Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Feel free to talk about anything and everything FSOL related in this board.
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molo
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by molo »

Never heard that peel session before. Fascinating. That echo/reverb reminds me of some of the Orb's recorded live output around 92/93.

Your write up suggests Lifeforms was the first track played, but the YouTube link has Expander first.
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

The YouTube link is wrong. :) Here's the tracklist of the entire John Peel show that night.

edit: here are some intros & outros from Mr. Peel himself showing that 'Lifeforms' came first and 'Space Hippy' last.
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by nanio tine »

I remember the peel session when it first broadcast - I used to listen to peel regularly as he often played interesting dance/electronic tunes that id never heard - I knew papua but hadn't heard any other fsol and I remember thinking they were really different - especially space hippy with all the voicemails
great memories
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

Image
Kiss 100 FM Transmission 1

Image
Kiss 100 FM Transmission 2 / Transmission 4

Remind me never to do two of those in the same day, my brain is beginning to leak out of my ears.
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mcbpete
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by mcbpete »

Ross wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:44 pm ​​​​​​​-Pod Room
What an ending this track is. The final environment (Cactus) still gives me goosebumps when I hear it .... and nothing gives me goosebumps any more - it's like the weird combination of the pretty synths, the vocal snippets that sound like I'm being cursed, and the feedback followed by that quiet ambience/field recording breaks my brain and have experienced hours worth of sounds in just those few seconds !
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

Yeah, it's pretty incredible, isn't it? Some of those environments are as memorable as the tracks themselves.

Image
Amorphous Androgynous - Liquid Insects
-Sky-Scraper

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The Future Sound of London - Cascade
That took long enough to write, so I'll do a song-by-song for Cascade later in the week!
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gabo86
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by gabo86 »

Hi Ross,
congratulation for your work (but I told you so in another board of another band, you know).
I have just a question: as far as I know (source: Pande thread), the first two Zeebox have been released 5 days earlier than the first three Archives, but in your Discography they follow them. I know that it's just a matter of days, but I wanted to know if there is something I don't know (also, Discogs references to those dates).
Thank you in advance, your work is amazing and I'm enjoying it so much.
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

Everything was released on the same day, when FSOLDigital launched: Archives 1-3, Zeebox 1 & 2, The San Monta Tapes, Hand Made Devices, Four Forests and A Tiny Point of Light. March 17th, if my memory serves me correctly. No idea where the Discogs error came from.

& glad you're still enjoying the blog :)
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

Better late than never, back with the Cascade track-by-track...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Shortform
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

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Dennis
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Dennis »

Very interesting reads! Keep up the good work, really looking forward to any new piece!

Interesting that you describe "Cascade 3"/"elaborate burn" as dark and unsettling - don't really feel it that way, the only Lifeforms-related track I would describe as dark and downright disturbing is "vertical pig" and maybe the one that preceeds it, forgot its name:) the rest is to me really rather on the bright side of things:) other than some stuff from ISDN or DC.
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Ross
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Re: Fractional Difference - Exploring FSOL song-by-song

Post by Ross »

Ah. I've always found there's a darker undercurrent beneath most FSOL stuff, although there are obvious exceptions - Flak, Dead Skin Cells, etc. - and I find Elaborate Burn a very sinister piece of music. I think it's the repetition of so many really weird sounds.

Image
Kiss Transmission 4 [aka Kiss Transmission 2]
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