Saturday, 17 September 2022

17/09/22 - A Space of Partial Illumination update

Stores are now listing release dates of 14th and 21st October for E7.02 A Space of Partial Illumination; given the band's usual decision to release albums a couple of weeks early, this suggests we'll probably be getting a Bandcamp edition in the next couple of weeks. And finally some news on the CD version: different cover art, and four additional tracks.

Thursday, 15 September 2022

15/09/22 - The Family Dog, remixes, unheard '80s Humanoid track?

In what is the first FSOLDigital release of an outside act for many years, the website presents 'Traumadol' by The Family Dog. The release is described as:
"In a tumbledown shack behind a hoarder’s house in the north of the city, strewn with logs for the firepit and guarded by a beast of a mutt they call Thor, THE FAMILY DOG have built The Box. A home-made rehearsal studio and musical kennel for their band, which consists of five North London brothers chewing up the marrow of Americana, soul, punk, blues, psychedelia and a whole lot more, then howling it all out in gigs resembling “a pack of wild dogs not giving a shit.” Swapping instruments, diving into crowds and embracing the chaos, they’re a feral concoction of White Denim, The Black Keys, Curtis Mayfield and The Band.
FSOL digital brings you the first release from this amazing guitar band.
“These guys are insane… Totally fukin hilariously good” Brian Dougans
"

As well as 'Traumadol', the release features a 'Decomposed' remix by Yage. With the MP3 at £1.50 and FLAC for £2.00, it will no doubt be of interest to fans for the remix alone. Grab it here.

In other news, a couple more Yage remixes have appeared. Pleasurefields' 'Hands of Time', remixed by Yage, appears on a ludicrously limited run of 10 lathe cut 12"s given away to friends of the Touched label, with the Heogen remix of 'sT8818r' on the b-side. Let's hope that mix gets a proper release one day, as it's currently by far the rarest track in the band's catalogue. The other remix has already been heard on Mind Maps 3, but is now properly identified and is available for purchase: Inkipak's 'Open Door', on the +ve album. Grab your copy from Fourier Transform.

It's been a long time since we uncovered an old track that's been floating around out there for years without being noticed by the fanbase, but it seems FSOLBoard member cascade has come across something very intriguing: a track called 'Here We Go' credited to Cold Steel. While this doesn't ring any obvious bells, in the liner notes it's credited to B. Dougans and B. Ofoedi, which looks like a misspelling of Ofoedu. With a runtime of 4:26, Brian's initial guess was that it was simply 'The Deep' renamed (the sort of sly trick Trax got up to, apparently). However, listening on YouTube proves it's not: there's definitely an Ofoedu rap, including a lyric that mentions the word humanoid; there's also a "go, go, go" chant which sounds suspiciously like the one sampled on 'Tingler'. Is this, then, an outtake from Global? More news as we get it...

Quick response from Mr. Dougans:
"So that’s me / but not me

Me / not me

That’s a half bake demo track that has been finished by Morgan
Ben is the rapper ( phats + small )
That rap was on the demo

Obviously finished up and sold to Trax
"
So yes, it's not officially sanctioned, nor is it a final Brian production, but it's still otherwise unheard late '80s Humanoid, and the presence of Brian makes it more FSOL-related than some of the Peter Black tracks on Global itself.