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FSOL/Amorphous Androgynous


seraph

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I know that there are polls about various artists already, but since there is THE ORB appreciation topic, I had to make FSOL as well... :D:rolleyes:

 

What is your favourite FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON / AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS release ?

 

I like them all, except THE ISNESS / THE OTHERNESS which I only find ok, nothing that special. I didn't like their new mello hippo hippy new age input and even though there are some nice chilled tracks on it, I still think that it lacks some substance...

 

DEAD CITIES is most definitely my favourite album by them, followed of course with LIFEFORMS and ISDN...TALES OF EPHIRINA is another perfect album and it was released after ACCELERATOR and before LIFEFORMS. With that album they incorporated all of the well known FSOL sounds and atmospheres. ACCELERATOR is their most commerical attempt but for its time ( 1992 ) I imagine that it was pretty innovative album.

 

Here is their full discography :

 

FSOL - ACCELERATOR ( 1992 )

AA - TALES OF EPHIDRINA ( 1993 )

FSOL - LIFEFORMS ( 1994 )

FSOL - ISDN ( 1995 )

FSOL - DEAD CITIES ( 1996 )

AA - THE ISNESS ( 2002 )

AA - THE ISNESS & THE OTHERNESS ( 2004 )

 

They had a long pause between 1996 and 2002 due to one of the members physical illness where he had to go to India to cure himself, so that is why no wonder their last album has strong indian and new age influence. The guys obviously decided not to be that apocalyptic as with their previous one DEAD CITIES and decided to take rather positive direction in their music production.

 

By the way, for what I respect them most is cause they did all their music, video clips, visual design and other technical stuff all by themselves with amazing help of Buggy G. Riphead as their visual designer.

 

They have also released numerous singles, like short albums, mostly 30-35 minutes long...

 

Here is the singles discography :

 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA ( 1991 )

EXPANDER ( 1992 )

CASCADE ( 1993 )

LIFEFORMS ( 1994 )

THE FAR - OUT SON OF LUNG ( 1994 )

MY KINGDOM ( 1996 )

WE HAVE EXPLOSIVE ( 1997 )

PAPUA NEW GUINEA : TRANSLATIONS ( 2002 )

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I'm lukewarm about FSOL/AA, too. It was fun for a few months way back when, but it got old. To me their contemporaries - Orbital - were better, so I listened to them instead. Until they went the club/pop direction, of course. Still, I would trade my whole collection of FSOL and Orb CDs (if I still had them) for In Sides.

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I'm lukewarm about FSOL/AA, too. It was fun for a few months way back when, but it got old. To me their contemporaries - Orbital - were better, so I listened to them instead. Until they went the club/pop direction, of course. Still, I would trade my whole collection of FSOL and Orb CDs (if I still had them) for In Sides.

592795[/snapback]

I think Orbitals first album is a club album... Just full of stupid drums and stupid rhythms. But they made some great tracks later.

 

And about FSOL... I've only heard Cascade and Lifeforms so far, but I think they're quite good. Lifeforms is a bit to long and directionless but it's got nice atmosphere.

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Here is their full discography :

AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS - TALES OF EPHIDRINA ( 1993 )

FSOL - LIFEFORMS ( 1994 )

FSOL - ISDN ( 1995 )

FSOL - DEAD CITIES ( 1996 )

 

[...]

 

Here is the singles discography :

CASCADE ( 1993 )

LIFEFORMS ( 1994 )

MY KINGDOM ( 1996 )

WE HAVE EXPLOSIVE ( 1997 )

592759[/snapback]

I have all of these: Got the singles and ISDN only a few days ago so they haven't been played much yet - though the concept for singles they've done I've always thought is brilliant - they're so much more than just remixes, they're mini-albums :)

 

I got Lifeforms first and thought it was an astounding piece of ambient - bought Dead Cities soon after and it didn't grow on me straight away - but a couple of weeks back I was playing it a bit more and now I think it's better than Lifeforms - the storytelling in the music is just otherworldly...

 

ISDN I was listening to last night but I think it needs more listens before I can comment. It's a shame that these boys haven't continued on the FSOL path, so far I haven't heard anything like their sound.

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Thanks Seraph. We needed a thread like this as well. :) FSOL and the Orb are probably my all-time-favorite groups.

This time I picked ISDN, but I could just as well have picked Lifeforms. Dead Cities is also amazing. I really love playing 'Among Myselves' as the first song (volume way up) in a set. It really shakes and wakes everybody up, especially when that creepy squeeeek (or how the hell you translate that) sound starts. Wopnderful! :)

By the way, Papua New Guinea Translations also has some amazing tunes on there. Some excellent remixes!

