A 20-track, 80-minute journey through cosmic consciousness, courtesy of The Future Sound Of London.
A seemingly random but well-timed comment last weekend coincided with an idea that had been percolating in my mind for a while. In response to the Stuff compilation CD I posted, blureu enquired,
"Have you ever done a The Future Sound Of London compilation post? Just curious. Thanks!"
My immediate thought was, "Yes, lots!", so I was quite surprised that whilst Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain have featured here regularly, they've only had one selection dedicated to
their own work, in August 2021. Even then, it was a relatively brisk
(under an hour) selection of remixes of other artists as either The Future Sound Of
London or The Amorphous Androgynous. You can find that post and selection here.
I was suitably inspired to have a go at creating a new selection and, I'll be honest, I'm really pleased with it. One of those mixes where each track was offering itself up whilst the previous one was playing; the sequencing is my first take, no changes, no fancy mixing, quite a lot of edits and overlays and...I love it.
I also surprised myself with some of the track choices and the feel of the selection overall. It was an entirely intuitive mix so whilst I expected to include Lifeforms or Cascades, for example, I instead found myself choosing Max from 1996's Dead Cities or an obscure John Peel session from 1992 or a FSOL remix of Candese, one of their many aliases and collected on the essential Earthbeat compilation.
It's also given me the opportunity to share a few tracks from their annual calendar series, which I've subscribed to for the past few years.
This one inevitably is for blureu - thanks, I got a real buzz from creating this selection.
1) Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead (Live ISDN Transmission From The Kitchen, New York) (1994)
2) Elaborate Burn (1994)
3) Max (1996)
4) Papua New Guinea (Mellow Magic Maze Mix By Patrick Woodcock & Pierre Begon-Lours) (2001)
5) Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix - 7" Edit) (1992)
6) Hidden Sign (2008)
7) Space Hippy (John Peel Session) (1992)
8) Deconstructed Room (2019)
9) We Have Explosive (Pt. 1-outro / Pt. 2-Remix By Leon Mar / Pt. 3-intro) (1997)
10) Day One (FSOL Cosmic Jukebox Mix v1): Deadly Avenger (2002)
11) 100 Baby Spiders (2008)
12) You Took My Love (Earth Mix By The Future Sound Of London): Candese (1991)
13) Mango Tree (Version) (2007)
14) Papua New Guinea (Translation 8: The Big Blue) (2009)
15) Utterance (2020)
16) Are They Fightin Us (1994)
17) Slow Photo (2017)
18) Opk Machines Trx M2 (2022)
19) Zen Jenny (2021)
20) Calcium (Album Version) (1991)
1991: Accelerator: 20
1991: You Took My Love EP: 12
1992: Papua New Guinea EP: 51992: The BBC Sessions EP (bootleg): 7
1994: ISDN: 1, 161994: Lifeforms: 2
1996: Dead Cities: 3
1997: We Have Explosive EP: 9
2001: Accelerator / Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology (2x CD): 4
2002: We Took Pelham EP: 10
2007: From The Archives Vol. 3: 13
2008: From The Archives Vol. 4: 6, 11
2009: Papua New Guinea Translations: 14
2020: FSOL Calendar 2020: 15
2021: FSOL Calendar 2021: 19
2022: FSOL Calendar 2022: 8, 18
2023: FSOL Calendar 2023: 17
Nailing it, another of my favorites. And what a selection you've pulled together, simply incredible. I'm checking out that older mix of yours as well. Though I have all these releases, I love hearing how you order the tracks. Thank you! Just gave me some great music for the day.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's great to hear, thanks Mooz. Likewise, I really enjoy hearing other people's mixes, what they choose and how they sequence it and always discovering new (or previously missed) music along the way. Your blog has been a real treasure trove, with consistently excellent and diverse mixes. Thanks, keep them coming!
DeleteThanks for taking the time for my request. Great to hear you enjoyed putting it together. Can't wait to listen!
ReplyDeleteI hope you liked it, blureu. The selection had a few airings at Casa K over the weekend.
DeleteFor someone who doesn't own any TFSOL which album would you recommend to start ?
ReplyDeleteIs Teachings From The Electronic Brain worth a purchase too? Thanks!
Oooh, that's a tough one, bluereu! Working backwards, I'm very tempted to say that unless you see Teachings From The Electronic Brain for sale ridiculously cheap, skip it or at least don't start with it. Yes, it has all the "hits" from their time on the Virgin label, but it kind of misses the point of FSOL albums which are also generally woven into a single, continuous narrative. I was trying to do the same with my own selection, albeit heavy handedly...!
DeleteIf I had to pick one album to start with, it would probably have to be Lifeforms (1994), which works well over the two 'sides'/CDs...but I'd also recommend Lifeforms the single, which is a 7-part suite over 40+ minutes and features Elizabeth Fraser.
If you're looking for their debut album Accelerator, the release to go for is the 10th anniversary deluxe edition, which pairs it with the Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology, including the full length 11+ min Andrew Weatherall Mix which as of itself would be worth the price you pay.
Lastly, I'd also recommend their parallel project The Amorphous Androgynous' 2002 album The Isness, which is a spectacular on contemporary prog with Gary supplying vocals.
P.S. And for some top notch early 90s techno, the Earthbeat compilation is a must-buy. An impressive 'various artists' collection...but all FSOL under different names!