Monday, 7 July 2008

07/07/08 - The Peppermint Tree press release, information

We're not entirely sure exactly which label The Peppermint Tree & The Seeds Of Superconsciousness is being released on. Various websites have given us Pinnacle (Jumpin' & Pumpin's distribution company) and Passion (J&P's publishers), but the catalogue number for the release is FSOLD005, which would suggest Future Sound Of London Recordings has been resurrected for the release. We'll see by the 28th.

Here's a bit more information about the disc as shown on recordstore.co.uk:
The Amorphous Androgynous is the psychedelic rock-tronic supergroup created and produced by The Future Sound Of London. Born out of a desire to balance the cutting edge production techniques they had become famous for as FSOL with the live free flowing musical improvisational performances of a vast array of musicians they had met along the way of recording TOP 10 FSOL albums like 'Lifeforms' (1993) and Top 20 album 'Dead Cities' (1996) the Amorphous project gradually evolved and took on a life of its own from 1997 onwards.

Building on the success of their previous albums; 'The Isness' (2001) and 'Alice In Ultraland' (released in 2005 on the infamous EMI Harvest label which brought us Pink Floyd) they release 'The Peppermint Tree & The Seeds Of Superconsciousness' this year (2008) an epic post -modern psychedelic concept album.

'The Peppermint Tree...' features the legendary guitar skills of erstwhile Jeff Buckley and Captain Beefheart collaborator Gary Lucas along with keyboards by maestro Mikey Rowe (Oasis, Sheryl Crowe, Rolling Stones) and eastern promise by sitar guru Baluji Shrivastav plus orchestrations by Max Richter (Vashti Bunyan) and the vocals of 70s soul diva Linda Lewis along with FSOL (Gaz Cobain and Brain Dougans) themselves strumming and singing but all the while with one hand on the mixing desk.

The result is an album evoking the lysergicWith a tour of Russia in Aug/Sept 2008 the Amorphous supergroup will be sharpening their teeth in preparation to return to the UK for some dates later in the year which are expected to highs of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd combined with the progressive rock of Amon Duul and the freak beat sitar groove of Ananda Shankar all infused with the funk sensibility of a cosmic Miles Davis. It stands almost as a compendium of all the various psychedelic and experimental music of the last 40 years. How fitting it is then that this album was completed late last year (2007) the 40th anniversary of that great psychedelic revolution. 'The Summer Of Love' of 67. Be under no illusions though, this album could only be made now... and although wearing an obvious love of the 60s/70s on its sleeve it also sounds nothing like its psychedelic peers, it is unmistakably modern. This in fact is one of the albums and the bands' greatest achievements.

Tracklisting

1. The Peppermint Tree
2. Given That We've Given
3. Have I Loved You Into Oblivion
4. Light Beyond Sound
5. In Fear Of The Electromagnetic Machine
6. Nowhere At The Edge Of Somewhere
7. Riders (On The Circadian Rhythms)
8. Carousel
9. Yantra
10. Opus Of The Black Sun
11. Marylebone Road
12. Tiny Space Birds
13. Drifter
14. Rocket Fuel
15. Listen Little Man
16. Man Is A Virus In Shoes
17. Mr. Sponge's Groovy Oscillations
18. It's A Sunshine Day (Yeah! Yeah!)

No sign of An Absurd Consequence Of Living In Absurd Times which it seems is a digital release-only track.

Bizarrely, both the old digital basic 'tree' cover, and the more elaborate psychedelic collage one have been sighted online. Once again, when the discs start being dispatched we'll see which is the official cover.

Friday, 4 July 2008

04/07/08 - Peppermint Tree on 28th July!

I've just moved house and am currently stealing wireless internet from somewhere nearby so shall have to be quick - The Peppermint Tree & The Seeds Of Superconsciousness by The Amorphous Androgynous (it's hard to be quick when you're typing that) is out on 28th July 2008. Pre-order on FSOLdigital for a sooner release date, Environments is already on its way to customers who pre-ordered it!

Saturday, 28 June 2008

28/06/08 - Forthcoming radio plans & Zeebox release

Those of you lucky enough to live in Melbourne, Australia, will be able to hear the next FSOL broadcast on PBS FM. No date is set yet, but the three hour show will then be able to stream through straightup.com.au.
We'll have a date for you when it's announced.
Following this is the next release on FSOLDigital - Zeebox 3: Heavily Involved In Drugs, including tracks remastered and remixed from the original 8 track masters.


Friday, 20 June 2008

21/06/08 - The moment we've been waiting for for fourteen years

21st July 2008. Environments coming to CD. Jumpin' & Pumpin'. CDTOT59.

20/06/08 - Three more ExtremeMusic tracks

Brian and Gary have submitted three more tracks to commercial music site Extreme Music, entitled Partial Law, Seven Shades and Road 2 Ruin. Seven Shades is an alternative version of Man Is A Virus In Shoes from The Peppermint Tree, while the other two are exclusives. They can be found to stream by searching by Artist, under Dougans/Cobain, in the album Dirty Breaks at ExtremeMusic.com.

Monday, 16 June 2008

16/06/08 - Electric Brainstorm tracklist

Well, things didn't go quite to plan - as far as we can make out, the show went out an hour early, and it turns out the On Demand service requires a subscription fee. But there should be a version floating around sometime soon. As for content of the show... well, there was no new new material, but a bunch of forthcoming Archive tracks (listed as Archive 6 but it's very likely this is just a mistake, alongside the spelling Amorrphous), and some tracks from Zeebox 3 (yes, it's still out there somewhere). Oh, and something called Flicker from 'Amorphik Alternatives', which we believer is the new name for The Amorphic Archives.

Here's the full tracklist, anyway:
The Future Sound of London - We Have Explosive (2" Tape Reels Version)
The Advisory Circle - Hocusing For Beginners
The Mount Vernon Arts Club - Mv3
Nocturnal Emissions - Toyota
Belbury Poly - The Hidden Door
Ems:piano - The Vessel
The Future Sound of London - Open Door
Christian Marclay - Smoker
Zeebox - Out Pot
The Future Sound of London - Hallucination-sunset Strip
David Whitaker - 1st Move
Ennio Morricone - Ninna Per Adulteri
Holger Czukay - Holger Czukay's Message To The Sales Force 1
The Amorphous Androgynous - Riders
The Future Sound of London - Environments
The Future Sound of London - Echo Interview
The Amorphous Androgynous - Flickers
The Future Sound of London - Kaaawa
This Is The Kit - Tangled Walker
The Future Sound of London - Fat Spat
Were - Download
Osho / Ems:piano - Warm Drift
Zeebox - Stillness
Eno - A Measured Room
Zeebox - Mecca
The Future Sound of London - Environments (Part 2)

Of interest are the EMS:Piano tracks. We had suspicions that these could be new FSOL related pieces, and are pleased to announce that they are! An unfinished work by Brian, containing electronics and piano (funnily enough), inspired by soundtrack work by his father. More information when it comes.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

15/06/08 - FSOL on Proton Radio

>>>><<<>>><<<<

THE ELECTRIC BRAINSTORM vol.1
an EXCLUSIVE 1 hour DJ Mix
PROTON RADIO www.protonradio.com
Monday 16th June | 6am EST/11am BST
Then available via Proton's ground breaking 'On Demand' Feature

It's a little late notice, we know, but with the On Demand feature it'll be available for those not able to listen live. The band join the likes of John Digweed, Josh Wink and Anthony Pappa in providing the station and website with an exclusive DJ mix. This is the first in the 'Electric Brainstorm' series, and the cover has been provided by the band. No news on what will be contained in the show, hopefully we'll find out tomorrow!