Wednesday 26 November 2008

26/11/08 - Pod Room errors

Brian has informed us that due to the immense size of the files downloading each day, The Pod Room is currently under a little strain and customers may be having trouble downloading files. If you have had an error, reply to the link email and bug Brian about it - he says he'll be getting around to sorting out all errors found.

Sunday 23 November 2008

23/11/08 - New tracks on Environments 2

Groovedis have the first proper info on Environments 2 - on their page it's described as "an epic album featuring 14 tracks (2 of which are brand new) of strings, choirs, cellos, light beats and more." Glacier 1 & 2, A Corner, Colour-Blind and Journey To The Centre are known to be older pieces, so two of the other nine are entirely new recordings. We don't know which yet, maybe it'll say in the sleeve. Hopefully it won't be too long to wait until they come in the post!

Friday 21 November 2008

21/11/08 - some articles, EBS3 gets a second outing

Have a read of a couple of articles promoting the Psych Bubble CD (out in all good retailers on Monday). First up we have Gaz talking about psychedelia - the opening stuff is from the CD booklet, but it features a nice list of recommended albums. Secondly, Gaz again talks about music - this time the most important 36 albums to him. You can download these as image files here and here (note: big files!). The album itself is getting some rave reviews so far.

And for the pointless news completists out there, the Electric Brainstorms 3 sessions (premiered on Frisky Radio a few weeks ago and available in all good Pod Rooms) was played on Proton Radio on the 17th, and thus will be available to download and stream from their on-demand service.

Saturday 15 November 2008

15/11/08 - Opening of The Pod Room

Last night saw the opening of The Pod Room, FSOL's online transmission site. Available for puchase and download now are all of the band's Kiss FM mixes, Electric Brainstorm sessions, Essential Mixes and Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble shows. Included among these is the now infamous Electric Brainstorms 3, the three hour show originally intended for broadcast on PBS radio. This show features new FSOL recordings (as opposed to archives), along with some unreleased EMS:Piano and Zeebox material.
Check out the Podroom at FSOLDigital.com now!

Wednesday 12 November 2008

12/11/08 - Pod room and shows, Zed Storm?

