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

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Pande-reviews: 2007.5 (the 2007 enhanced re-releases)

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FSOL & AA feat. Dianne Harris - A Tiny Point of Light [single] (19.03.2007)
fsoldigital.com - no cat.num.

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Besides Glubular and Heads of Agreement, this experimental spoken word piece was also made for the Kinetica event in London. The spoken words are by Dianne Harris (Gaz's significant other), and it is unclear weather this track is by FSOL or AA, or both - though it is usually considered an FSOL piece.

The ambient was conceived as a soundtrack to a light and sound projected sculpture (see the video below) created by Dianne Harris with involvement of both aliases (FSOL & AA). It's a pretty cool mantric piece that it remained basically unreleased because I don't think we can count the free download that appeared for a very short time on fsoldigital.com, and it was in weak 128kbps MP3 quality.

1 - A Tiny Point Of Light [6:24]



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Metropolis - Metropolis [remastered single] (19.03.2007)
fsoldigital.com - no cat.num.

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The Metropolis single was released on Union City Recordings (a short-lived label) in 1992, and FSOL somehow kept the copy-rights and re-released Metropolis in 2007 on their new web-shop, with a tracklist that looked rather different than the original single on the first glance, but actually I think it's only the last track that was unreleased before.

Tracklist
1 - Metro 1 [3:34]
- Actually an edit of the original metropolis track, with a differently mixed outro.

2 - Hyper Real 1 [4:59]
- This one is the same with the Hyporeel track released on the original single.

3 - Hyper Real 3 [4:58]
- And this one is the same with the previous track (?!?) I really can't hear the difference between these two. Maybe it's me or maybe it's some sort of mistake.

4 - Metropolis Alt [3:37]
- This is the new version (or an alternate take) of the original Metropolis that was unreleased before. It's a good ride version - the latin themes are all stripped down and this is just a pure ride old-skool 4/4 beat.

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FSOL - Papua New Guinea (Herd & White Remixes) [single remixes] (23.04.2007)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' - 12 TOT 45

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Like the initial dozen releases weren't enough to start the fsoldigital.com shop, the next month another release appeared, 12" only. It was out-of-the-blue-no-jubilee-required new remixes of Papua New Guinea, the ambient techno anthem from 1991.

And who the hell are Herd & White?? To tell you the truth, listening to these mixes today (including the fact that we have no info whatsoever of these guys 7+ years later) I'm starting to think that these mixes were actually done by FSOL. Something like a trial run of acid for the forthcoming Humanoid - Your Body Robotic release. Who knows... maybe they'll shed some light some day.

Tracklist
A1 - Papua New Guinea (Herd & White Remix) [7:52]
- Very very good acid version of the track. It's a bit lenghty and it rides the usual PNG madness for about 5 minutes, then it builds for a whole additional minute into a head-bangin' acid that reminded me of some Josh Wink classics.

B1 - Papua New Guinea (Herd & White No Acid Mix) [7:52]
- The same mix without the acid madness, just pure ride.

B2 - Papua New Guinea (Herd & White Radio Mix) [3:07]
- Radio edit of the first track. Not bad but I often wonder why do these radio mixes exist on releases that are ment for DJs anyway. Industry habits I guess...



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Oil - Slight of Hand EP [remastered] (08.05.2007)
fsoldigital.com - no cat.num.

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The original Slight of Hand EP was a 12" only release on FSOL's own EBV label in 1997. So 10 years later it got an expanded digital release.

The first three tracks are ISDN classics (being mixed on so many ISDN era transmissions). Ranging from electronic funk to industrial breakbeats, the 'new' tracks here go on in those elements. Big Car is a beautiful (Herbie influenced) electro-funk track that was in a too-good mood for the original (darker) release from 1997. The Dub version is lyricless, and more heavily mixed, but still in a good joint-ride mood. Mouth is also a groove-rider - that bassline is just killing all over. It's one damn funky release.

Tracklist
1 - Slight Of Hand [5:19]
2 - Psychocrab [4:00]
3 - Incubus [5:30]
4 - Big Car (Vox) [4:23]
5 - Big Car (Dub) [4:25]
6 - Mouth [4:13]


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Headstone Lane - Back in The Day [album, remastered & expanded](08.05.2007)
fsoldigital.com - no cat.num.

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While the Oil release got expanded, the Headstone Lane Knuckleduster EP got expanded into a whole proper album that should've been released 10 years earlier.

The original tracklist that appeared in 2007 had the tracks shuffled, new and old, but in the 2012 overhaul (as seen today) a new tracklist appeared that had the new tracks as the A-sides and the old tracks as B-sides. Both tracklists work just fine, but I like the newest one better.

