12/11/13 - Cartel out on FSOLDigital, Stakker article on Guardian

Well, the prediction that The Cartel 1 & 2 would be available on FSOLDigital early has come spectacularly true - if you're awaiting the digital versions, they appeared online yesterday. And physical versions are available to order and will be shipping as of next Monday (18/11). There's also a 'combo pack' of volumes 1 & 2, which we're guessing will be what most people go for. And they're all available at FSOLDigital.com now.

In other news, The Guardian have run a nice article and interview with Brian about the 25th anniversary of Stakker Humanoid, and the success of the track. That can be read here.

06/11/13 - The Cartel on 2nd December, Cartel remixes and Enhanced Archives to follow

The first two Volumes of The Cartel are due out on 2nd December, according to our tax-avoiding friends at Amazon. It's likely they'll appear slightly sooner at FSOLDigital. No news of bonus tracks for buying direct from the band yet - we'll keep you informed if any turn up. The press release states the albums feature a certain Mr. Noel Gallagher on bass and guitar, and will be followed by a third volume of remixes next year (as previously hinted by DJ Food). Official sources have revealed the enhanced versions of Archives 1 - 3 will finally be appearing on FSOLDigital shortly after The Cartel is out, which means they can be bought without paying extortionate Beatport prices. These will just be digital currently, although the band are looking into the potential of doing physical versions in the future.

27/09/13 - X Series, Cartel Remixes, Stage Animations and #FSOLtop10

Right, time for a bit of a roundup of the latest comings and goings in the FSOL and Amorphous world.

First up, there's a new selection of tracks on the Extreme Music library music site X-Series. Nu-Psychedelia features eight tracks by Dougans/Cobain: Coma Chameleon, Present Sense, What Goes Up, Shroom Walk, Warm & Fuzzy, Happy Trails, Contact High and Keep it Unreal.  As the title suggests, they're more on the Amorphous/psychedelic end of things, with an electronic twist that keeps them in line with the more recent Amorphous remixes and Cartel preview tracks.  The eight tracks can be streamed in their entirety directly from the site.

Secondly, DJ Food has been spilling information on his blog again. This time he mentions "...I’m also about to begin work on not one but two remixes for The Amorphous Androgynous (!)". There's no remix EP planned for The Cartel, so we'll have to wait and see just how these remixes surface.

Next, some video footage of the 'In 2 Minds' animation from the band's 2009 Athens show by its creator, Tom Bell, featuring a staggering array of alternatives for what FSOL could mean.  Check that out on Bell's Vimeo page.

And finally, for those on Twitter, you may wish to follow Neglected Nuggets @thelostrecord this evening (27/09), as we're taking over for an hour to do our FSOL Top 10. Not quite a conventional ten favourites, but ten of their best since 1990, with an emphasis on obscure, unknown and hidden gems. You can follow @thelostrecord or check out the #FSOLtop10 tag from around 8:30 this evening (that's GMT+1 as it's summer [apparently]). Feel free to send us your comments thoughts on our choices and FSOL in general!

03/08/13 - News! Everywhere! LOADS OF IT!

So, a roundup of the madness so far this week.

First up, on Tuesday it was 20 years since Tales of Ephidrina was released, the first album on Astralwerks. To celebrate, two never before heard alternative mixes of Liquid Insects and Mountain Goat were added to the label's Soundcloud page. The tracks are quite similar to the released versions, but there are noticable differences to make them interesting curios. You can stream those here.

Next, new release news. Four EPs appeared on FSOLDigital on Thursday. It is not known whether these are alias or other artists, although it is presumed they are aliases. First up, Blackhill Transmatter - "EP". Written by Blackhill Transmitter. Recorded at Nine L West. Produced by Yage.
01 - Five Twenty Seven (3:08)
02 - Tower (3:08)
03 – Landslides (1:41)
04 – Karman Line (3:55)
05 – TX DSO Stage 1 (3:22)
06 – Hurple (2:37)
07 – Black Grain (2:34)


The tracks are mostly ambient with live sounding drums, and not entirely unlike some of the Environments 4 material in their organic feel.