Our friendly FSOL-friend Mason Bentley, on the boards, has given us a tracklist for the second Electric Brainstorm mix (the postponed three hour show), which runs a little like this:
01. The Future Sound of London - Heart Sick
02. 801 - Brocken Head
03. Fizzarum - Phut Of Plex
04. Pierre Henry - Erotica
05. Pauline Oliveros - Processions
06. Luc Ferrari - Presque Rien
07. The Advisory Circle - Hocusing For Beginners
08. Nurse With Wound - Russolo
09. Herbert Elmert - Klangstudie II
10. EMS:PIANO - The Suitcase
11. The Future Sound of London - Environments 2
12. Focus - Anonymous Two
13. Ennio Morricone - Ninna Per Adulteri
14. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Two Against Three
15. Bruce Haack - Electric To Me Turn
16. Throbbing Gristle - Lyre Liar
17. Morton Feldham - Voice + Cello
18. Andy Fairley - Jack The Biscuit
19. The Supsonic - Mach 2.2
20. EMS:PIANO - The Vessel
21. The Future Sound of London - Somewhere (Archived)
22. The Future Sound of London - Tudor Oak (Manor Farm)
23. Mary St John - Angular Reflectance Characteristics
24. Zeebox - Clik Clik
25. 90˚ South - Citroen DS
26. Malcolm Clarke - Bath Time
27. Cevinkey - Blotter
28. Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - Carosel
29. To Rococo Rot - Eisfeld
30. Clyde Port Authority - Dredgers
31. Bernard Parmegiani - ?
32. Zeebox - Open Head Surgery
33. The Future Sound of London - Environments 2
34. Mordant Music - Ghost Ship
35. Robin Saville - Colin The Lazy Cormorant Part 1
36. FS Blumm - Binsen And Bast
37. Yage - Til We Meet Again
38. John Cage - Imaginary Landscape No 1
39. Focus Group - Leaving Through
40. Jazkamer - Live @ Super
41. Matmos - Rainbow Flag
42. Monstrance - I Lovely Cosmonaut
43. Vashti Bunyan - Pink Sugar Elephants
44. Delia Derbyshire - Mattchin
45. Faust & Nurse with Wound - Lass Mich
46. Zeebox - Minimal Wave
47. Nel Mondo de Lavoro - Calcolatore Electtronico
48. The Coma Lillies - 4
49. Pan Sonic - Fugal Force
50. Proem - Cold Water
51. Belbury Poly - New Mobility
52. Second Thought - Street
53. Funckarma - Atmodion Drake
54. The Future Sound of London - A Corner
55. Land Of Nod - The Land Of Nod (Sunrise)
56. Neu - emusik
57. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Nice Butterfly Mask
58. Clyde Port Authority - Stand Still
59. The Future Sound of London - Distant Nebulus
60. The Future Sound of London - Environments 2
61. The Future Sound of London - Turned
62. Monsterism Music Library
63. Daniel Pemberton - ?
64. The Future Sound of London - Yage (Bejing)
65. Zeebox - Heavily Involved With Drugs
So, what can we say about this tracklist? Well, it was promised to contain some new FSOL material, and it's highly likely the opening track is newly recorded - Turned is also a title new to us, so it's possible unheard material. There are also unreleased Zeebox tracks from Heavily Involved With Drugs) and EMS:Piano tracks, which are curiously credited to Dougans/Cobain, despite the project initially seeming to be a Dougans solo work.
The tracks labelled simply as Environments 2 suggest the set was most likely constructed while the album was intended to be '3 parts - 59 minutes' as opposed to the 14 track version we're familiar with now. Although this means A Corner wasn't originally intended for the album... confusion once more. Elsewhere we have Somewhere (Archived), again suggest From The Archives Vol 6, even though only five were planned. These tracks just keep appearing! 1997 track Tudor Oak has resurfaced too, although it is currently unknown whether the manor farm suffix refers to a sub-title or an album it's from. Time will (may) tell. Yage (Bejing) is another mytsery track, whether this will be a remix of Yage or a new track or a Yage track remains to be seen - and speaking of Yage, there's an unreleased track, probably from the Woodlands of Old sessions, called Til We Meet Again. Monsterism Music Library is likely to be FSOL-related (or Dougans, at least), with the link to Pete Fowler's Monsterism cartoon and possible soundtrack to the forthcoming series. The final tracks to watch are the Clyde Port Authority, which are credited to A W Dougans (possibly Alan Dougans), the CPA name has appeared in mailings to our site from Brian himself!
The rest of the show features a lot of early experimental electronic and avant-garde artists alongside some more contemporary industrial and ambient, with a few trademark psych and prog tracks, and some stuff we've not heard of.
This show is only coming to The Pod Room. If you're as excited by the tracklist as we are, you'll be happy to hear this won't be long - The Pod Room is in the process of being transferred and will be with is in the very near future. Watch this space!
RONXTO on our forum has spoken to someone who has heard what is rumoured to be new FSOL material. Only the name Zed Storm has appeared, and we are told features an acid bassline and breakbeats. Zed Storm may be a song title or a new alias, maybe we shall see!
Right, I've wasted enough office time, back to work...

Tuesday 11 November 2008

11/11/08 - Release dates and links

CDs are, apparently, in the post, but here's some release dates for you:
Environments II and From The Archives 5 are available in the shops from 5th January 2009. Of possible mild interest is the artwork: Environments II seems to feature the identical cover to the one on FSOLDigital (with the different font the normal), while Archive 5's cover seems to have reverted its writing to mixed font, making it out of place with the other archive releases, but fitting with the Freeze Magazine CD and Envrionments 1, perhaps a sign of artwork to come?
Those who haven't spotted the first volume of A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble under AA or FSOL, this may be because it's listed on some sites as Various Artists (annoyingly), but a search for the title should give results.
The Royal Mail seem to have mislaid our copy of the latter for the moment, but word from the forum reveals a five page ramble from Mr. Cobain in the booklet, which goes on to mention him arriving at the end of his voyage of discovery at the end of last year - which seems to have gone some of the way towards the re-emergence of the FSOL moniker. With every revelation it really does seem a new Future Sound of London album is hurtling in our direction (albeit a relatively slow hurtle...). We'll post some more snippets from the booklet if anything else interesting turns up!

Wednesday 5 November 2008

06/11/08 - Out now and coming soon!

Just a quickie - according to FSOLdigital, A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble is now available for puchase, priced at £11.50. Furthermore, expect those other new CD releases (Environments II and Archive 5) pre-ordered from the site to arrive in the next week or so. And to finish up, The Pod Room is nearly upon us - keep your eyes open for that!