This album is very well produced indeed - and I wonder if FSOL put their hands on some kind of post-production before releasing this.

01 – Powder Of Sympathy (5:01) - one of the best breakbeats around - I've mixed this one countless times.
02 – Fing (3:37) - cool groovy low tempo ride with woodwinds and environments.
03 – 252 (4:02) - cool drum'n'bass track that touches the glitchy IDM side.
04 – Vortexian (4:59) - plain weird... and it does sound a little unfinished.
05 – H’s Old Room (4:24) - awesome feel to this one - looks like something FSOL would make in their ISDN era.
06 – Neasden (2:04) - and this one looks like something mixed in the MPB series, that saturated guitar is spot-on psychedelic.
07 – Mole (3:27) - weird doesn't exactly cover it, so I'm gonna go with ultra trippy weird. It's so slow and powerful that warps your brain between the headphones and/or shakes your insides on good speakers.

The original 1997 EP starts here as the B-sides:

08 – Knuckleduster (4:51) - often reminds me of Aphex Twin, but not in a 'copied' way - this is one badass track!
09 – Back In The Day (3:26) - cinematic breaks piece with guitars and spooky atmospheres all around.
10 – Beers (4:27) - it's basically a punk track, slowed down and electrified.
11 – Crashed (4:46) - another mind-numbing drum-break.
12 – Garage (2:47) - glitchy ambient stuff...
13 – The Germ (3:30) - A proper slow but powerful groove-rider ending.

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FSOL - Archived EP (28.05.2007)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' - 12 TOT 46

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Just to mention this one - no new tracks here, just 4 tracks from the Archives series pressed on vinyl to promote them further. The initial pressings included a full color artwork booklet.

Tracklist
A1 - Brujo (circa 1994) [from Archive 2]
A2 - Lizzard Crawl (circa 1996) [from Archive 1]
B1 - Space Squids (circa 1993) [from Archive 3]
B2 - Mouth Muse (circa 1996) [from Archives 1]

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FSOL - From The Archives LP (28.05.2007)
Jumpin' & Pumpin' - LP FSOL 1

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Another 'just-to-mention' vinyl compilation (that is actually out of print now). The first three Archives got compiled into a 12 track double 12" release. The selection is very good, but I can't help but notice some true gems missing - like Head Hunter, Pale Moon, Wanting... OK I'm gonna stop now.

Tracklist
A1 - Lizzard Crawl (circa 1996) [from Archive 1]
A2 - Hallucination (circa 1995) [from Archive 1]
A3 - Woodland (circa 1994) [from Archive 1]
B1 - Mouth Muse (circa 1996) [from Archive 1]
B2 - Turn Around (circa 1993) [from Archive 1]
B3 - Hazy Day Girl (circa 1995) [from Archive 1]
C1 - Brujo (circa 1994) [from Archive 2]
C2 - Long Shadows (circa 2001) [from Archive 3]
C3 - Dark Matter (circa 1996) [from Archive 2]
D1 - Distant Nebulus (circa 1995) [from Archive 2]
D2 - Space Squids (circa 1993) [from Archive 3]
D3 - Mango Tree (circa 1996) [from Archive 3]

Last edited by Pandemonium on Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.5 (the 2007 enhanced re-releases)

Post by Pandemonium »

Still listening the Headstone Lane album - about 10 times in 3 days - it sounds fucking Awesome!
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.5 (the 2007 enhanced re-releases)

Post by seedy »

man i gots to check my stash

i'm not sure i have everything headstone lane

some for sure though
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Pande-reviews: 2007.6 (FSOL - From The Archives Vol.4)

Post by Pandemonium »

FSOL - From The Archives Vol.4 (17.10.2007) fsoldigital.com - CD TOT 58
(web version released on 17.10.2007 / CD version released on 12.05.2008)

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This is one weird and memorable 'Archives' edition for a few reasons.
It's a transition from the first three Archives that were treated like 'a shuffled bunch of tracks' to the next Archives that will be treated as some sort of segued ISDN transmissions that look and feel more like albums than compilations. This archive doesn't have segues but it's not treated like 'a shuffled bunch of tracks' either. The tracks are carefully hand-picked and they form a wonderful 58 minute journey with memorable melodies and environments.

Another weird thing, compared to the previous (and future) Archives, almost ALL of the tracks were previously unheard, not even on the dozens of ISDN transmissions. The only track that we've heard before is 100 Baby Spiders on the Barcelona ISDN transmission from 1995. And maybe we can count Mango Tree (from Berlin ISDN transmission from 1996) but here we have the original version as opposed to the ISDN one that already appeared on the 3rd Archive. When I asked Brian how come we have never heard of most of these tracks - he replied (like it was a normal thing) that they produce tracks every day for the last 30 years so it's normal to have lots of unheard tracks... Normal, yeah right...

