Mar 30, 2013

RhoDeo 1312 Beats


Hello, ready for some more fuzzy logic beats? Having that brain stimulated electronically ?

Their work covers most areas of electronic music, such as ambient techno, house music, trip-hop, ambient dub, acid techno and often involves extreme experimentation; for example they have, since the turn of the millennium, experimented with psychedelic rock under their Amorphous Androgynous alias. In addition to music composition, their interests have covered a number of areas including film and video, 2D and 3D computer graphics, animation. In making almost all their own videos for their singles they displayed their genius is not limited to manipulating sound, radio broadcasting and creating their own electronic devices for sound making further extended their understanding of the path they are on.. They have released works under numerous aliases.

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FSOL was formed in Manchester, England, in the mid 1980s. Dougans had already been making electronic music for some time when they first began working in various local clubs. In 1988, Dougans embarked on a project for the Stakker graphics company. The result was Stakker Humanoid. Cobain contributed to the accompanying album. In the following three years the pair produced music under a variety of aliases. Stakker Humanoid re-entered the UK chart in 1992, followed by the breakthrough ambient dub track "Papua New Guinea" featuring a looping Lisa Gerrard vocal sample, which was their first official release. Virgin Records looking for electronic bands and quickly signed them. With their newfound contract they immediately began to experiment, resulting in the Tales of Ephidrina album, released in 93 under the Amorphous Androgynous moniker. Thus preceding FSOL 's first album release Lifeforms (94)

Lifeforms followed in 1994 to critical acclaim. The new work featured unconventional use of percussion interspersed with truly ambient segments. The eponymous single from the album featured Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on vocals. The album was a top 10 hit on the UK album chart. 1994 also saw the release of ISDN, which was as close to a live album as most electronic acts get - it featured live broadcasts FSOL had made over ISDN lines to various radio stations worldwide and to The Kitchen, an avant-garde performance space in New York. Its tone was darker and more rhythmic than Lifeforms. In 1996, FSOL released Dead Cities. The new material was a curious mix of ambient textures and hard, gritty dance music. This album also featured a collaboration with the composer Max Richter. However, critics suggested that the duo's musical output seemed to dry up following this release, save for a few 12" singles and remixes.

After a long hiatus, and rumors of mental illness ( de facto mercury poisoning from teethfillings), Cobain and Dougans returned in 2002 with The Isness, a record heavily influenced by 1960s and 1970s psychedelia and released under their alias Amorphous Androgynous. It was preceded by Papua New Guinea Translations, a mini album which contained a mixture of remixes of FSOL's seminal track as well as new material from The Isness sessions. Three years on, Dougans and Cobain followed the album with a continuation of the Amorphous Androgynous project, Alice in Ultraland. Rumoured to be accompanied by a film of the same title, the album took The Isness' psychedelic experimentation and toned it down, giving the album a singular theme and sound, and replacing the more bizarre moments with funk and ambient interludes. The album was ignored by the press, but more favourable among fans than its predecessor. Unlike The Isness, which featured almost a hundred musicians over the course of it and the various alternative versions and remix albums, Alice in Ultraland featured a fairly solid band lineup throughout. In 2006 FSOL released a best of album, Teachings From The Electronic Brain, then a year later they released 4 Archives albums thru their own FSOL digital platform (yage.co.uk) where all their releases are available for .

In early March 2008, the band released a new online album as Amorphous Androgynous entitled The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness, which they describe as "A collection of psychedelic relics from The Amorphous Androgynous, 1967-2007". The release retains the sound of their last two psychedelic albums, while expanding on the element of funk first introduced on 2005's Alice in Ultraland. They recorded their following album, The Woodlands of Old, under the alias of their imaginary engineer Yage. Unlike the techno work recorded as Yage in 1992, this new record was darker, more trip-hop and world music-oriented and featured ex-Propellerheads member Will White.

Following on from the band's 1997 DJ set of the same name, a series of "Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind" mix CDs were begun in 2006. The first two were released under the Amorphous Androgynous alias, subtitled "Cosmic Space Music" and "Pagan Love Vibrations" respectively, with the first taking over two years to compile, mix and gain sample clearance, both featuring the band's psychedelic influences. A third is set for release sometime in 2010, and will be more electronic, mixed by The Future Sound of London.Further mixes in the series are expected up to 6 now available on line (Pod Room) Aswell as 6 Kiss 100FM transmissions from theearly nineties.

Between 2008 and 2010, the band showcased a series of radio broadcasts and podcasts called The Electric Brain Storms. Proton Radio hosted the first on 16 June 2008, PBS radio in Australia were due to showcase the second, and Frisky Radio broadcast the third. The remaining shows appeared on the band's official site.The shows featured electronic, krautrock, experimental and psychedelic favourites of the band mixed in with known and unknown FSOL material, including newly recorded tracks, archived pieces, and new alias recordings such as EMS:Piano. Many of the new tracks featured on Environments 3, but some pieces remain unreleased and are planned for the next Future Sound of London album. They keep up a fascinating The Future Sound Of London YouTube Channel under the guise of the electronic brain. Their live ISDN Transmission  series in 320 kbps mp3 format are up to no 11 currently. Further Archives have been released up to vol. 7 currently, along with the fourth Environments (2012) album.

