The FSOL Message Board

Hurray, the CD was awaiting my return from work to turn my Monday from bad to fantastic!

...

What the fuck was that?

A mind-blowing experience courtesy of FSOL. Thank you

Now my brain needs to digest, ingest, redigest, read the Reader's Digest...

I jest.

And now for the encore of the bonus EP...

How's the booklet art?

Finally getting to leave the office - been looking forward to hearing this all weekend !

Ok, just listened the bonus ep. Great stuff, but does not quite fit the album´s style. Obviously more 90ies-tingled material. Makes appetite for archive 8... not that I want to appear to be greedy or something... And agreed, Hereafter is the highlight.

btw I got no ep cover art - maybe that was just for the mp3/FLAC - customers?

Pinyaka wrote:Only mp3 has been the norm for the bonus EPs.

True, but up until recently the FSOL download shop was mp3 only. I figured with the new support for flac that we'd get the EP in lossless.

Ross wrote:How's the booklet art?

The booklet are is pretty nice. As it folds out, the CD cover is the centre part of a wider image, which is cool. On the back there are 3 other images with a bit of a sound wave doodad over them.

Gotta say, other than knowing of FSOL 20 years ago, I think I became a fan at the right time, as in some ways this is my first FSOL album.

I became a fan in September 2012 (it's almost two years to the day since I got Lifeforms), so this is the first FSOL album since I became a fan and the first I got to pre-order and listen to when it was released. It's nice that it's their first album of totally new material and, although it might be a bit early to say after one listen, in my mind right now, this is quite easily the best of the Environment(s) series

Oh, and the EP sounded great as well - listened to that twice

Having trouble downloading it at the mo ... keep getting 'Failed - Network error' - persevering though. I'll tell you what was a nice surprise though: From The Archive Vol. 7 ! I must've bought an downloaded it in my wild spree in 2012, heard it once and then completely forgot about it. When I saw it in my download archive I thought 'Bloooddyyy hell, don't remember buying this at all ?!'

Postman Pat hasn't delivered mine yet. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow or I'll be getting twitchy.

Ah wow, a fold-out sleeve. Will be waiting for that to appear on Discogs at some point so I can have a closer peek - I imagine the vinyl art will be slightly more minimal (made up for by size of course!)

I ordered 15 physical items from FSOLDigital.com 2 days ago. (ENV5 CD +12" included)
I don't expect them in the next two week, but when they arrive... well...

I decided to wait until midnight until I put this beast.. listening with with my RME & Sennheisers in complete silence.. flawless production as always. It always blows me away. Also, the mastering volume levels are proper FSOL = LOW which is always good.

I'm not really hearing anything like Dead Cities (and didn't expect either).. instead, I'm hearing vibes from stuff like EBS 5-7 and the latest Environments albums. For me, this is just the perfect continuation to the series. Very ambient-ish, very organic, very melancholic.

Yeah FSOL sure knows how to please music lovers and audiophiles alike.

Lifeforms being the prime example. I'm still hearing new things every time I listen to it (CD version) in complete silence and darkness with headphones. Not sure if I'm just imaginging new things or not, it's unbelievably detailed.

WELL THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY CRACKING - THANKS BRIAN, THANKS GARY !

Thought 'In Solitude We Are Least Alone' was gonna break out into full on Ragga Jungle at one point (would've loved it if it did ). The 3 bonus tracks were incredible as well - may even prefer them to some of those in the main album !

Similar in some ways to EV3, very formless, free flowing with little track structure and more of an improvisational feel. It's as if we were all traveling down the FSOL hallway, passed a window, turned and went through it together.

Hmm, I think I hear E5 a bit differently to most people. Although I agree with it sounding somewhat improvisational, there seems to be more structure and melody than in the previous Environments. Which, to me, is a very good thing.

Can't wait to have a 2nd listen!