This 'album' is particularly special to me because of the way I acquired it. As some of you know, I live in a country (Macedonia) that has zero ability for physical music shopping in the last 10 years. On-line is fine, but there is something magical about the music-shops that I rarely feel otherwise. Anyway, in the summer of 2008, I was having a week-long holiday in Rome with my girlfriend, and had a really wonderful time. I went prepared, printed maps of every music shop I could google in the center tourist area. It was a tough hunt, we must've walked more than 15 kilometers that day on the hot summer sun in Rome. We already visited 5 shops that had zero FSOL releases. I was getting desperate and headed to the last one, mapped a few hundred meters behind the train station. We entered some sort of African ghetto area, full of shady cool faces that looked like they're going to film some funk movie any moment. It was amazing and scary at the same time. My girlfriend started to squeeze my hand and I tried to keep it cool. We finally found the shop, it was huge, and there was the final surprise on the counter - a 70+ years old white granny. I swear to God, I dunno how she ended up there or why she wasn't in pension, and I remember wandering how on Earth would I ask her anything (because most of the Italians didn't speak English at all). Turns out, the granny speaks English fluently and says to me with her gritty voice "Future Sound of London, (strokes her chin), yes we have them, we received something new from them just a few weeks ago - go ask that young fella at the electronic section" - and that is how I ended up with Archives 4 in my hands. I wish I had more time to chat with the granny, she must've had some amazing stories... :)

The artwork follows the pattern of the usual suspects - Vit, the witch girl and the electronic brain. Some of these pictures are from the 1994/95 era (Vit Drowning) and some appeared on the Dead Cities limited edition book. The 'neurotic' pictures gave us more mysterious teasers (also mentioned in the Dead Cities book) and there's a picture of the guys from the early-to-mid '90s.

Alright... everybody online...? looking good...
Lets see what we can... see...

Tracklisting:
01 - Hidden Sign (8:05) (1996)
- This is one long trippy motherfucker. The dark atmosphere and the few synth samples and environments hint that this is a leftover from the Dead Cities sessions. The mid section has enchanting lyricless vocals in the back. The textures and the details on this track (and on the whole album in general) is definitely on a higher level then the previous Archives. Also, everything is full of samples and environments begging to be discovered! The ending spoken sample 'I don't know what's happening to me' sounds awfully familiar and it pisses me off that I can't place it...
- The howling effect at about 6:50 taken from The Awakening, a 1980 movie (at 12:22, the first entering of the tomb scene). The same sample appeared on 'Is This Real' on Archives 1.

02 - Plasmatik (4:04) (1993)
- Not to be confused with Plasma, the unreleased piece that appears on the Kiss Test 2 transmission from 1992.
- Punishing 4/4 beat to begin with, this track discovers lots of layers as it goes on. It's a hard one to place, sounding like ISDN era and at the same time having elements of Lifeforms, and these two albums had overlapping sessions. I'd place it in late 1993, as a weird Lifeforms leftover that was maybe planned for the ISDN album but didn't make it there either (because of the bright sections).
- EDIT: Working title was 'Lifeforms Album Variant'.

03 - West Path (1:49) (1996)
- A shiny guitar piece clearly recorded in the same session with Mango Tree. This session is weird to be called Dead Cities session, but from today's perspective, when we know what will follow - this session fits perfectly.

04 - 100 Baby Spiders (5:08) (1995)
- Appeared on the ISDN Transmission 14, Barcelona (Art Futura Festival) (18-22.10.1995).
- Some of it's environments will later end up on the album version of We Have Explosive. A dark and creepy piece, yet not fitting anywhere on the albums, it one of those 1995 sessions that were maybe the first hint of FSOL sound structured around live instruments. The drums, the guitars, the bass, this is one of the most 'live playing' tracks they ever had (as FSOL).

05 - Absent With Concept (5:48) (1996)
- EDIT: this one actually appears on the ISDN Transmission 7, Manchester (Kiss 102 FM) (06.11.1996).
- Another Dead Cities leftover, with howling horns that remind of My Kingdom and glitchy drums that are oh-so very common for Dead Cities. This tracks has that tension on the inside, it makes me nervous. The ending water-splashing sounds make me visualize bodies being dumped in the water...

06 - Wookii (4:16) (1994)
- A fairly repetitive track with less layers than the rest of the pieces here, and it still sounds nice. It's a hard one to place, could be the 1996 Dead Cities sessions, but more probable placement would be the late 1994 ISDN sessions - it just sounds like them.

