Environments 6
Re: Environments 6
No, me too. I'm sure if they would release their FSOL-stuff with other concepts and titles as "archives" and "Environments", they would gain much more attention. Maybe a lot of people are tempted to view the Env-series as an ongoing series of "more of the same" instead of the diverse and different albums they actually are, which maybe keeps them from listening.Ross wrote:But I would still prefer if they were all considered separate albums rather than connected when they really don't sound connected. But that's just me...
Edit: but of course I respect their artistic decisions, it's all still part of the mystery
Magnificient Insignificance
Re: Environments 6
That's just knocked my hopes of my copy showing up today down a few notches. Oh well, at least it gives us something to look forward to early next week...Ross wrote:Nothing in the post. ffs.
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Pandemonium
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Re: Environments 6
Geek observation 
cover pictures credit (in the digital file) a printing company from Kent:
http://radprint.com/
cover pictures credit (in the digital file) a printing company from Kent:
http://radprint.com/
You're doin' too much, do less.
Re: Environments 6
Just found out about the new record(s)...excellent, just bought them.Pandemonium wrote: People of our generations are too used to 'albums' forgetting the fact that the LP concept is a music industry product that was awesome and peaked through the 60s / 70s / 80s / 90s but that's about it.
Just a reply to your sentence...we are used to albums, of course, but FSOL also are. They keep on releasing full albums, albeit they also release little EPs...but their focus is clearly on albums. So each of their 39 full albums (6+6.5 is the 40th) is an album and has a concept on its own.
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Pandemonium
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Re: Environments 6
Yes Mr. Gabo,
but they don't do standard albums do they...
They iterate and make series, of mixes, of themes, of lots of things...
Something similar is happening in the video world - movies became 99% shit, while TV series got genius quality.
but they don't do standard albums do they...
They iterate and make series, of mixes, of themes, of lots of things...
Something similar is happening in the video world - movies became 99% shit, while TV series got genius quality.
You're doin' too much, do less.
Re: Environments 6
They have their own way of doing things which i like..they aint going to be governed by anyone else.They've done the record company route and probably been burnt doing that..no they cannot get the exposure being on a major label gives you but i don't think they are arsed about that.Long may it continue.
The future sound of the future sound of london.
The future sound of the future sound of london.
Re: Environments 6
[/quote](6+6.5 is the 40th) [/quote]
Really? Quite a heavy amount of releases, almost Frank-Zappa-like
Really? Quite a heavy amount of releases, almost Frank-Zappa-like
Magnificient Insignificance
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ronniedobbs
- Expander
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Re: Environments 6
We are such spoiled fans "only 4 albums this year? What's the hold up?" lol
play this backwards and you'll hear evil messages
Re: Environments 6
Listening from digital this evening, here are my first impressions.
Environment Six
I think a more casual fan who's not heard stuff like Blackhill Transmitter, Synthi A, Part-Sub-Merged etc. is going to get a hell of a shock trying to get their head around this album. It's almost the polar opposite of Environments II in style, and yet the final effect is similar - it's not an album of tracks in the slightest, but a single flowing work. Whilst I think Environment Five had some very singular sounding individual pieces that were immediately striking and memorable - almost to the detriment of the flow of the whole record - this is almost a collection of sketches (although they're more fleshed out than that). The tracks stop and start quite abruptly at times. The overall sound is much, much more electronic than we've had from FSOL in quite a long time, and there's a lot of analogue synth stuff. It's not much of a leap to guess that this is a bit more of a Brian record, in sound at least. I would imagine Gaz's contribution will have been more in composition than anything - it's certainly a very melodic album, maybe more than we're used to in FSOL. Really beautiful, tuneful stuff almost all the way through. Overall, the nearest comparison I can think of is maybe Electric Brain Storm 7. Definitely has that hauntological, dark, melancholic feel, analogue electronics. You can hear Brian's life in a church in the middle of a forest in the more mystical part of the country seeping through into this one. It's a very British sounding album to me. I'd also say that if you struggled with the starker, more electronic sound of Archived 8, this might not be your favourite in the series. There are definitely comparison points between the two. And the tracks (because I'm the sort of idiot who'd do this on such a fragmented pair of albums that are totally un-track-y)...
Polarize - exceptionally loud and clangy. They haven't sounded this harsh since Dead Cities. Gorgeous melancholic melody. Gaz's 'euphoric sadness' is heavily at play on both of these records. As an opener it reminds me of March of the Money Men from Archive 6.
Mountain Path - from which we can see, no doubt, a mountain goat. Tinkling stream, guitar loops - I don't think the name is a coincidence. This is a return to, or even a remix of, Mountain Goat. It's absolutely beautiful too, a very serene piece.