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This was the first release FSOL pushed after being silent since 1997, it was a full length album in which their first hit single gets a massive reworking.  Here, following sort of the “path” format from earlier singles, we get to explore longer, deeper and highly creative tracks that are quite varied.  This is not a remix album by any stretch of the imagination and it kind of takes FSOL’s ‘paths’ approach to a higher level.

At any rate, let’s move on to the music.  We open here with the 12” original cut of the title track.  This album really wouldn’t be complete without it, honestly.  Next, we’re off to “Papsico,” which does feature a few elements of the original track but evolves more than most remixes would, especially when you compare this to the original mixes from the 1991 single.  Next, we have “The Lovers,” a funky psychedelic track thick with fun guitar licks, jazzy vibes and some vocal samples.  This track really is great.  It’s so different from anything the band had done before.  I find it to be one of the most irresistible cuts.  And when the sitar hums in, you have a neo-psyche track that’ll live on forever. “Wooden Ships” slinks in with a rapid mixed sample from the original track that gets quickly layered with a soft breakbeat, a psyche organ and a blissfully distorted guitar.  We have a neo-psyche jam that flows like a dreamy river or an opioid vision.

“Things that Change like the Patterns and Shades from the Sun” and “Big Blue” round out the album.  The first track here feels sort of jazzy and sort of hints, to me, a bit of early DJ Shadow’s sound.  Despite the jazz feel, the track fills you with a sort of urgency that I can’t quite put my finger on. Fans of the original single most likely will not be disappointed.  You won’t get a whole lot of ambient house mixes like what was being offered up in the early 90s, but you get a unique full length piece of music that takes the track in completely new directions.



FSOL - Papua New Guinea Transitions ( flac 342mb)

01 Translation 1: 12" Original 4:58
02 Translation 2: Papsico 9:50
03 Translation 3: The Lovers9:05
04 Translation 4: Wooden Ships 6:02
05 Translation 5: The Great Marmalade Mama In The Sky 4:38
06 Translation 6: Requiem 6:05
07 Translation 7: Things Change Like The Patterns And Shades That Fall From The Sun 6:01
08 Translation 8: The Big Blue 7:39

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A COLLECTION OF RARITIES FROM THE FSOL ARCHIVES Highly anticipated collection of rare tracks pulled from the fsol archives. All of the tracks on this compilation were produced by Future Sound of London under various aliases, from the early days of the band. 16 of the 17 tracks here are previously unheard (the exception being Visual Attack, previously only available on download from the fsol site. It has to be said that the tracks in this release tend to be more acid than anything else, given the 12" single nature of this era of the band, it's no shock that many of these minimal pieces were never released, but as a singular album it flows surprisingly well. With some beautiful artwork contained inside



FSOL - By Any Other Name ( flac 440mb)

01 Mental Cube - Sightings 4:32
02 Indo Tribe - Just Look 4:41
03 Dope Module - We Bring It 5:34
04 Yage - 831AM 5:51
05 FSOL - Across The Rivers 4:29
06 Mental Cube - In A Cage 4:51
07 Smart Systems - Visual Attack 4:43
08 Indo Tribe - Great Danger 5:04
09 Mental Cube - Keep Walking 4:10
10 Yage - Travellers 4:14
11 Yage - Garden Bridge 3:04
12 Smart Systems - You Might 4:43
13 Dope Module - Kremlin Taped 1:47
14 Dope Module - She's So Automatic 4:27
15 Yage - Under The Rock 2:16
16 Yage - 1st Calling 4:19
17 Smart Systems - Corridor LM3 3:43

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The Pulse EPs gathers together some of the strongest tracks FSOL recorded before the release of Accelerator. Originally pressed as four 12" EPs between 1991 and 1992, the record collects 16 pieces under the band's more well known aliases of Mental Cube, Indo Tribe, Yage and Smart Systems, plus the first ever Future Sound of London tracks (which, Hardhead in particular, are far removed from the layered, abstract work the name is most famous for). On that level, there is little here for those wanting another Lifeforms or Dead Cities, but any fans of Accelerator are urged to get ahold of this. Highlights are the opening two Indo Tribe tracks Bring In The Pulse and In The Mind Of A Child, the surprisingly melodic Mental Cube piece I'm Not Gonna Let You Do It and any of the utterly silly Smart Systems rave workouts. With an artwork booklet featuring the original 12" sleeves to complete the package, The Pulse EPs is a strong and worthwhile addition to the recent trawl through the band's extensive back catalogue.