07 - Shingles (4:53) (1992)
- This is the bastard track on this release, but a beautiful bastard it is. It's a transition piece from the beat pieces of 1992 to the hybrid pieces of Ephidrena and ultimately the Lifeforms structures. It has the beat of 1992, the opening flutes that hint Cascade/Lifeforms and occasional acid loops that hint Ephidrena. A truly interesting piece. EDIT: it was planned to be part of the official Lifeforms album.

08 - 5 Months 5 Acres (2:46) (1994)
- The opening (and the title) are pretty shady and don't remind of the Lifeforms sessions at all, but the more we listen, the more it looks like a scrapped piece of the Lifeforms Paths long-form single. The ending environments make me almost certain it's a Paths piece.

09 - Mango Tree (Original) (5:09) (1996)
- Mango Tree was first heard on the ISDN Transmission 11, Berlin (Fritz Radio) (06.12.1996). It's a laid back acoustic guitar driven track. Sounds strange for a Dead Cities session track, but so were Max and Everyone in The World Is Doing Something Without Me. The version on the Archive 3 looks like it was taken directly from the ISDN transmission, while here we have the original track, which is about a minute longer, mostly because of the ending environment which is pure Dead Cities style.

10 - Golden Burnt (3:55) (1995)
- Another weird track from that weird 1995 session that doesn't seem to fit anywhere. Brutal live drums on some sections, some percussions also, and then the rhythm progresses into glitchy lands that hint the coming of the Dead Cities sessions. The ending environments are kinda misguiding, reminding of Lifeforms - and this track is actually segued into the next one, which is clearly a Lifeforms leftover.

11 - Climbing (1:18) (1993)
- Beautiful short piece that is a variation of the Eggshell theme. The clarity of the melody is amazing. Another hint that Eggshell was supposed to have a stand-alone long-form single or an EP that never came to life.

12 - Speed Ball (5:36) (1997)
- The faster groove-rider tempo and the rock-sounding drums suggest this piece is from the initial 1997 sessions that later morphed into the Isness sessions. Maybe I'm wrong (someone correct me please) - but I'd place this one in 1997.

The sample library:

- Shingles (at 1:28) samples the opening effects of Enterprise Bridge Sequence (album: Star Trek Sound Effects, released in 1988, but the samples go back to 1966). Not sure who the composer is, there were at least 8 composers and sound editors for the series.


- Shingles (at 1:32) uses a sped-up sample from Phuture - Slam (1988) - you can hear it clearest at 1:26


Want to read about the other Archives series? Click away:

From The Archives Vol.1 (06.03.2007)
From The Archives Vol.2 (06.03.2007)
From The Archives Vol.3 (06.03.2007)
From The Archives Vol.4 (17.10.2007) --> It's this post.
From The Archives Vol.5 (29.08.2008)
From The Archives Vol.6 (02.09.2010)
From The Archives Vol.7 (19.11.2012)
From The Archives Vol.8 (11.09.2015)
Last edited by Pandemonium on Sun May 13, 2018 9:08 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.6 (FSOL - From The Archives Vol.4)

Post by Ross »

Pretty spot on, although the last four tracks are segued. Wookii is an alternative mix of a section from Environments Part 1.
Interesting side-note to this album, it was made available through Bleep about a month before the FSOLDigital release.

Anyway yes, lovely record, the first really great archive. Plasmatik is my favourite here, stunning track.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.6 (FSOL - From The Archives Vol.4)

Post by Pandemonium »

Ross wrote:Pretty spot on, although the last four tracks are segued.
So, it was like - in the middle of mixing the final cut for Archives 4 - they said - hey, why we stopped segueing for two years..., lets do that again! :)
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Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Pandemonium »

Humanoid - Your Body Robotic / Your Body Sub-Atomic [remix album] (05-19.11.2007)
fsoldigital.com - CD TOT 56 / LP TOT 56
(Your Body Robotic 2xCD released on 05.11.2007 / Your Body Sub-Atomic digital-only released on 19.11.2007)

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Not even a month has passed since Archive 4, and the store hit us with more releases! Celebrating 20 years since the original Stakker Humanoid acid anthem came out, FSOLDigital.com released a double CD full of Stakker Humanoid remixes by some known and unknown names. Some of these names were hand-picked by Dougans while some were suggested by close friends. Dougans said he asked Richard D. James too, but the timing wasn't right. And also he should've asked Autechre but somehow didn't. (- that would've been a mix to remember...)

Two weeks later a digital-only release hit the store, named Your Body Sub-Atomic, that contained less tracks then the double CD release, but also contained 5 exclusive tracks and remixes (see track-by-track descriptions below). So all in all, there were 29 tracks (+1 bonus) that clocked at about 183 minutes and couldn't fit on 2 CDs in any case...