Thought Pattern - really beautiful. Twinkly synths, gurgling beats. Gotta be some EMS in here. Pretty haunting stuff.
Motioned - one of a few pieces here which are somewhere between segues and full tracks - kind of like Abyss and Gills on Dead Cities in that regard. Reminds me a lot of the Yage album. Moody with some light percussion. Really getting an EBS 4/6/7 vibe from this. Sinister undercurrents from the wilds of the forest.
Lichaen - misspelling of Lichen maybe. Back to the melancholic plinky melodies and layers of glitchy rhythm here again. I'm sure a lot of this comes from live jams in Brian's studio. I love how this begins to sound more hopeful at the end, lovely change of tone. The last 15 seconds really remind of something, another track just heavily filtered so there's only some top end. Pretty piece.
Forest Soundbed - this is from an EBS. 'The Trees', maybe? Will have to check. I love this sort of thing, works so well as a segue. And a much needed respite from the beat madness.
Sol 7 - speaking of beat madness, lots of weird noises going on here. Hints of Autechre in the beats. More reverbed minor key melodies. There's more of a consistency between the style of the tracks on this record than any previous 'FSOL' album, which is partly why it reminds me of some of the side projects.
Hurt - and now we enter a run of short interlude-style tracks that I think might be better spread throughout the album rather than all together. They almost derail the pace the album has picked up, after a bunch of rhythmic tracks. Synth sequence here, some noises. Not much to say.
Wild Weather - the album's only real concession to the modern classical elements of the previous Environments. Discordant and really quite sinister.
Unclear Vape - this one almost threatens to become a full track but doesn't quite make it. A stuttered, almost uncertain sound in both the melody and the rhythm. Quite an odd piece.
Voyeur - this one sounds like Zeebox. Some field recordings, a dark distorted drone, some very unsettling sounds there. Very, very EBS sounding.
Seq/-9 - what
Exerting Force or Influence - field recordings again, lots of abstract sound. Again, this would be a brilliant segue if it were between full-length songs. And that segues into...
Symphony for Halia - going to assume Halia is the Greek mythological character and not the restaurant in Singapore's botanical gardens. Back into analogue synth territory here. This one is really fucking beautiful. Dark and dramatic. If there's an obvious stand-out on the album, it's definitely this.
Imagined Friends - more abstract stuff. The clocks from Clock' (and later Newfoundland) reappear here, with a more sinister feel.
Electric Pastrol - if anything on this album is old material reworked, it's gotta be this one. It really sounds like an early, dancey track with all the dancey elements taken out of it. When the tambourine beat comes in, it really sounds like a breakbeat with all the low end completely filtered out. Some synth stabs. Yeah, this must originate from the same sessions as Coast Line and Cross Winds from Archive 6. Lovely strings, really nice piece.
Plausibility - the flute in this is really familiar. I can't pinpoint it and it's really annoying me. Anyone? Back to the dark, sinister woodland undergrowth. Plinky noises, some discordant synth, slow beats. Not sure how much I like this one, but it's definitely very atmospheric.
Yut Moik - oh I haven't a fucking clue what that means. Back to the analogue synth style again. Plinky arpeggios, some mournful chords, 303 squelches in the background. Not the strongest of this genre, but nice regardless.
Beyond the Field of Vision - outro to the previous track, with guitar, reminds me of the end of Dead Skin Cells (structurally, not musically). Nice stuff, especially the flute, really consolidates the rustic/rural feel of the EBS series again.
Leak Stereo 70 - I'm guessing this is the long disturbing one a bit like Vast Landscape that Dennis mentioned. The two tracks are kind of different (this is a lot faster for a start) but the same feeling of foreboding, almost something unstoppable marching towards you, is definitely there. This is very uneasy!
Pipe Dream - and a bit of relief after those six minutes of madness, some nice degraded loops, dreamy synth drones. Some rolling acoustic percussion (very Blackhill Transmitter sounding) giving it a loose, free feel. This is really necessary after that last track. Absolutely lovely little piece. Works as a standalone track and a segue, too.
Meanders - the drums continue from the previous piece, along with some field recordings. Back into plinky synth arpeggio territory again. More pretty, melancholic melodies. Actually fades out at the end...
Solace - ...and this fades in. The title is perfect. Birdsong field recordings, a slow, almost stately drum part (although it still has that analogue drum machine feel from the bulk of the album), some lovely chords and synth washes. Probably the most chilled sounding piece I've ever heard to contain a 303 bassline, hah. And some wonderful, bright chords near the end. A really great ending to the album. After a somewhat troubling journey through the forest, we finally exit to open country and the sun appears from behind the clouds.