The second release is, finally, the first release from EMS : Piano, a short EP entitled "One". The credits this time: Written by EMS : Piano. Recorded at Nine L West. Produced by Yage.
Recorded to 1/4 ” tape – warm and saturated - EMS : PIANO use exactly whats on the tin to create this 3 track EP. Taken from the album “VESSELS”
TRACKS
•01 – Grazing (Part 1) (5:44)
•02 – Swimmer (3:12)
•03 – The Suitcase (3:32)
Two of the pieces will be familiar from the EBS mixes. We're looking forward to the full album!


Next up, Sand Sound Folly - Salient Moons 1973. This one is very much a mystery, with the only credits being: Recorded live at The Panvision Gallery 03/04/10. Mixed at 9L-West. The EP is very organic sounding again, lots of acoustic instrumentation and percussion. TRACKS:
•01 – A Silent Moon (4:23)
•02 – Wishbone (4:58)
•03 – Willow (2:52)
•04 – Ebb & Flow (4:02)

The final of the four EPs is Stillness by Suburban Domestic, which falls firmly into the category of ambient dub. No credits whatsoever for this one, and five tracks:
•01 – Stillness (3:33)
•02 – Suburban Domestic (6:56)
•03 – Naked Earth (4:07)
•04 – A Pleasure Doing Business With Ya (3:13)
•05 – Municipal Infrastructure (4:28)

Sound samples of all releases are on the FSOLDigital pages, which can be found by clicking the EP titles in the above text.

Finally there is new merchandise to purchase on the site too. Four new t-shirt designs of the hand-drawn hands from the Amorphous/Paul Weller remix 12" released a few Record Store Days ago, the Environments logo from volumes 1 and 2 of the series, a Papua New Guinea cover and the FSOLDigital 'splash' logo. The t-shirts are hand-printed, made from organic cotton, ethically produced with low carbon footprint (more information on the individual tee pages). There's also an Alice In Ultraland poster on the site.

Meanwhile, in a 1970s cop film...
CARTEL Vol 1 the first release in a new series ' MONSTROUS BUBBLE SOUNDTRACKS produced and performed by the Amorphous Androgynous. It's a parallel series to the MONSTROUS PSYCHEDELIC BUBBLE DJ series but AA write and produce all the music in this series ( rather than DJ like MPB )exploring sub genres of MPB. The Cartel explores ' psychsploitation' where blaxploitation meets psych - a psychsploitation soundtrack for bank robberies , car/ cop chase/ heists, gunrunners , counter-surveillance, killing sprees and regret . . . .

Text and bizarre punctiation & capitalisation by Gaz there, of course. Ok, the tracklists for Volumes 1 & 2 are here - are you ready for this?

Volume 1
1. The Wasp
2. The Bug
3. Banksters
4. Regrets and Last Respects
5. The Chase
6. Hide and Speak
7. Loaded Silence (Part 1)
8. The Plaza Heist
9. Eyes and Ears to the Ground
10. The First Billion is the Hardest
11. Where Does the Evil Go When Evil Men Die?
12. Radio Breakdown
13. Taken Delivery
14. The Harry Limescale Theme
15. Down The Memory Hole
16. The Rat
17. Never Trust a Grass

Volume 2
1. Watching the Watcher
2. The Watcher
3. An Ocean of Regrets
4. Hombre Malo
5. The Visitor
6. Loaded Silence
7. Jah Skansters
8. 20 Years Behind Bars
9. The Killin' Spree (Theme From Harry Limescale)
10. 1,000,000 Stashed
11. Dead Vapours
12. Tap-Up
13. Billion Breaks
14. The Decision
15. Tunnel Sequence
16. Dead Man's Shadow
17. The Costa Rican Cartel
18. Cook The Books
19. Gun Runners
20. Some Time Later


And here are a load of video promos for the albums:








I think that's probably enough to keep us going for the moment.

11/06/13 - Updates from the land of FSOL

So, it's been quiet, but there is stuff on its way - word from FSOL talks about:

-an update to the FSOLDigital shop 'coming soon' with new material - we're guessing the Yage EP, and probably some surprises

-several remixes the band have been working on lately will be released in due course

-Environments 5 still in the works

-a new Monstrous Bubble release entitled The Cartel, and described as a 'funky psychsploitation soundtrack'.

So whilst all is quiet on the public front, lots is going on behind the scenes.

28/03/13 - Possible FSOL/Will White collab?