The whole feel of this release is just awesome tense dirty greasy ACID! The production is crisp & tight and it all sounds Mega. I'm spinning this release for days on a maximum volume (speakers work a lot better than headphones on this one, trust me) and can't get enough of it. It does takes a certain mood, but we're not talking about 'Polemical' special kind of mood - this one works most of the time.

To clear a few things - all the remixes that were done here are remixes of Stakker Humanoid, they just might have a different title (or came from the initial Humanoid 84-88 sessions). Everyone remixed from the original Humanoid stems. Exclusive tracks like '1.0.1' or 'Acid to The Bone' are not newly recorded but also came from the old Stakker sessions cuts, only some of them received some polishing.


1-01. Stakker Humanoid (Feadz 2007 Mix) [4:01]
- A grand M-F opening. Just... a wall of sound. One of the best mixes on this release.
- Feadz aka Fabien Pianta is a Paris based producer specializing in weird electronic techno. He's worked with Mr. Oizo and Ellen Allien and finally managed to release an album in 2014 called Instant Alpha.

1-02. 3AM And Feelin OK (King Roc Mix) [9:09]
- King Roc offers a nice 9 minute ride with electro bleeps.
- Martin Dawson is a UK producer who died in 2012 due to aneurysm. [RIP]

1-03. Body Electric (Graham Massey Mix) [6:00]
- This mix stats with a lot of tensity and then moves to insanity, attacking all of your senses!
- Graham Massey, old time collaborator and friend, does he need an introduction? Biting Tongues, 808 State, say no more...

1-04. Stakker Humanoid (Punx Soundcheck Mix) [4:05]
- A good mix that sounded very German to me and I was a bit surprised when I read that these guys are British.
- Arif Salih and John Taylor (later joined by a few more members) are UK producers that somehow melt German techno into British House.

1-05. Static Motioned (Cane Mix) [4:58]
- This is the first tracks that isn't a remix of Stakker Humanoid. The original track (named Motion Static) appeared on Humanoid Sessions 84-88 on the Rephlex re-release in 2003.
- Cane is actually the acid alias of the brothers Don Funcken & Roel Funcken. They have many aliases but the main one is Funckarma, which they developed into all kinds of dirty and twisted IDM styles. Humanoid collaborates with them for quite some time now, and they will be somehow involved in the new Humanoid album that is due later in 2015.

1-06. Orbital (Feeling) (Radio 1 Live Version, Peel Session 1988) [6:07]
- This is the first of three tracks Humanoid did for the John Peel Session back in 1988. (The other two tracks are on this release also) I must say, comparing this to the bootleg-recording we had form 1988, it does sound much much better, and feels only a tiny tiny bit dated (on some sections only) compared to the new crispy banging productions here. Producer of this Peel session was the BBC veteran Mike Robinson.

1-07. Deep Rooted (King Roc Mix) [7:15]
- A second long ride from Martin Dawson. Not quite in sync with the rest of the tracks, but a nice one from taking a little break from all the acid madness.

1-08. X O Thermic (Pirate Robot Midget Mix) [4:34]
- Lorenzo Mangani is an Italian producer based in The Neterlands. His more known alias is E-The-Hot.
- This is a very good mix indeed but compared with the rest it's probably one of the weaker ones.

1-09. Negative Electron (Humanoid Mix) [2:42]
- As heard on Humanoid Sessions 84-88 on the Rephlex 2003 re-release. Recorded and mixed at 726 Manchester, 1988 (Eurotechno).

1-10. Slam (Radio 1 Live Version, Peel Session 1988) [6:21]
- The second of three Peel Session tracks. A more stripped down version of the original Slam that offers a good ride but some of the elements and production sound a bit dated, but only when compared to the other tracks here and Humanoid works in general.

1-11. Fractured (Legiac Mix) [6:23]
- Another Funkckarma brothers alias that vibrates more on the IDM ambient side. Legiac had one incredible album on Sending Orbs earlier in 2007.

2-01. Stakker Humanoid (James Talk Mix) [8:04] - Subtitled 'James Talk's 303 Dub Remix'
- Why is this mix opening the second CD..? This is the weakest mix here for sure. Maybe it's because James Talk is more of a standard club DJ dwelling more on the progressive / tech / house side of music, and is just not far-out enough for this crowd. This might work on a standard 'fashion tv' dancefloor, but not with serious electronic music lovers.

2-02. Human Droid (Mystery Artist Mix) [6:16]
- Mystery Artist is yet another alias of Funckarma brothers, this time offering an chopped and spliced glitchy mix.