Environment 6.5
With music software that puts numbers before letters alphabetically (i.e. pretty much all of it), this is above Six in the listing. You have no idea how irritating I find that...
This is basically the album I was expecting. It picks up on the proggy, psychedelic electronic sound that was developed over the previous volumes. Gaz definitely had more of a say in the arrangements here. I almost wonder whether they intentionally made the albums like this - Gaz coming up with musical ideas and sending them to Brian to arrange on Six, and vice-versa on 6.5.
Something else, this album is mixed loud, with a lot of bass. Despite the piano interludes, Five was obviously not an ambient album, and this really pushes that further. There are some definite grooves on this record.
Despite all that, I'm not saying this sounds like an Amorphous album by any means. It's definitely more electronic than Five. You can hear big flourishes of analogue synths in Five, and they're much more to the fore here. It's still totally in keeping with the development we heard between 4/5/Life in Moments. Overall, it feels like it has maybe less of an identity than Six, a bit like Life in Moments in that regard. It's less of a very obvious soundscape in the way classic FSOL albums are.
Axis of Rotation - without doubt, the weirdest opening to a FSOL album ever. Almost twisted circus music. Big synth chords fade into the next track.
Solid Earth - immediately marks this out as being different, with a slow rolling percussive beat, ethnic drums in there, big chords from the previous track that are kind of playful but quite dramatic too - slightly spacey maybe. This is a soundtracking something vast and grand. The solid nature of the Earth, perhaps? Definite Environments 4 vibe from this. Female vocal samples, something the previous one was very much missing.
Anacro Rhythm - Amorphous piano that's been used quite a bit. Sitar and another stringed instrument. Booming acoustic percussion. This follows in the psych-electronic vibe of E4/5 and some of the more electronic Amorphous stuff on Peppermint Tree.
Some Degree of Sanctuary - ok, the guitar in this is from something else, but I can't remember what. An earlier Environment or possibly even a segue part of The Peppermint Tree. Who wants to identify that? Otherwise, lots of layers of synths in this one, very analogue, but in a cleaner, more spacey sounding way than on Six.
Opal Light - beats and moody synths are back for this. A bit like something from Six but without that album's skittishness, tied down to more of a groove. Incredibly melancholic. God, there's a lot of compression on this album, this is a big thick wad of sound. Some tape hiss in there. Lots of weird noises going on in the background. Very dark stuff.
Something Approaching Happiness - well here we go, it's the long-awaited FSOL dub track. I'm not sure what I make of this at all. Bass-led. Bit of funky organ appearing in the background occasionally. Some synth strings. Yeah. Er.
Dark Seed - I'm kind of with Tim on the piano here. I wonder if there's the root of an old track in here. More glitchy beats again, this reminds me of bits of Six, but also some Archived stuff. Nice emotive chords.
Tunnel North 5 - analogue synth and sound effects segue. Not much else to say.
Hollow Earth - been waiting a long time for this one and it doesn't disappoint. Some real computer game soundtrack vibes from this, big, melodramatic synth harpsichord and harp and stuff. I'm sure some people will find this unbearably cheesy but I fucking love it. It just builds and builds and builds. Big pounding drum section! Brilliant. The melody just after 5 minutes is really familiar and I can't work out why. Anyway yes, proper epic, brilliant stuff.
I Dream in Viral Blue - jazzy drums, big orchestral sounds, this one's going to be a popular one I think. Kind of wish the drums were a tad higher in the mix. Brilliantly structured piece, feels a lot less like a jam than some of this. Something about the ending works particularly well.
This Place - a short interlude based around guitar drone. Definite Fripp & Eno vibes from the sound, although the melody comes across quite celtic. I wonder if this came from the sessions with Nick McCabe. Really lovely piece anyway.
Ain't Gonna Lie - I ain't gonna lie, I wasn't looking forward to this one. Something about the title made me think it'd sound like Suburban Domestic, which is an EP I don't like. But instead it's a lovely synth piece. Lots of analogue sequences again, quite warm sounding though.
Next Town - and similar could be said for this. Both of these records are strong on arpeggios. Really beautiful chords coming in near the end of this. I wish this one had been developed into a full-length track, there's tons of potential for a devastating beautiful epic here. I wonder if this is the next town after the Small Town.
Amplification of Intelligence - moody ambient interlude. A plucked note, some strings, field recordings. It could almost be on Six, but then we get hints of backwards guitar and organ and the warmer, earthier tone returns.