FSOL  - The Pulse EPs ( flac 511mb)

01 Indo Tribe - Bring In The Pulse (MFK Mix) 5:12
02 Indo Tribe - In The Mind Of A Child (First Born Mix) 5:05
03 FSOL - Hardhead (Frothin' At The Mouth Mix) 6:06
04 FSOL - Pulse State (831 AM Mix) 7:19
05 FSOL - Stolen Documents (Jazz Dub) 5:23
06 Smart Systems - Zip Code (Stress Ball Mix) 5:17
07 FSOL - 1-In-8 4:44
08 Indo Tribe - I've Become What You Were (Insider Mix) 4:19
09 Smart Systems - Tingler (Four By Four Mix) 4:35
10 Indo Tribe - Owl (I Can See You Mix) 4:56
11 Indo Tribe - Bite The Bullet Baby (Jaques Reynoix Mix) 4:33
12 Yage - Calcium (Elemental Mix) 4:53
13 Mental Cube - I'm Not Gonna Let You Do It 3:49
14 Smart Systems - The Creator 4:22
15 Indo Tribe - Shrink 4:14
16 Smart Systems - Space Virus 4:26

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previously, not updated 12-21-16

The Future Sound Of London - Lifeforms (flac 234mb)
The Future Sound Of London - Lifeforms (ogg 127mb)
re-up
The Future Sound Of London - Archives Vol 1 (flac 386mb)
The Future Sound Of London - Archives Vol 1 (ogg 127mb)
re-up
The Future Sound Of London - ISDN (flac 374mb)
The Future Sound Of London - ISDN (ogg 166mb)
re-up
The Future Sound Of London - Environments (flac 280mb)
The Future Sound Of London - Environments (ogg 113mb)
re-up
The Future Sound Of London - Environments II (flac 299mb)
The Future Sound Of London - Environments II (ogg 127mb)
re-up
Amorphous Androgynous - Alice In Ultraland (05 175mb)
re-up
The Amorphous Androgynous - A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Vol 1 - Cosmic Space Music 1 (153mb) The Amorphous Androgynous - A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Vol 1 - Cosmic Space Music 2 (154mb) re-up
The Amorphous Androgynous - A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Vol 2 - Pagan Love Vibrations 1 (148mb)
The Amorphous Androgynous - A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Vol 2 - Pagan Love Vibrations 2 (148mb)
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14 comments:

Zoo said...

Thanks for the great music. None of the "Pulse EPs" links seem to work - could you fix that?

Rho said...

Well not sure what you are on about Zoo all seems perfectly in order

Anonymous said...

Hello Rho

I find it incredible that I missed these posts. What was I doing in March 2013??

I'm simply asking if you would repost
'by any other name' and 'the pulse eps'.

I normally look for flac or wav rips. No worries if not :)

L

Rho said...

Hello L, well things like that can happen in our visual overkill world, what is a pity though that these posts suffered from lack of interest after the initial burst. Netkups isn't the biggest host and so they tend to delete if no one picks it up in a month. You're in luck I just re-upped both... N'Joy

Anonymous said...

Could please you reupload the Pulse EP album?

Thanks.

Rho said...

hello Anon, can do and have done...N'Joy

Anonymous said...

hi mate . could you RE UP the pulse EPs in flac


thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho-Xs,
please could you RE-RE-Up all the FSOL stuff?
Thx anyway for the share.
Cheers.
E

Josh said...

Hey there Rho,

Thanks for the FSOL stuff. Big fan.

I was just wondering if you could reupload the remainder of the FSOL albums? ie, ISDN and such. ISDN is my favourite album by FSOL.

This may be an inappropriate request given the fact that you have recently reuploaded some stuff, but those albums are gems and hard to find.

Also - did you get around to finding those Yello albums I posted about a while back? Don't want to bug you too much - I see you're a busy man. But I'm heading away soon to another continent for a few months and would appreciate some Yello funk in my pocket while I'm roaming the streets of Asia.

Thank you and I hope you're well this (very cold) winter.

Once more I apologise for the flurry of requests.

Rho said...

Hello Josh, you should know now that i only re-up from the page where the album requested resides, as for Yello they are in a league of their own, nothing much like them around. You will have to be more specific as to when you leave because chances are i will post some Yello when you are away..

Josh said...

Hello Rho!

Thankfully I'll be taking a laptop with me so should be able to access your blog when I'm away. Early March is when the journey begins, but I am collecting as much music as possible to take with me over the next few weeks.

I'll leave a comment on the original FSOL albums entry.

Thanks once again.

Anonymous said...

please could you RE-RE-Up all the FSOL stuff?
Thx anyway

Isidoro Musicgraphic said...

please could you RE-RE-Up all the FSOL stuff?
Thx anyway

Anonymous said...
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