2-03. Cry Baby (Humanoid Mix) [4:53] - Engineered and produced (London 1988) by John Laker & Brian Dougans.
- As heard on Humanoid Sessions 84-88 on the Rephlex 2003 re-release. Different from the Global [album] version that was butchered by Peter Black with different production and added more female vocals.

2-04. Broken Machines (DXU:555 Mix) [6:48]
- DXU:555 was a audio/visual project between James Ward and Alan Dougans (Brian's oldest brother). They offer an ambient-breaks ride that has a really cool grip on the track. Again, taking a break from the acid on a release this long is a good thing, otherwise your head just might explode.

2-05. Electron Liquid (Tx Tracker Mix) [4:35]
- Ian Brok is a Belgian producer, and that's about all I can tell you about him... The mix is pretty straight-forward, but still better than James Talk.

2-06. Spinners (Will Propz Mix) [3:51]
- This is actually Will White (of Propellerheads) offering a mind-blowing breaks remix. It just has that final touch that makes you nod your head.
- We know Will White plays drums on a few FSOL/AA releases. He's Brian's neighbor in the Somerset area, and he's also given some drum lessons to Brian's son.

2-07. Stakker Humanoid (12" Original) [5:00]
- The Original, as heard on the original Stakker Humanoid single from 1988. Still blows my mind and still doesn't sound dated at all.

2-08. Hu-man-oid (Sub Osc Mix) [4:55]
- Canadian collective comprised of Max Ulis, Phowa & Taal Mala residing in East Vancouver. A slow but strong and phat mix going on the wobbly / dubstep sides of the spectrum.

2-09. Stakker Humanoid (Graham Massey Mix) [6:20]
- Another take on Massey on the theme. This time, a more traditional approach, that later builds up to a mad-mad acid.

2-10. Jet Stream Tokyo (Radio 1 Live Version, Peel Session 1988) [6:26]
- The third and last of the live Peel Session tracks from 1988. Probably the best of the three, offers a smooth acid ride.

2-11. Stakker Humanoid (Plump DJs Re-Touch) [6:50]
- This sick mix is actually older and was released on the Stakker Humanoid 2001 remixes.
- Plump DJs are Andy Gardner & Lee Rous - probably my favorite post-2000 breaks act. These Soho guys blended acid-house with breaks like no other, mixing everything from hard-core techno to dancefloor music while keeping the energy to the max at all times. The Plump mix gets seriously sick after the 4 minute mark.

2-12. Stakker Humanoid (Krafty's Radio Kut) [3:55]
- Also from the Stakker Humanoid 2001 remixes.
- Krafty Kuts is Martin Reeves, the guy who makes a unique blend of funky breaks with a touch of drum'n'bass. The Krafty mix on the CD is a shorter (radio edit) version, whereas the 12" has the full mix. The mix is a superb version of breaks meeting the acid. Towards the end there is some really mindblowing acid frequency improvisation which is more obvious on the early version named Stakker Humanoid 2000, which was released on a white label 12" only. The 2000 mix is trashier and more underground, with really really crazy acid in the second half which reminds me very much of Josh Wink and the American acid style.

2-13. Stakker 300 (Stakker Humanoid) (Scan X Mix) [4:55]
- Stéphane Dri aka Scan X is one of the original pioneers of the French Techno scene (since 1993). His contribution here is a very cool mix, but again, compared to some mad beasts here, it's among the weakest mixes on this release.

-- Your Body Sub-Atomic - the exclusive tracks:

3-05. Stakker Humanoid (Kouncilhouse Remix) [6:09]
- Kouncilhouse is a fresh new producer from South-East London. He was an ultimate beginner when he submitted this mix, yet it's one of the finer ones, pushing the electro-breaks to the limit and having a very good structure. The next year (2008) he started a label with Micky Finn (d'n'b legend) and later he embraced SoundCloud as lots of post-2010 producers did.

3-06. 1.0.1 [3:09]
- An unreleased track from the old Humanoid (84-88) sessions.

3-10. Acid to The Bone [11:09]
- Another unreleased one from the old Humanoid (84-88) sessions. This lengthy beast offers an unforgettable greasy acid experience. Listen LOUD and listen on repeat for a few hours - then go out and climb a mountain or something...

3-13. Stakker Humanoid (The X-Tra Mix) [4:04]
- This is an alternate take on the Original track, and it did appear in this form only on the 7" single release on Westside in 1988 titled as Stakker Humanoid (Part 2).

3-15. Stakker Humanoid (Feadz Remix Trailer) [1:24]
- A different cut of the Feadz remix that was used as trailer for some video (YouTube etc.) marketing of the release.