The Day the Poles Shifted - DRAMA. Boom. Backwards guitar. Slow beat. Flute sample (very similar to the Chile of the Bass Generation / Voodoo People one). Returning to the big psych-prog-tronica approach again. This is almost daft but it just falls on the right side of the line. I'm sure Gaz predicted the poles would shift in 2012. I wonder why that never happened...
Somewhere Near - some 1993/94 transmission samples in the background there. I have absolutely no idea why that was a separate track.
Halodule - back to the synths + beats formula of Six, but with what sounds like sampled breaks instead of drum machines. I thought this was another made up word, but it's actually a genus of plant. A nice little piece, although I am beginning to question the need for so many similar tracks.
Gradual but Not Continuous - the beats in this remind me of Architektur from Environments 4, those big pounding snares. This has some superbly beautiful reverb-coated melodic stuff going on in the background though. Lovely piece.
Magnox - noises and flutes, strings and piano. Segue territory. That flute sounds somewhat familiar actually.
Emissions of Light - with the beat and the synth stab at the start, I genuinely thought for a second that this was going into full on EDM/dubstep territory. Thankfully it doesn't, but it's really quite surprising, especially after such a quiet piece. I'm not taken with this one, EDM stab or not, though. It just doesn't seem to do enough throughout its runtime to warrant inclusion, just wanders around the same chord and loops without doing much. Also, fuck trying to remember the song titles on these albums. This one feels like a title from Five, which I still don't remember most of the names of.
Harbour - some sounds, and I think there's a field recording of a harbour in there. Yup.
Bright Skies - percussion, piano, is that someone whistling in the background? The synths remind me of those on I Turn to Face the Sun. Another short, melodic piece - definitely getting FSOL fatigue by this point! - but definitely a pretty one.
Strange Allure - much like Solace on Six, this closes down the album on a quiet note. Some moody synth pads, sounding quite sad and resigned.
Ever the critic, I do wonder what a single 75 minute album carved from these sessions would be like. They're both fairly sprawling, to the point of being intimidating, and being mixed up could possibly add a touch more variation (although this might end up making the final record slightly less consistent). And although it's far from the 10 full-lengths we had thrust upon us in March 2007, I also wonder if these would have been better released separately. Despite a number of them being segues, 46 tracks is a cuntload of music to try and let sink in. The main reason I don't know the first three archives as well as the later ones is it was just impossible to take in that many tracks at once. Given the number of three minute long plinky synth tracks in here I'm not sure there will be quite so many 'classics' as on previous records. But these are small complaints really.
The main thing I felt from these albums is something I feel compelled to really push: this isn't a double album, it really feels like two separate records. They definitely have similarities, but overall they are stylistically pretty different. Environment Six is heavily reminiscent of the later EBS mixes in mood, and very electronic in style. It's almost as if the best bits of Ignition of the Sun and Blackhill Transmitter were given a melodic polish by Gaz and mixed together as an EBS mix. 6.5 is much more in line with the previous Environments, mixing in psychedelia with breaks and ambient, and it has more of an emotional feel compared to the more sinister undercurrent of Six. The few more electronic pieces feel more reminiscent of, say, Machines of the Subconscious being the electronic element of Environment Five, than being the main thrust of the album.
Overall, I'd say together they are expansive, intimidating, possibly over-long, but most very, very beautiful. And thankfully that last one overshadows the others.
These are, of course, first impressions, and with an absurdly dense piece of work like this, I have a feeling I'll be listening / thinking about / talking about it for a long time to come.
Environment Six
I think a more casual fan who's not heard stuff like Blackhill Transmitter, Synthi A, Part-Sub-Merged etc. is going to get a hell of a shock trying to get their head around this album. It's almost the polar opposite of Environments II in style, and yet the final effect is similar - it's not an album of tracks in the slightest, but a single flowing work. Whilst I think Environment Five had some very singular sounding individual pieces that were immediately striking and memorable - almost to the detriment of the flow of the whole record - this is almost a collection of sketches (although they're more fleshed out than that). The tracks stop and start quite abruptly at times. The overall sound is much, much more electronic than we've had from FSOL in quite a long time, and there's a lot of analogue synth stuff. It's not much of a leap to guess that this is a bit more of a Brian record, in sound at least. I would imagine Gaz's contribution will have been more in composition than anything - it's certainly a very melodic album, maybe more than we're used to in FSOL. Really beautiful, tuneful stuff almost all the way through. Overall, the nearest comparison I can think of is maybe Electric Brain Storm 7. Definitely has that hauntological, dark, melancholic feel, analogue electronics. You can hear Brian's life in a church in the middle of a forest in the more mystical part of the country seeping through into this one. It's a very British sounding album to me. I'd also say that if you struggled with the starker, more electronic sound of Archived 8, this might not be your favourite in the series. There are definitely comparison points between the two. And the tracks (because I'm the sort of idiot who'd do this on such a fragmented pair of albums that are totally un-track-y)...
