The Music Library

10'02

THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON PRESENT AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS
The Isness
(FSOLCD101) Artful Records 2002
13 Tracks. 63mins38secs.
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Damned! The Future Sound Of London have gone all prog-rock on us. After well over five years of complete silence on the FSOL front, The Isness announces a radical departure from the beautiful soundscapes of Lifeforms or Tales Of Ephidrina or the dark industrial beats of Dead Cities. If early nineties ambient was defined by KLF’s seminal Chill Out, announcing the dawn of bands such as The Orb, by the mid nineties, Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans had taken the genre to new level with two albums, Tales Of Ephidrina released in 1993 under their Amorphous Androgynous guise, and, a year later, Lifeforms as Future Sound Of London.
On The Isness, the duo swap electronic experimentations for 1970s guitar-based psychedelica complete with sitars, strings and, as unusual as it may sound on a FSOL album, vocals, and we mean here proper songs. The album doesn’t bear any signs of the luscious dreamy soundcapes and textured beats the duo had made their trademark over the years. Instead, the opening track, The Lovers, which more or less sets the tone for things to come, evokes more the funk rock of Hendrix than the sonic explorations of recent years, with electric guitars forging their way to the forefront of the piece, leaving behind the more electronic-based patterns. The only proper connection with the FSOL of old is the ethereal vocalisations of Linda Lewis. The title track that follows witnesses the first of the recurring insertions of sitars. Once again, elements of the pair’s past work can be found, but the strangely titled Mello Hippo Disco Show turns the whole thing on its head, suggesting some weird collaboration between The Verve, The Doors and Pink Floyd. Later on, Cobain and Dougans seem determined to make us believe that they were once in Genesis on Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead and Divinity. This is not however as disastrous an idea as it might seem. The rampant psychedelism of these two tracks, highlighted in slightly too obvious fashion by the ever-present sitars, offers a radical twist to the current electronic scene. The rest of the album lingers on similar territories, failing to really bring this prog-tronica to a more imaginative level, despite some interesting attempts on Osho, the evocative Meadows and High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh. Gaz Cobain and Brian Dougans have become at times self indulgent, and this album suffers from temporary lack of inspiration, partly hidden behind an impressive production..
The Isness, released in the UK under the Amorphous Androgynous tag, and in the rest of the world as a new Future Sound Of London album, with a slightly different track listing and a different running order, is by all means a disconcerting offering from Cobain and Dougans. Far from their past sonic breakthroughs, The Isness is a unique album in today’s music landscape, and, could well become, despite its faults, or perhaps because of them, a future classic.

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TRACK LISTING

01	The Lovers	08	Guru Song
02	The Isness	09	Osho
03	The Mello Hippo Disco Show	10	Her Tongue Is Like A Jelly Fish
04	Goodbye Sky (Reprise)	11	Meadows
05	Elysean Feels	12	High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh
06	Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead	13	The Galaxial Pharmaceutical
07	Divinity

CLASSICS

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THE FUTURE SOUND
OF LONDON
Dead Cities
(CDV2814) Virgin 1996
14 Tracks. 77mins28secs.
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For about ten years now, The Future Sound Of London have developped a luxurious form of music that stands far beyond the "ambient music" label. Right from their second album, Life Forms, they've gone as far away as possible from dance music to explore new, uncovered, territories, no stranger to Vangelis at his very best. Music became organic, almost alive, almost palpable.This album, their fourth, continues in the footsteps of its predecessors, but, instead of beautiful places, we're here very often dragged into the most unwelcoming places, deep into the dirtiest swamps, where danger is everywhere around. And there's a killer observing you, watching your every move. This is the epic soundtrack of an after the end of the world version of Blade Runner. Sounds of beauty and horror collide every second. Is it a dream or a nightmare? Will you get away? Ever? Try your luck!...

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TRACK LISTING

01	Herd Killing
02	Dead Cities
03	Her Face Forms In Summertime
04	We Have Explosive
05	Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me
06	My Kingdom
07	Antique Toy
08	Quagmire
09	In A State Of Permanent Abyss
10	Glass
11	Yage
12	Vit Drowning
13	Through Your Gills I Breath
14	First Death In The Family

FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON DISCOGRAPHY

FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON ACCELERATOR Jumpin' & Pumpin' 1991 Buy it on line now _	Expander Stolen Documents While Others Cry Calcium It's Not My Problem Papua New Guinea Moscow 1 In 8 Pulse State Central Industrial _
AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS TALES OF EPHIDRINA Astralwerks 1993 Buy it on line now _	Liquid Insects Swab Mountain Goat In Mind Ephidrena Auto Pimp Fat Cat Pod Room _
FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON LIFEFORMS Virgin Records 1994 Buy it on line now _	Cascade Ill Flower Flak Bird Wings Dead Skin Cells Lifeforms Eggshells Among Myselves Domain Spineless Jelly Interstat Vertical Pig Cerebral Life Form Ends Vit Omnipresence Room 208 Elaborate Burn Little Brother _
FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON ISDN (LTD EDITION) Virgin Records 1994 _	Just a Fuckin Idiot The Far Out Son of Lung & The Ramblings Of A Madman Appendage Slider Smokin Japanese Babe You're Creeping Me Out Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead It's My Mind That Works Dirty Shadows Tired Egypt Are They Fightin Us Hot Knives A Study of Six Guitars An End of Sorts _
FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON ISDN Virgin Records 1994 Buy it on line now _	Just a Fuckin Idiot The Far Out Son of Lung & The Ramblings Of A Madman Appendage Slider Smokin Japanese Babe You're Creeping Me Out Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead It's My Mind That Works Dirty Shadows Tired Egypt Kai AmoebaA Study Of Six Guitars Snake Hips _
FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON DEAD CITIES Virgin Records 1996 Buy it on line now _	Herd Killing Dead Cities Her Face Forms In Summertime We Have Explosive Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me My Kingdom Max Antique Toy Quagmire A State Of Permanent Abyss Glass Yage Vit Drowning Through Your Gills I Breathe First Death In The Family _
FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON PRESENT AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS The Isness Artful Records 2002 Buy it on line now	The Lovers The Isness The Mello Hippo Disco Show Goodbye Sky (Reprise) Elysean Feels Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead Divinity Guru Song Osho Her Tongue Is Like A Jellyfish Meadows High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh The Galxial Pharmaceutical

THE SURFER'S GUIDE TO FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON

THE ELECTRONIC BRAIN
This mistrerious site was put together for the release of Dead Cities and hasn't been update since. Interesting though...

THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON SOUNDSCAPE
Very informative page on FSOL, including a complete discography up to Dead Cities, biography and a lot of additional information.