, it's FSOL...

[Ross]

Ephidrina sounds much more stripped back than Lifeforms, for the most part, it definitely sounds like the mid-ground between Accelerator and Lifeforms. Given that it was released summer '93, and Blu Mar Ten is completely right about the six month plus lead time on major label releases, combined with Brian saying that most of their albums were released some time after they were ready, I'd say Ephidrina was quite likely recorded in the first half of 1992 maybe. It's quite common for an album to come out a year, if not more, after it's complete (I recall Mike Skinner complaining that by the time he had to promote a new The Streets album, he'd already completed the next one; The Orb finished Orblivion in 1995 but it wasn't out until mid-'97.) Add in the fact that FSOL were looking for a label in '92 and early '93, so were likely to sit on stuff waiting for the right label... I wouldn't be surprised if Ephidrina was actually intended to be the second FSOL album, only by the time they'd got signed to Virgin they were already onto Lifeforms (hence Ephidrina being an offering to the label to help people get used to their new sound.)

It's all speculation of course, but I first found out that Environment Five was finished around this time last year, and it wasn't out until September. If you factor in the fact major labels need several months leeway to do promotion, and spend a lot of time working out 'schedules' to fit things in, I'd probably guess Ephidrina was recorded late '91 - early '92, Lifeforms early '92 - early '93, ISDN mid '93 - mid '94.

[Pandemonium]

We're all right partially
I think things will be clearer if Brian EVER greenlights the 'interview' that we as Board compiled (more or less).

[Blu Mar Ten]

I'd probably guess Ephidrina was recorded late '91 - early '92

i've never had cause to consider it, but that's really quite extraordinary if correct, (in terms of the quality of the material vs the epoch, i mean)

[Pandemonium]

Hey PETE - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

[billybatts]

Wait, what? Happy birthday dude! And as good a time to say like, thanks for the board

[mcbpete]

Cheers guys - yous all are awesome