FSOLdigital

[dell1972]

I've got most of the way through the first part this morning. Is it just me or are the Isness tracks quite different sounding, The Lovers in particular seems to go off in a different direction. ****** is pretty insane with the gunfire going on, and I like the way they've merged Cloudscraper together with Coast from the Heads of Agreement album, that really works. Even Wheel of Life sounds like a different version, but I guess it's all the other stuff they put on it to mix things together. Really nice mix so far.

As for the encoding debate, I'm 40 years old and don't have (or pretend to have) the hearing of a bat. I also prefer to listen to songs rather than analyse graphs of them. Maybe I'm strange.

Sarcasm aside, the extra bandwidth usage required for making flac files available is probably more likely an issue than server space. That and possibly just the hassle of doing it. I think Beatport have the Archives 1-3 Enhanced Editions available in flac, but I think that really is stupidly expensive.

I've also got a large backlog of stuff to listen to. A nice looking box with a very cheesy cover came through the post from The Orb this morning as well, but Fears and Fantasies comes at the top of my list.

[dubmasta]

I also prefer to listen to songs rather than analyse graphs of them. Maybe I'm strange.

same here man, even though i come from a musical family and been in music since i remember myself, i never actually gave so much attention to the music quality as much as the music itself. not that i wouldn't like to listen to vinyls instead of mp3s, but Ive always been more concerned about the music and not the quality, I dont know, its just the way I am. For example i recently found out some audio documentaries from Ian Helliwell about early electronic music and its history, featuring all of early electronica pioneers since the beginning, which are in 128 and 96 bitrate quality. I got excited and loved them so much that i ripped all of them in order to listen to them as typical radio broadcast on my stereo system.

http://www.ianhelliwell.co.uk/tone-generation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also as a classical music lover, i tend to dig up old classical music recordings, from 50s 60s etc. Obviously the recordings dont even come close to the recordings being made today regarding quality, but the performance, ohhhh.....

I'm wondering what 'The Environments Series' is. Is this supposed to be a proper release, or does it just mean 'to be released on later parts of the series?

i might be totally wrong, but the way it sounds i suspect the latter.

[dell1972]

One noticeable and extremely glaring absence from this mix is anything new from the Amorphous Androgynous. Other than their doomed flirtation with Noel Gallagher and the rumoured but even more doomed brush with Paul Weller, it's gone deathly silent in terms of new material from them.

[darktrain]

maybe one day then we will get a true new fsol album..not an environments or archives one but a new and awe inspiring album with all new material complete with bonkers notes from gaz and new artwork from buggy(if they still work with him)...how about it guys?

[dell1972]

Wasn't Environments 4 all new material? It sounded like it to me.

[Pandemonium]

E4 was at least 95% new, but somehow it didn't get the hype and the feeling of a (as darktrain put it) TRUE New FSOL album.

E4 is enough for me, but a completely new FSOL album that will have completely new (non-serial) concept would be a dream come true

[dubmasta]

Yea, I think Pandemonium has a point. Nobody knows of course what is in FSOL's head eventually, but probably there is a meaning that all these albums are parts of "Environments". Doesn't it make sense after all? Even on FSOLdigital when referring to Desquamation it says '...from The Environments Series', so is it possible that "Environments" are a form of transition towards the real "superuknown" that naturally follows Dead Cities?

And let's be honest, even if we adore Environments which are flawless all of them, probably most natural FSOL image would look like "Accelerator ->Lifeforms ->ISDN ->Dead Cities...(("Environments"))...->??!!

[Ross]

The Lovers does indeed sound different, more like the 'Love is the Lover' remix on The Otherness, but even then I don't think it's the same. Maybe something from the scrapped 2008 version of The Isness.
The Wheel of Life is a much more stripped down version, I'm guessing from the Prime World soundtrack given the (Primeworld) addition to the title.

As for new album/not new album, there were obviously slight elements of old material on E4 - the beeps from Dead Cities in Long Day, and the fact that Fibriliation is basically a remix of Glacier, but other than that I think it's all new. My theory is still that it's a mixture of waiting for Gaz to be 100% back into FSOL mode, and that the Environments albums are a slow, steady re-introduction to FSOL. E4 makes a lot of sense following volumes 2 and 3, so it seems like they're slowly introducing more and more new material without making a grand statement about it.

[Dennis]

Honestly, this endless wait for a 'true new Dead Cities Follow Up' has got quite ridiculous since 2008 or so.
C´mon guys, there´s a hell lot of stuff been released since then (with E4 being my personal post millenial FSOL-highlight still), there´s a billion potential releases ahead, I´m afraid we really can´t expect anything more. I mean look at the people at the Aphex Twin or BOC thread on the WATMM forum and you see how your existence can turn into a greedy joylessness waiting endlessly for the event that can and will only dissapoint you when it finally arrives.

[Pandemonium]

@Dennis - you're totally right - since 2007 I couldn't be more satisfied with FSOL and all the projects

And as I said, a New-New album would be a dream come true, but its one of those unimportant dreams
just as long they keep this tempo of releases

[xerkon]

I just read the first post by Graham, not anything else yet, and I have to say that shipping costs are not a problem, at least for me. I feel like I owe half my life to FSOL, and the shipping straight from London over to the USA is not really much more than if I would buy it from Amazon or whatever, and I'd really rather just be sending my money straight to FSOL. Middlemen are great, I guess, for some things...but The Future Sound of London? Nah. Let me grab it straight from the source. I'd even be willing to pay a little more for shipping, considering. MPoV

[LooseLink]

Archive 7.... they really went there.. ah!... I don't know what to think, guess I'll just settle with: AWESOME!

They must have 100s of hours of archived stuff to comfortably do this. I'm going to guess that we are going to get a few outtakes from the latest Environment albums this time along with older stuff, that would be pretty cool. Enjoyed the sampler, Hydromedusa sounds awesome as do the new Environment tracks, more Yage!! Also interested in these new aliases, they could be anything... looking forward to the new releases. Release it all on the same day guys like you did back in 2007.. pleaaaaasee!

[mcbpete]

I'd love a FSOL ISDN poster (can't quite decide if I'd prefer black on white or white on black - but enough about my taste in pornography). Minimal, styliish, sexy.

[dubmasta]

can't quite decide if I'd prefer black on white or white on black - but enough about my taste in pornography

haha To be honest id love a poster about Dead Cities with Buggy G. Riphead's artwork, wouldnt that be just awesome?

[Ross]

Well I now have a rather lovely Environments print. Just need to get it framed, I think.