 

Anyhoo: FSOL rocks! And I really never understood Amorphous Androgynous. To be honest, I hated it when I first heard it. Especially the Isness. I think when you expect something similar to FSOL, you're gonna be very disappointed.

 

Anyway, nice thread! FSOL is perfect tripping music by the way. Their albums shouldn't be listened as separate songs, they'er telling a whole story. very unique stuff!

 

[edit]Question: what singles are worth getting?

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where is ALICE IN ULTRALAND man?

that album filled the gap in my collection with electronic music and psychedelic rock, and have been getting many listens at our tripping sessions at my bungalow.

My fave is still LIFEFORMS but like I said Alice in Ultraland from AA is absolutely showing how good musicians or collage artists as they call themselves they are, it is a fucking live band+samples and sounds much more original than most of the stuff out there.

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Definitely lifeforms for me... I thought it was boring when I first got it, and only realised a year or so later how good it is. After that the Otherness is probably my favourite.

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Thanks Seraph. We needed a thread like this as well. :) FSOL and the Orb are probably my all-time-favorite groups.

This time I picked ISDN, but I could just as well have picked Lifeforms. Dead Cities is also amazing. I really love playing 'Among Myselves' as the first song (volume way up) in a set. It really shakes and wakes everybody up, especially when that creepy squeeeek (or how the hell you translate that) sound starts. Wopnderful! :)

By the way, Papua New Guinea Translations also has some amazing tunes on there. Some excellent remixes!

 

Anyhoo: FSOL rocks! And I really never understood Amorphous Androgynous. To be honest, I hated it when I first heard it. Especially the Isness. I think when you expect something similar to FSOL, you're gonna be very disappointed.

 

Anyway, nice thread! FSOL is perfect tripping music by the way. Their albums shouldn't be listened as separate songs, they'er telling a whole story. very unique stuff!

 

[edit]Question: what singles are worth getting?

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Oi Snaaap ! When I saw poll result, I somehow guessed that you were the only one that voted for ISDN, have no idea why... :rolleyes:

 

As for the singles, I think that they are all worth it, cause they are like mini albums, concrete, variable arrangements of their tracks, done as journeys... get them all, trust me ! ;)

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I'm lukewarm about FSOL/AA, too. It was fun for a few months way back when, but it got old. To me their contemporaries - Orbital - were better, so I listened to them instead. Until they went the club/pop direction, of course. Still, I would trade my whole collection of FSOL and Orb CDs (if I still had them) for In Sides.

592795[/snapback]

:o:o:o

 

Ouch ! Bite your tongue !

 

I wouldn't even compare them with anyone, they are unique, independent. :D

 

But what struck me most was this sentence : ' Still, I would trade my whole collection of FSOL and Orb CDs (if I still had them) for In Sides. ' :o:huh::unsure:

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where is ALICE IN ULTRALAND man?

that album filled the gap in my collection with electronic music and psychedelic rock, and have been getting many listens at our tripping sessions at my bungalow.

My fave is still LIFEFORMS but like I said Alice in Ultraland from AA is absolutely showing how good musicians or collage artists as they call themselves they are, it is a fucking live band+samples and sounds much more original than most of the stuff out there.

593012[/snapback]

I agree, but the dude should not sing

horrible singing :unsure:

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But what struck me most was this sentence : ' Still, I would trade my whole collection of FSOL and Orb CDs (if I still had them) for In Sides. '  :o  :huh:  :unsure:

593212[/snapback]

Maybe he didn't have a collection to begin with? :rolleyes: I seriously can't imagine that. Sure there's this thing called taste and like they say: various people have various tastes and what not, but some things are simply beyond taste. Fact.

FSOL is one of those things. Other fact. :)

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Maybe he didn't have a collection to begin with?  :rolleyes: I seriously can't imagine that. Sure there's this thing called taste and like they say: various people have various tastes and what not, but some things are simply beyond taste. Fact.

FSOL is one of those things. Other fact.  :)

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I had all the FSOL albums up until The Isness, including all the maxi-singles. I actually still have one, which is We Have Explosive, a track I still kind of like. The last one to go was Lifeforms, about a year ago. And at one point I probably had about 4 or 5 Orb albums. I still have all my old Orbital albums.

 

No accounting for taste. There's just sooooooo much more, better stuff than FSOL out there if one puts in the effort.

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No accounting for taste. There's just sooooooo much more, better stuff than FSOL out there if one puts in the effort.

593476[/snapback]

Nice! Let me in the secret then, please. :) And yes, Orbital is quite good indeed (as a matter of fact, I played 'The girl with the sun in her head' at voov too) but thats like comparing apples to potatoes. You can both eat em, but they grow in different directions.

Anyhoo: anything out there that's as good as FSOL to you? And I mean: in that style, or close?

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