4-01. Stakker Humanoid (Feadz Bonus Edit) [2:18]
- And another (more calmed) cut of the Feadz mix that I can't remember how it ended up in my hands.







PS - on 19.11.2007, together with 'Your Body Sub-Atomic' and 'By Any Other Name', FSOL released something that the fans were hoping to hear for full 13 years... the lost Environments album... coming next.
Last edited by Pandemonium on Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Ross
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Ross »

If 1.0.1 was from the late '80s then Brian invented that mid-'00s electro-house sound 20 years in advance.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Pandemonium »

Ross wrote:If 1.0.1 was from the late '80s then Brian invented that mid-'00s electro-house sound 20 years in advance.
:) - that's what he specifically told me, also that no new music was recorded by him for this release, except the remixers adding their own stuff. - Well, should we ask him again ..?

PS - possible solution - an uncredited remix from a friend?
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Pandemonium »

So when he said 'no new music, only what remixers added' he meant himself included :)
Brian Dougans wrote:101 as the name suggests was a Roland sh101. The track was remixed to sound more modern - actually the original drums sucked. That was an original sequence from the time. Like most of the archives and environments, all tracks are built from ideas from the past. Some have only a few sounds, some are more fully built tracks from the past.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Ross »

Ah, that explains it! New/old then. Interesting.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by dell1972 »

I don't think I've ever really given it/them much of a spin over the speakers to be honest. It's great stuff but kind of leaves you feeling a bit battered and bruised listening to it in one go over the headphones. I've tended to listen to it at work when I need to get something done quickly, or on the rare occasion that I've ventured out for a run.

On a slightly tangential note, can anyone explain why the Polemical album has been bumped up to the front page on fsoldigital, and is getting advertised in the rolling banner bit at the top?

I'm tempted to get these again for the higher res (the heads of agreement one was only 128kbps originally for example), but would be hacked off if they bumped them all up to flac in future.
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Pandemonium »

Polemical got bumped right after I posted about the three experimental albums (Heads, PartSubMerged, Polemical),
- we talked about them - physical releases were mentioned - so this is something that went in the back for some time (not that my review started it) :)
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Re: Pande-reviews: 2007.7 (Humanoid - Your Body Robotic)

Post by Ross »

Yeah, I think it's a reminder that it's there - to keep people ready for any possible new stuff. There's new Polemical stuff around the corner at some point - some of it was previewed on EBS7, of course.
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Pande-reviews: 2007.8 (FSOL - Environments)

Post by Pandemonium »

FSOL - Environments [album] (19.11.2007) fsoldigital.com - CD TOT 59
(digital version released on 19.11.2007 / CD version released on 21.07.2008)

Image Image

The last of the 20 (yes, 20!) releases in 2007 on FSOLDigital.com was the lost album from 1993/1994 called Environments. It was promoted on the sleevenotes of Lifeforms as an Amorphous Androgynous album, but never got released. 13 years later it was finally reconstructed and digitally released as an FSOL album with 'white sleeve / black letters' cover (hinting the 1994 ISDN style) and in the summer of 2008 it also got a physical release with Buggy G. Riphead photography & manipulations. The booklet this time didn't contain the usual suspects, instead we have city landscapes and some sinister nature shots. Fingers crossed for a heavy-vinyl release in 2015.

To clear things up, to the fans asking how close was Environments 2007 to the original Environments 1994 album, the answer is - pretty damn close, that was it - only they never had time to finish it, moved on to ISDN and the projects that came after.

The earliest chunks of Environments (Part 1 or Part 2) we heard on Kiss 100 FM Transmission 2 (19.05.1993), like the John Williams Sevilla segment or the piano parts on a piece called 'Who The Hell Asked You?'. Also, the remix of Curve's 'Rising (Headspace Mix)' had bits that ended up on this album, and the never-officially-released Essential mix with Robert Fripp also had some Environments in it. There are a lot of self-referenced bits of Cascade, Tired, Ill Flower, hell even some Papua New Guinea field recordings, as well as dozens of movie samples and more field recordings.

One of the most confusing things (that actually make the approach to this album harder) is that there are only two long tracks. And while there's a good reason for that, I'd still prefer multi-track album, so I finally managed to get the names of individual tracks that make Environments Part 1 & Part 2 (see below). The reason Environments was released just as two long tracks is that it's an homage to Tangerine Dream and the Krautrock movement (60s/70s) in general, that released two track albums more often than not. (They would've probably released 1 track albums, but the vinyl had two sides.) Another movement is tributed here - like that title says, Environments is a tribute to the Musique Concrète movement, one of the oldest concepts of making unstructured music with field recordings and basically anything you can think of. Pierre Schaeffer in the early 40s comes to mind. This approach was one of the Dougans/Cobain basic signatures since the Zeebox days, and later when they talked about collage-music, this is what they were actually referencing.