Polarize - exceptionally loud and clangy. They haven't sounded this harsh since Dead Cities. Gorgeous melancholic melody. Gaz's 'euphoric sadness' is heavily at play on both of these records. As an opener it reminds me of March of the Money Men from Archive 6.
Mountain Path - from which we can see, no doubt, a mountain goat. Tinkling stream, guitar loops - I don't think the name is a coincidence. This is a return to, or even a remix of, Mountain Goat. It's absolutely beautiful too, a very serene piece.
Thought Pattern - really beautiful. Twinkly synths, gurgling beats. Gotta be some EMS in here. Pretty haunting stuff.
Motioned - one of a few pieces here which are somewhere between segues and full tracks - kind of like Abyss and Gills on Dead Cities in that regard. Reminds me a lot of the Yage album. Moody with some light percussion. Really getting an EBS 4/6/7 vibe from this. Sinister undercurrents from the wilds of the forest.
Lichaen - misspelling of Lichen maybe. Back to the melancholic plinky melodies and layers of glitchy rhythm here again. I'm sure a lot of this comes from live jams in Brian's studio. I love how this begins to sound more hopeful at the end, lovely change of tone. The last 15 seconds really remind of something, another track just heavily filtered so there's only some top end. Pretty piece.
Forest Soundbed - this is from an EBS. 'The Trees', maybe? Will have to check. I love this sort of thing, works so well as a segue. And a much needed respite from the beat madness.
Sol 7 - speaking of beat madness, lots of weird noises going on here. Hints of Autechre in the beats. More reverbed minor key melodies. There's more of a consistency between the style of the tracks on this record than any previous 'FSOL' album, which is partly why it reminds me of some of the side projects.
Hurt - and now we enter a run of short interlude-style tracks that I think might be better spread throughout the album rather than all together. They almost derail the pace the album has picked up, after a bunch of rhythmic tracks. Synth sequence here, some noises. Not much to say.
Wild Weather - the album's only real concession to the modern classical elements of the previous Environments. Discordant and really quite sinister.
Unclear Vape - this one almost threatens to become a full track but doesn't quite make it. A stuttered, almost uncertain sound in both the melody and the rhythm. Quite an odd piece.
Voyeur - this one sounds like Zeebox. Some field recordings, a dark distorted drone, some very unsettling sounds there. Very, very EBS sounding.
Seq/-9 - what
Exerting Force or Influence - field recordings again, lots of abstract sound. Again, this would be a brilliant segue if it were between full-length songs. And that segues into...
Symphony for Halia - going to assume Halia is the Greek mythological character and not the restaurant in Singapore's botanical gardens. Back into analogue synth territory here. This one is really fucking beautiful. Dark and dramatic. If there's an obvious stand-out on the album, it's definitely this.
Imagined Friends - more abstract stuff. The clocks from Clock' (and later Newfoundland) reappear here, with a more sinister feel.
Electric Pastrol - if anything on this album is old material reworked, it's gotta be this one. It really sounds like an early, dancey track with all the dancey elements taken out of it. When the tambourine beat comes in, it really sounds like a breakbeat with all the low end completely filtered out. Some synth stabs. Yeah, this must originate from the same sessions as Coast Line and Cross Winds from Archive 6. Lovely strings, really nice piece.
Plausibility - the flute in this is really familiar. I can't pinpoint it and it's really annoying me. Anyone? Back to the dark, sinister woodland undergrowth. Plinky noises, some discordant synth, slow beats. Not sure how much I like this one, but it's definitely very atmospheric.
Yut Moik - oh I haven't a fucking clue what that means. Back to the analogue synth style again. Plinky arpeggios, some mournful chords, 303 squelches in the background. Not the strongest of this genre, but nice regardless.
Beyond the Field of Vision - outro to the previous track, with guitar, reminds me of the end of Dead Skin Cells (structurally, not musically). Nice stuff, especially the flute, really consolidates the rustic/rural feel of the EBS series again.
Leak Stereo 70 - I'm guessing this is the long disturbing one a bit like Vast Landscape that Dennis mentioned. The two tracks are kind of different (this is a lot faster for a start) but the same feeling of foreboding, almost something unstoppable marching towards you, is definitely there. This is very uneasy!
