Environments 6

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mcbpete
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Re: Environments 6

Post by mcbpete »

What if .... Environment 6 & 6.5 are the ambient brothers of Eurotechno? Whereas Eurotechno was quick channel-surfing flashes of various techno ravey environments, these are also channel-surfing flashes but of various ambienty environments

[/myrandomconjecture]

I can't remember if I posted this here or not, but there's a game I love called a Knytt Underground (I've loved the whole series - this being the third)



Anyway, the soundtrack totally reminds me of the Environments series so I highly recommend it for similar Environment-esque, erm environments! (especially being free !) http://www.ni2.se/downloads/free/Knytt% ... %20OST.zip
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Ross
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Ross »

I think 5 and 6.5, at least, are less consistent in mood and sound than the previous environments - yet they're called singular Environment (suggesting one place), whilst the previous, more consistent ones, are called Environments (suggesting several), which just baffles me.
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Blinker »

I've been on a massive FSOL kick over the last week or so. It's been great. :) I'm still trying to get a handle on these two records. I really like them, I Dream In Viral Blue is still kicking my arse. I keep going back to 6.5 more for some reason. I really need to give 6 more listens as I know it'll reveal itself to me more if I do.

Edit: I'm listening to 6 now. It's really starting to come alive now. I'm really very drawn to Electric Pastrol now. It has a similar sound Room 208 & Nearly Home which are a couple of my favourites. :)
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Pandemonium »

mcbpete wrote:What if .... Environment 6 & 6.5 are the ambient brothers of Eurotechno? Whereas Eurotechno was quick channel-surfing flashes of various techno ravey environments, these are also channel-surfing flashes but of various ambienty environments

[/myrandomconjecture]
It's a nice thought Pete, but that's probably not it.

The more electronic (Humanoid) sound that we hear on both albums are due to Brian dusting off the old Humanoid equipment almost 2 years ago and preparing new material. Which probably inspired the making of new hardware pieces and so on...
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Dennis
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Dennis »

epitome wrote: I think FSOL's best releases since the 90s.
I would agree to this.

Concerning consistency of mood and atmosphere, I think Six has also some very abrupt transitions between stylisticly heavily varied tracks, but it work (but took a while to 'get it'). Reminds me somehow of OPN´s R plus 7, where these sudden changes create a peculiar flow.

The overall 'theme' of both albums seem kind of most similar to Env3 somehow for me, maybe the 'elephant & castle'-walkway on the pictures work subconsciously as they are also on the cover of these various ISDN-transmissions, aren´t they? I get however a heavy end-of-nineties-feel from it, despite the amorphous influences on 6.5 Like a mixture of ISDN-transmissions and EBS-mixes, channeling the 'classic' FSOL more than on any other of their recent albums.

BTW I think Env 5 has a concept as well, wasn´t there some 'life after death'-theme or something? Always listened it with this description in mind, works quite well for me.
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Dennis »

mcbpete wrote:Environment-esque
I would suggest this as title for the next volume... "Environmentesque 7" :)
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Pandemonium »

Environments Six - initial thoughts:
(I know a lot of FSOL fans, casual and hard-core, that waited for an album just like this one for years. Myself included (more or less) in this group, I think this album is mesmerizing and requires tons of attention to listen to, which is great, 'cos it's an incredible grower...)

Polarize opens with sneaky analog warmness, expanding into something lovely and a bit spooky (film noir style). The synth-lines (there are 3 at least) and the environmental effects are overwhelming. The broken beats remind me of some 90s complex IDM stuff, but the production is far better. Crispy and warm at the same time, this album is clearly an imagination sparkler.

Thought Pattern; one of my new favorite tracks. The melody goes excellent with the beats, and then the bleeps come in ... insanity. Is it just me or this album has an insane amount of bleeps and effects that are just perfectly produced? It seems I have a "they don't make 'em like this anymore" moment, but they actually do, don't they?