The album is an (almost) perfect blend of environmental ambient and Berlin school synths. Most of the tracks are unstructured, containing massive amount of samples and field recordings (which we should dig out!) while a few are sounding like they were composed in the finest days of Tangerine Dream.

01. Environments (Part 1) [27:58]
01.1 [00:00-04:30] Gobi [4:30]
01.2 [04:30-08:34] Airlock 6 (Enter) [4:04]
01.3 [08:34-11:43] Inner Space Entrance Strategy [3:09]
01.4 [11:43-15:55] The Tibetan Monk Cries [4:12]
01.5 [15:55-20:32] After Wookii [4:37]
01.6 [20:32-24:13] Form Welding Function [3:41]
01.7 [24:13-27:58] John Versus The Apocalypse [3:45]

02. Environments (Part 2) [21:14]
02.1 [00:00-02:43] Subspace Crawlers [2:43]
02.2 [02:43-07:18] Experiments in The Key of Kraut [4:36]
02.3 [07:18-13:57] The Monolith [6:39]
02.4 [13:57-17:08] Exit Strategy (Operator?) [3:05]
02.5 [17:08-21:14] Kanchenjunga [4:08]


Alright... everybody online...? looking good...
Lets see what we can... see...

01.1 [00:00-04:30] Gobi [4:30]
- Mostly samples and field recordings. You can hear answerphone cuts, PNG seagulls samples, Tired samples, just unstructured ambiance all around.

01.2 [04:30-08:34] Airlock 6 (Enter) [4:04]
- Synths and environments. Wonderful synth segments that have that floating in space feel, followed by birds and frogs environments.

01.3 [08:34-11:43] Inner Space Entrance Strategy [3:09]
- The first Kraut inspired piece. It just leaves you dazed and confused, thinking about... thinking...

01.4 [11:43-15:55] The Tibetan Monk Cries [4:12]
- A 'classical' dark piece that induces that musical meditative state. Humming vocals, flutes, synths... very trippy.

01.5 [15:55-20:32] After Wookii [4:37]
- We had Wookii on Archive 4, so this is some kind of alternate take, or a more complete version. Sounds like a Lifeforms piece a bit, and right now it reminded me of SAWII by Aphex Twin...

01.6 [20:32-24:13] Form Welding Function [3:41]
- Another unstructured environmental piece followed by some synth experiments. It gets really coherent towards the end, it's like the whole process of building an actual track from blurbs is explained.

01.7 [24:13-27:58] John Versus The Apocalypse [3:45]
- Another environmental sampled piece well known from the ISDN sessions.
- The tiger roar at 25:18 - 25:23 is sampled from the movie Apocalypse Now (1979) ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/ ).
- The guitar sample is by John Williams, playing Isaac Albéniz composition for classical guitar, called Suite Espanola: Sevilla

02.1 [00:00-02:43] Subspace Crawlers [2:43]
- Environments intro for the second side.

02.2 [02:43-07:18] Experiments in The Key of Kraut [4:36]
- A bunch of short synth pieces tributing the Krautrock movement collaged into one tripy track.

02.3 [07:18-13:57] The Monolith [6:39]
- The second Kraut inspired piece. This is one epic m-f, with sequencers and more synth lines than I can count. Progressive space music at it's finest!

02.4 [13:57-17:08] Exit Strategy (Operator?) [3:05]
- And yet another unstructured environmental piece that can not be explained by words - so please just put on the record and press play.

02.5 [17:08-21:14] Kanchenjunga [4:08]
- A percussive piece that crosses over to beat-land. A sort of Lifeforms to ISDN crossover, but with bright feelings all around. A nice wrap up reaching this Kanchenjunga peak.

...and now... to the sample library!

John Williams plays Isaac Albeniz - Suite Espanola: Sevilla - at 2:55 - sampled on Environments Part 1 at 25:27


...and little did we know that this album will spawn a beast of a series of Environments albums that will blow our minds in the years to come...

PS - I'm just messing with you guys - those aren't the official names of the Environments individual tracks - I just made them up for easier navigation & reviewing the sounds :)

PPS: Want to read more about the Environments series? Click away:

Environments (19.11.2007) --> It's this post.
Environments II (29.08.2008)
Environments 3 (24.05.2010)
Environments 4 (30.04.2012)
Environment Five (08.09.2014)
Environment Six & 6.5 (07.10.2016)
Last edited by Pandemonium on Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:16 am, edited 4 times in total.
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