Pipe Dream - and a bit of relief after those six minutes of madness, some nice degraded loops, dreamy synth drones. Some rolling acoustic percussion (very Blackhill Transmitter sounding) giving it a loose, free feel. This is really necessary after that last track. Absolutely lovely little piece. Works as a standalone track and a segue, too.
Meanders - the drums continue from the previous piece, along with some field recordings. Back into plinky synth arpeggio territory again. More pretty, melancholic melodies. Actually fades out at the end...
Solace - ...and this fades in. The title is perfect. Birdsong field recordings, a slow, almost stately drum part (although it still has that analogue drum machine feel from the bulk of the album), some lovely chords and synth washes. Probably the most chilled sounding piece I've ever heard to contain a 303 bassline, hah. And some wonderful, bright chords near the end. A really great ending to the album. After a somewhat troubling journey through the forest, we finally exit to open country and the sun appears from behind the clouds.
Environment 6.5
With music software that puts numbers before letters alphabetically (i.e. pretty much all of it), this is above Six in the listing. You have no idea how irritating I find that...
This is basically the album I was expecting. It picks up on the proggy, psychedelic electronic sound that was developed over the previous volumes. Gaz definitely had more of a say in the arrangements here. I almost wonder whether they intentionally made the albums like this - Gaz coming up with musical ideas and sending them to Brian to arrange on Six, and vice-versa on 6.5.
Something else, this album is mixed loud, with a lot of bass. Despite the piano interludes, Five was obviously not an ambient album, and this really pushes that further. There are some definite grooves on this record.
Despite all that, I'm not saying this sounds like an Amorphous album by any means. It's definitely more electronic than Five. You can hear big flourishes of analogue synths in Five, and they're much more to the fore here. It's still totally in keeping with the development we heard between 4/5/Life in Moments. Overall, it feels like it has maybe less of an identity than Six, a bit like Life in Moments in that regard. It's less of a very obvious soundscape in the way classic FSOL albums are.
Axis of Rotation - without doubt, the weirdest opening to a FSOL album ever. Almost twisted circus music. Big synth chords fade into the next track.
Solid Earth - immediately marks this out as being different, with a slow rolling percussive beat, ethnic drums in there, big chords from the previous track that are kind of playful but quite dramatic too - slightly spacey maybe. This is a soundtracking something vast and grand. The solid nature of the Earth, perhaps? Definite Environments 4 vibe from this. Female vocal samples, something the previous one was very much missing.
Anacro Rhythm - Amorphous piano that's been used quite a bit. Sitar and another stringed instrument. Booming acoustic percussion. This follows in the psych-electronic vibe of E4/5 and some of the more electronic Amorphous stuff on Peppermint Tree.
Some Degree of Sanctuary - ok, the guitar in this is from something else, but I can't remember what. An earlier Environment or possibly even a segue part of The Peppermint Tree. Who wants to identify that? Otherwise, lots of layers of synths in this one, very analogue, but in a cleaner, more spacey sounding way than on Six.
Opal Light - beats and moody synths are back for this. A bit like something from Six but without that album's skittishness, tied down to more of a groove. Incredibly melancholic. God, there's a lot of compression on this album, this is a big thick wad of sound. Some tape hiss in there. Lots of weird noises going on in the background. Very dark stuff.
Something Approaching Happiness - well here we go, it's the long-awaited FSOL dub track. I'm not sure what I make of this at all. Bass-led. Bit of funky organ appearing in the background occasionally. Some synth strings. Yeah. Er.
Dark Seed - I'm kind of with Tim on the piano here. I wonder if there's the root of an old track in here. More glitchy beats again, this reminds me of bits of Six, but also some Archived stuff. Nice emotive chords.
Tunnel North 5 - analogue synth and sound effects segue. Not much else to say.
Hollow Earth - been waiting a long time for this one and it doesn't disappoint. Some real computer game soundtrack vibes from this, big, melodramatic synth harpsichord and harp and stuff. I'm sure some people will find this unbearably cheesy but I fucking love it. It just builds and builds and builds. Big pounding drum section! Brilliant. The melody just after 5 minutes is really familiar and I can't work out why. Anyway yes, proper epic, brilliant stuff.
I Dream in Viral Blue - jazzy drums, big orchestral sounds, this one's going to be a popular one I think. Kind of wish the drums were a tad higher in the mix. Brilliantly structured piece, feels a lot less like a jam than some of this. Something about the ending works particularly well.
This Place - a short interlude based around guitar drone. Definite Fripp & Eno vibes from the sound, although the melody comes across quite celtic. I wonder if this came from the sessions with Nick McCabe. Really lovely piece anyway.