I recently heard from somebody claiming to know about a forthcoming release by FSOL & Will White (ex-Propellerheads, collaborator on The Woodlands of Old and Environments 4), which has been described as containing funky sounding house and breaks tracks - 'not very FSOL'. Probably coming on FSOLDigital but nothing confirmed. Not sure how reliable this is, but Brian did mention some time ago that they were working on something with him - initially it was presumed to be the Yage album, but maybe not?

Yeah, that's it for now.

26/02/13 - Kettel & Secede on FSOLDigital

Kettel & Secede's latest album for Sending Orbs, When Can, has seen a digital release on FSOLDigital this week.  Whilst not an obvious pairing with FSOL, this does continue the group's foray into Europe, with the upcoming Prime World soundtrack and the R&S rumours.

The album features 11 tracks:

01 – A New Factory (1:15)

02 – Kirsten (4:24)

03 – Admittance (5:03)

04 – Pentimento (2:15)

05 – Ringvanes (6:11)

06 – Missing Time (2:21)

07 – Jahe (5:11)

08 – Deliria Noon (6:15)

09 – Fullmoon (6:12)

10 – Grandcan (3:07)

11 – Canned Forever (8:53)

It can be purchased as a 320kbps mp3 for £8 here

10/02/13 - FSOL on R&S?, Neotropic DVD, Terminal Radio

A bit of interesting speculation here, from the Facebook page of Renaat Vandepapeliere, boss of renowned ambient/electronic label R&S: "New FSOL to come on R&S or Apollo ( who knows ????? )".

It's vague, but it's very interesting, if not only for the fact that it's the first sign of a FSOL release to come out on anything other than FSOLDigital/J&P since... well, technically We Have Explosive, if we're being strict about the definition of 'FSOL'.  It's also hard to believe this is entirely a groundless assumption, given the level of respect the label has (and thus the unlikeliness of untrue rumours being spread), and also several pictures of Gaz with Renaat having a rather good time also being shared (see here).  Time will tell whether this will be one of the many already expected releases, or something new.

In other news, there is a new Neotropic DVD available through FSOLDigital entitled Small Moves, largely based around musical material from her fourth album White Rabbits.  The DVD is available by following this link.

On the subject of Neotropic, Riz will be contributing a 15 minute mix to the next volume of Terminal Radio, the series of internet transmissions put together by the FSOLBoard (as part of this site).  The two hour transmissions are put together by members of the forum and other FSOL fans around the world, and feature previews of the latest FSOLDigital releases at the start.  Alongside Neotropic, other FSOLDigital artists featured on the series include Herd, Ross Baker, and in the future, Seafar.

You can hear the first three Terminal Radio transmissions here, and follow progress on the series on the forum. The fourth volume, feature Neotropic, is due to be streamed online at Fnoob on 25th February 2013.

12/01/13 - FSOL mix upcoming on Solid Steel

Hello, happy new year, et cetera.  In terms of confirmed releases, all we have for 2013 is the Pygmy People EP by Yage so far, although we're sure there's lots more to come.  In the meantime, however, there will also be a new FSOL mix coming on Ninja Tune's Solid Steel, with thanks to DJ Food for the info:

"We will continue celebrating a quarter of a century of ‘the broadest beats’ every week throughout the year with exclusive mixes from: Four Tet, J Rocc, Skream, Kirk DeGiorgio, Trevor Jackson, Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle, Toddla T, Benji B, Photek, Andy Votel, Z-Trip, Tom Middleton, Richard Dorfmeister, Greg Wilson, DJ Kentaro, James Lavelle, Giles Peterson, Don Letts, Jack Dangers, Future Sound of London, Kid Koala, Luke Vibert, Laurent Garnier, Congo Natty, Gaslamp Killer, Andrew Weatherall, Francois Kevorkian, Fink, Ross Allen, Mixmaster Morris, Manasseh and the first guest to appear on Solid Steel back in 1988, Juan Atkins (and that’s not even all of them…)."

So there we go.  Guesses are at an EBS-type mix, albeit one without the financial limitations of hosting on FSOLDigital - so probably a more varied selection than the 'FSOL & friends' theme of EBS7.

 

Otherwise, we're just waiting on an update from Gaz about this pole shift that was due a few weeks ago...