27/01/15 - Blackhill Transmitter 3 on its way

The third Blackhill Transmitter EP will be available from FSOLDigital tomorrow... watch this space.

14/01/15 - Another new Humanoid compilation track.

Brian has provided a track for a new chiptune compilation on Bandcamp entitled chipspeech AUTOMATE SONGS .01. The Humanoid piece is called Words of the Elders, and is the album opener. Download the compilation for free here!

07/01/14 - MPB4: Wizards of Oz due in March

The fourth volume in the Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble series, the previously mentioned Australian-focused release, has finally been given a release date of 16th March.

FSOLDigital gives the following blurb:
‘The Wizards Of Oz’ is devoted exclusively to the rich heritage of cosmic space music of our Antipodean brothers and sisters and in common with previous volumes traces the lineage from the sixties to the present day with sonic delights from every decade in between.

Across the double CD there is a 2 hour DJ mix of 34 tracks where we are treated to everything from Kiwi Krautrock to Aboriginal space jazz to OZ dream pop to cOZmic funkrok: CYBOTRON / TAME IMPALA / KANGURU / RUSSELL MORRIS / GEOFF KROZIER & THE GENERATOR / HIROSHI & CLAUDIA / MADDER LAKE / ROB THOMSETT / MANDU / DOUG JEREBINE / POND / SONS OF THE VEGETAL MOTHER / RAILROAD GIN & AIR are just a few of the delights contained therein.

Meanwhile, in a short feature on the Mojo website, Gaz adds:
'While previous editions of A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble… saw Future Sound Of London alumni Gaz Cobain and Brian Dougans (pictured) champion a host of their psychedelic favourites, for this mix the duo found themselves stumbling across artists who were completely new to them.

“As the collection evolved the question that arose with increasing regularity was, ‘How and why have we not heard this before?!’” they explain. “And then, ‘If this band had been from the UK or the USA would they have been unheard and unknown?’ The answer to this was a resounding No!”'

You can check the full article, featuring two tracks featured on the mix, here, and you can pre-order the double CD at FSOLDigital.

13/12/14 - News, hints and rumours overload

It's that time again: after going over the Artworks book with a fine toothed comb, myself and FSOLBoard resident knowledge-hoarder Pandemonium - along with some helpful hints from a certain Mr. Dougans - can reveal a number of possible and probable past, present and future projects from the guys.

Environments news! Well, it's been known that the Environments series will continue, and the cover has already been confirmed (the same as the cover of Artworks), but one of the pages has information on an envisaged sound installation in New York, which is labelled as Environments 8. Brian himself has now confirmed that the band have ten volumes in the series planned. Furthermore, Environments 6 is complete and due for release in 2015 alongside Archive 8. Given that the original plan for volume 5 was for it to be a double album, it's quite possible this is the second disc of that (quite possibly the more electronic material as previewed on The Fears and Fantasies of the Unconscious Mind in 2012). Given the installation nature of the proposed eighth volume, it seems the band seem keen to make the series their more exploratory, experimental output - whilst non-Environments material is worked on in tandem.

A lot of interesting historical items are featured in the book, including covers for an Isness-era proto-Archives release entitled Fish Smokin', a Mello Hippo Disco Radio Show CD promo, a video collection, and a test pressing of a 3" CD EP of Zeebox material planned for release on Rephlex ten or so years ago (a vinyl edition was also planned to exist). The number of scrapped releases by the band must be astonishing.

Finally, if you enjoyed Artworks, you'll love Histories. A second FSOL artwork book (or booklet, as they seem to be underselling it), likely to contain seen and unseen art and behind-the-scenes photos of the band's '90s period, is coming in the new year.

There are only ten copies of Artworks left at FSOLDigital, so if you want to see all this for yourself, you'd best get your skates on!

03/12/14 - New Humanoid on Touched Two; E6 cover.

Due to delays in their album being released, Brambles & Nest have had to remove their track from the Touched Two compilation. Thankfully, Mr. Dougans has kept the album fleshed out with a new, last minute addition of a newly recorded Humanoid track, entitled Posthuman. Stream the track here if you so wish, or purchase the album on the main page.

In other news, it turns out the cover of the Artworks booklet is mooted to also be the cover of the forthcoming Environments 6...

28/11/14 - Artwork surprise! + Touched Two

If FSOL are good at anything (other than making electronic music, of course), it's surprising us. Hands up who thought the next release announced would be From the Archives Vol. 8. Me too. Instead, today we got a surprise through FSOLDigital: Artworks.

The site states: "36 page A5 full colour booklet depicting FSOL’s art from the last 7 years. Hand numbered and limited to 250 copies. Booklet comes with a free gift download of 4 tracks (320kbps mp3)."

The cover looks a bit like this:


The tracklist for the EP runs as so:
01. Cattle
02. Viewed From Across the Room
03. I Turn to Face the Sun
04. Neurotic

The version of 'I Turn to Face the Sun' is a different edit to that which comes as a bonus track with Environments II LP purchases through FSOLDigital. Furthermore, there's a rather nice Far-out Son of Lung poster on sale in limited quantities.

Turning away from FSOLDigital briefly, the second Macmillan-funding compilation, Touched Two, is available as of today, and features an alternate take of Outer Heaven (originally from Archive 7). And if that's not appealing enough, you can also find unreleased material from Autechre, Orbital, Ochre, Neotropic, Ceephax Acid Crew, B12, 808 State, not to mention the cream of the underground electronic, ambient and modern classical scenes. Grab this generous 255 track compilation here for a donation of £12 or more.

Oh, and the Environments 4 LP is out on Monday, just to keep you on your toes...

16/11/14 - covers'n'bubbles'n'stuff

So, there's some bonus stuff with the Environments LP packages. The Environments 4 LP will feature the previous digital bonus track Plough on the vinyl itself, interestingly. Purchases from FSOLDigital will feature a digital bonus track entitled 'Komagi'. Similarly, FSOLDigital orders of Environments 2 come with a digital bonus track 'I Turn to Face the Sun'. And now, have a look at what the E2 vinyl looks like:

On the same day, the Syd Arthur Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble vinyl EP is released, and it seems the release will be on Monstrous Bubble Records (another - finally!). That looks a little like this:

Digital listeners will be happy to hear MP3 and FLAC versions will also be available.

In other news, acclaimed drum'n'bass outfit Blu Mar Ten have announced the release of a mysterious release entitled FSOL. Rumour has it that this vinyl single, the fourth part of the band's Famous Lost Words Remixes series, will feature a track called Night Shift remixed by FSOL. It will be shipping from December - more news soon.

Elsewhere (this is a long update due to laziness throughout the week), the FSOL-soundtracked puzzle game Mushroom 11 is now available, and a deluxe edition comes with the soundtrack. All pieces are sourced from the band's Archives and Environments releases, edited down for use in the game. The tracklist, cover and discussion can be found here.

What else? Oh yes, a Zeebox track is appearing on a compilation of '80s industrial, which is a lovely turn of events. 'Laughing Box' appears on Label Noir Vol. 2, which is available now.

Finally, Gaz revealed on Facebook that the next Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble mix (probably the Australian one) will be released early in the new year.

That's probably enough for now. Who wants to buy all of this for me for Christmas?