Ain't Gonna Lie - I ain't gonna lie, I wasn't looking forward to this one. Something about the title made me think it'd sound like Suburban Domestic, which is an EP I don't like. But instead it's a lovely synth piece. Lots of analogue sequences again, quite warm sounding though.
Next Town - and similar could be said for this. Both of these records are strong on arpeggios. Really beautiful chords coming in near the end of this. I wish this one had been developed into a full-length track, there's tons of potential for a devastating beautiful epic here. I wonder if this is the next town after the Small Town.
Amplification of Intelligence - moody ambient interlude. A plucked note, some strings, field recordings. It could almost be on Six, but then we get hints of backwards guitar and organ and the warmer, earthier tone returns.
The Day the Poles Shifted - DRAMA. Boom. Backwards guitar. Slow beat. Flute sample (very similar to the Chile of the Bass Generation / Voodoo People one). Returning to the big psych-prog-tronica approach again. This is almost daft but it just falls on the right side of the line. I'm sure Gaz predicted the poles would shift in 2012. I wonder why that never happened...
Somewhere Near - some 1993/94 transmission samples in the background there. I have absolutely no idea why that was a separate track.
Halodule - back to the synths + beats formula of Six, but with what sounds like sampled breaks instead of drum machines. I thought this was another made up word, but it's actually a genus of plant. A nice little piece, although I am beginning to question the need for so many similar tracks.
Gradual but Not Continuous - the beats in this remind me of Architektur from Environments 4, those big pounding snares. This has some superbly beautiful reverb-coated melodic stuff going on in the background though. Lovely piece.
Magnox - noises and flutes, strings and piano. Segue territory. That flute sounds somewhat familiar actually.
Emissions of Light - with the beat and the synth stab at the start, I genuinely thought for a second that this was going into full on EDM/dubstep territory. Thankfully it doesn't, but it's really quite surprising, especially after such a quiet piece. I'm not taken with this one, EDM stab or not, though. It just doesn't seem to do enough throughout its runtime to warrant inclusion, just wanders around the same chord and loops without doing much. Also, fuck trying to remember the song titles on these albums. This one feels like a title from Five, which I still don't remember most of the names of.
Harbour - some sounds, and I think there's a field recording of a harbour in there. Yup.
Bright Skies - percussion, piano, is that someone whistling in the background? The synths remind me of those on I Turn to Face the Sun. Another short, melodic piece - definitely getting FSOL fatigue by this point! - but definitely a pretty one.
Strange Allure - much like Solace on Six, this closes down the album on a quiet note. Some moody synth pads, sounding quite sad and resigned.
Ever the critic, I do wonder what a single 75 minute album carved from these sessions would be like. They're both fairly sprawling, to the point of being intimidating, and being mixed up could possibly add a touch more variation (although this might end up making the final record slightly less consistent). And although it's far from the 10 full-lengths we had thrust upon us in March 2007, I also wonder if these would have been better released separately. Despite a number of them being segues, 46 tracks is a cuntload of music to try and let sink in. The main reason I don't know the first three archives as well as the later ones is it was just impossible to take in that many tracks at once. Given the number of three minute long plinky synth tracks in here I'm not sure there will be quite so many 'classics' as on previous records. But these are small complaints really.
The main thing I felt from these albums is something I feel compelled to really push: this isn't a double album, it really feels like two separate records. They definitely have similarities, but overall they are stylistically pretty different. Environment Six is heavily reminiscent of the later EBS mixes in mood, and very electronic in style. It's almost as if the best bits of Ignition of the Sun and Blackhill Transmitter were given a melodic polish by Gaz and mixed together as an EBS mix. 6.5 is much more in line with the previous Environments, mixing in psychedelia with breaks and ambient, and it has more of an emotional feel compared to the more sinister undercurrent of Six. The few more electronic pieces feel more reminiscent of, say, Machines of the Subconscious being the electronic element of Environment Five, than being the main thrust of the album.
Overall, I'd say together they are expansive, intimidating, possibly over-long, but most very, very beautiful. And thankfully that last one overshadows the others.
These are, of course, first impressions, and with an absurdly dense piece of work like this, I have a feeling I'll be listening / thinking about / talking about it for a long time to come.
Re: Environments 6
Y'know, the more I think about this, the more it seems convincing. Some of the more psych/proggy sounding pieces on 6.5 have that 'lots going on' vibe of Amorphous, and also the mixes don't sound quite as clear as those on Six - much like The Peppermint Tree (which I believe Gaz finished up), and it's generally been said that Brian is the engineer of the two.Ross wrote:I almost wonder whether they intentionally made the albums like this - Gaz coming up with musical ideas and sending them to Brian to arrange on Six, and vice-versa on 6.5.