...more ominous synths and effects, on the slowed side this time. Lichaen; Well fuck me dead! AFX would love to steal this track and put it on his SAW-3 if it ever comes out. This is the first one that's actually not spooky, it starts kinda lethargic and it even goes on the bright side towards the end.

Forest Soundbed; The name says it all - and it sounds like it's taken from the Blair Witch soundtrack. Sol 7; Back to bleepness. Still amazed by the production level. Short burst of emotion lead me to Wild Weather; seriously experimental melodies here, with jazz sounding breakdowns.

Unclear Vape & Seq/-9 confuse me, they seem out-of-place and threw me off the rails for a bit.

Luckily the spooky prequel environment to Symphony for Halia gets me back. Halia is done entirely with the home-made FSOL:Digitana piece of equipment. Very immersive piece of music. The next track is also an extended environment of excellent introspective music.

Electric Pastrol; another brighter side stand out. Sometimes I wonder if they do this intentionally because if the whole album is too submersible and introspective - there's probably a real danger of getting brain-lost in there (that is, if you are under some kind of herbal influence). Plausibility gets me back to some future imaginary scary film noir. Or the better description maybe would be Hauntology. I don't like that word, but I just love this kind of tracks.

Yut Moik; Another great bleepy Aphexoid track. I really don't like to compare people with AFX, but I really mean it in the nicest way possible. A good chunk of AFX work is really phenomenal. What follows is a lovely environment that goes acoustic with flutes, guitars and some strings too.

Leak Stereo 70; Third one that seems out-of-place at the start, but I feel more and more attracted to this track. Reminds me a lot of a certain 90s track and probably borrows some stems from it - I'm gonna have to recheck which one at home.

Pipe Dream is so subtle I got a Lifeforms flashback (for the first and last time on this album). More jazzy drums follow. On the end piece (Solace) the cleverness of how various sounds are done here is beyond measure. It's enjoyable just to listen and wonder...

All in all, extremely immersive album, with only few hiccups - at least that's how it feels like after a few (six to be exact) spins. Definitely one of their best works, in lack of a better description (for the time being).
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epitome
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Re: Environments 6

Post by epitome »

I kinda remember a while back Gaz (or maybe Brian) saying they were getting back into the FSOL-headspace, or something along those lines.

Seems like they got back there with these two albums. As much as I've enjoyed the previous Environment(s) and Archives/d - and there's certainly been plenty of them over the last 9 years! - it's with these new albums that I feel like they've really released something to rival the stuff they released in the 90s. I hope there's lots more to come :)
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Ross
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Ross »

So far I think I prefer 2 and 4 to these, but they're coming in third.
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Dennis »

I would see them also on top of the whole Archived/Environments at the moment, but maybe again it's only because they're new :)
They are so colourful, rich and full of awesome tracks of the most varied styles, among them some of the most emotionally touching tracks they ever did.
Ok it may be not as flowing as Lifeforms or Env2, but I see the level of cohesiveness of a good DJ mix, that also works as an album. A lot of the stuff on the 2 discs puts me heavily back into the mood of their 90's output, more than any other of the Environments.
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Dennis
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Dennis »

Just noticed there´s almost no vocals/voice samples on both albums. Not sure if this was the case on any FSOL album before...?
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Pandemonium »

Damn, you're right, no voices at all...
Gaz must've taken that pretty hard :)
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Ross
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Ross »

Yeah, no spoken bits was something I noticed. 3 only really has the Buggy quote which makes it similar.
In general though they've moved away from samples in general. Lots of live synth jams and their own recordings now. Which is odd given how sampling almost defined them in the 90s.
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Dennis »

Strange that I still get such strong 90ies vibes from it. Must be the weather :)
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Re: Environments 6

Post by Pandemonium »

The 90s vibe comes from the style, samples or no samples,
There are less (or no samples at all lately)
Maybe they just grew in another direction, learned more synths and stuff, so samples are not needed anymore...
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