Hi all! Big fan of the From The Archives and Environments series (including the lovely E7 trilogy) but never delved into the Calendar albums. Had a few questions:
1) Are they released in a segued form at the end of the year, or do all the albums have gaps between tracks?
2) Do they have a semi-cohesive atmosphere or is it purely a collection of tracks of different eras/styles/moods?
3) How much does Music From Calendars add if I ended up buying the 2017-20 albums on their own?
4) Best albums in the series so far?
Question about Calendar Albums
Re: Question about Calendar Albums
1) The first four were updated when they were added to Bandcamp so they're all gapless. The once released since then still have gaps (might see if I can prod Brian into updating them!)
2) They've changed a little with time. 2017-2019 are quite varied in terms of era and style, lots of archived tracks, not that much new, quite a few aliases, everything from J&P era dance tracks to modern abstract experiments. You'll also recognise tracks from other releases. 2020-2022 are very FSOL-heavy and almost all newly recorded tracks, stylistically they bridge the E6 and E7 eras, so very digital IDM sounding. 2022 is possibly the most stylistically and tonally consistent FSOL album in a long time. 2023 and 2024 are probably the most experimental, quite a few tracks that don't really sound like any other FSOL pieces.
3) Nothing at all, really, now they've been given fully gapless re-releases. It's basically a 'best of' for newcomers and those who aren't interested in doing a deep dive.
4) I don't think there's a major consensus, although my personal favourites are 2019 and 2023. 2020 is probably the least popular, I think a few people didn't bother renewing in 2021 because it was quite underwhelming (although I have seen one person claiming it as their favourite).
2) They've changed a little with time. 2017-2019 are quite varied in terms of era and style, lots of archived tracks, not that much new, quite a few aliases, everything from J&P era dance tracks to modern abstract experiments. You'll also recognise tracks from other releases. 2020-2022 are very FSOL-heavy and almost all newly recorded tracks, stylistically they bridge the E6 and E7 eras, so very digital IDM sounding. 2022 is possibly the most stylistically and tonally consistent FSOL album in a long time. 2023 and 2024 are probably the most experimental, quite a few tracks that don't really sound like any other FSOL pieces.
3) Nothing at all, really, now they've been given fully gapless re-releases. It's basically a 'best of' for newcomers and those who aren't interested in doing a deep dive.
4) I don't think there's a major consensus, although my personal favourites are 2019 and 2023. 2020 is probably the least popular, I think a few people didn't bother renewing in 2021 because it was quite underwhelming (although I have seen one person claiming it as their favourite).
Re: Question about Calendar Albums
In bandcamp.com there was a problem on the 2019 compilation, track "5.Cellular Glitch". The track "Cellular Glitch" should run at ~4:46 in time, but on fsol.bandcamp.com it lasts for 07:38, because it combines two tracks of 4."Petroleum" + 5."Cellular Glitch" ("Petroleum" ~2:52 & "Cellular Glitch"~4:46)
Re: Question about Calendar Albums
Thank you for such a comprehensive answer Enofa! I'll have to check some out on the Bandcamp Friday next month. I do prefer FSOL gapless so maybe I'll stick to the older ones for now.