So yeah, I wonder - was Six basically Gaz sending Brian musical ideas which he then translated into a bunch of electronic works in his own style; and then 6.5 was Brian sending Gaz ideas which he arranged into pieces in his more psychedelic style, which would explain why the styles and mixes sound quite different?
edit: Brian says no - the albums were conceived and recorded together, with a lot of the electronic pieces created live by the pair of them at Brian's studio. Although there are a few samples of old bits in there, all the tracks were recorded this year too. There'll be more information about the process in CD booklet apparently!
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Pandemonium
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Re: Environments 6
Image by Buggy G Riphead.
It's a underground walkway in London, a place called 'elephant and castle'.
London fans, please share an un-warped picture of the place
You're doin' too much, do less.
Re: Environments 6
I've listened to the album twice now. I'm not going to go track by track but here are my thoughts on the Six and 6.5:
Personally I think 6.5 is the stronger of the two albums. I also agree with Ross that it doesn't really feel like a double album -- though they play back to back quite nicely. It's very beat heavy and for that I love it (I also really liked Archived 8)
Six: My least favorite part of Six is the sloppy run of segue tracks ('Wild Weather' through 'Seq/-9'). They really ruin the album run sadly. 'Polarize' might be my favorite track of the 46 though. Love love that one. Both the beginning run and end run of tracks are great. Certainly the darker of the two albums.
6:5: This disc reminds me of E4 in some ways but continues with the shorter tracks and segues of Six. I love Hollow Earth (probably fav track of this album). While 'Something Approaching Happiness' has grown on me, I wouldn't have guessed it was an FSOL track if you gave it to me out of context. And I still can't really get into 'Dark Seed' though I like the vocal samples on the later part of the track. Overall I think the segues are a lot stronger on this disc.
I'm really curious where E7 will take us next...
Personally I think 6.5 is the stronger of the two albums. I also agree with Ross that it doesn't really feel like a double album -- though they play back to back quite nicely. It's very beat heavy and for that I love it (I also really liked Archived 8)
Six: My least favorite part of Six is the sloppy run of segue tracks ('Wild Weather' through 'Seq/-9'). They really ruin the album run sadly. 'Polarize' might be my favorite track of the 46 though. Love love that one. Both the beginning run and end run of tracks are great. Certainly the darker of the two albums.
6:5: This disc reminds me of E4 in some ways but continues with the shorter tracks and segues of Six. I love Hollow Earth (probably fav track of this album). While 'Something Approaching Happiness' has grown on me, I wouldn't have guessed it was an FSOL track if you gave it to me out of context. And I still can't really get into 'Dark Seed' though I like the vocal samples on the later part of the track. Overall I think the segues are a lot stronger on this disc.
I'm really curious where E7 will take us next...
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Re: Environments 6
Well the postman finally showed up yesterday in the middle of the afternoon and knocked on the door. Got my hopes right back up, but sadly it was some other crap I had to sign for.
So from what you guys have been saying (mainly Ross)-- these really are two separate albums. I questioned before, if it isn't a double album, why weren't the released separately and why not just call the second of these 7? It doesn't really matter, but I feel like they take some significance away from 6.5 with that name.
Nice to know that it's all basically new stuff. Still annoys me when I see comments from people asking where the NEW FSOL album is. Surely E5 counts and by the sounds of it, these do as well. E4 was mostly new as well, wasn't it? Just because their titles group them in with a series that isn't all new recordings doesn't take away from those releases which are new.
Although I haven't heard the albums yet, I'm glad they're both over an hour. When I put FSOL on I am usually in the mood to just be taken on a journey and I feel that works better with a longer album. I hope the lack of segues (or bad segues?) that Offland mentioned doesn't spoil it.
So from what you guys have been saying (mainly Ross)-- these really are two separate albums. I questioned before, if it isn't a double album, why weren't the released separately and why not just call the second of these 7? It doesn't really matter, but I feel like they take some significance away from 6.5 with that name.
Nice to know that it's all basically new stuff. Still annoys me when I see comments from people asking where the NEW FSOL album is. Surely E5 counts and by the sounds of it, these do as well. E4 was mostly new as well, wasn't it? Just because their titles group them in with a series that isn't all new recordings doesn't take away from those releases which are new.
Although I haven't heard the albums yet, I'm glad they're both over an hour. When I put FSOL on I am usually in the mood to just be taken on a journey and I feel that works better with a longer album. I hope the lack of segues (or bad segues?) that Offland mentioned doesn't spoil it.
Re: Environments 6
The two albums were recorded at the same time which is why they're not 6 and 7. As far as I know, 7 will be something quite different.