Dougans/Cobain @ ExtremeMusic.com library (2007-2008)
Extreme Music Library – XCD139 / XCD140 / XCD141 / XCD142 / XTW006 / XCD148
Like the dozens of releases on
FSOLDigital.com weren't overwhelming enough, someone at the board (I think it was Rontxo) found out that Dougans/Cobain released even more tracks as library music on
ExtremeMusic.com. The tracks were spread around in compilation releases, five from the
X series and one from the
Twisted series. A large amount of these tracks ended up (or will end up) on the Archives series, and a few on the (at the time) unreleased Environments series. Hold on, lets do a detailed check:
- Total count of Dougans/Cobain tracks from the six releases: 26 tracks (91 minutes)
- Total count of Dougans/Cobain tracks of exclusive, elsewhere unreleased tracks (for now): 14 tracks (46 minutes)
(although, almost all of the tracks that appeared on the Archives series are different cuts, so it can be said all of these tracks are exclusive)
- Acid Breaks [XCD139]
01 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Jaw Breaker [4:32] (1997) (Speed Ball, A4)
03 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Roid Rage [3:26] (1997)
07 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Big Max [4:20] (1997)
09 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Fly & Mash [4:47] (1990)
10 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Skunk Junk [3:23] (1994) (5 Months 5 Acres, A4)
12 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Touching Bass [4:07] (1996) (Yashica aka G Electro, A5)
13 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Swelter Skelter [4:36] (1997)
- Deep Chill [XCD140]
01 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Bubble & Peak [5:22] (1996) (Lizzard Crawl, A1)
02 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Ice Stage [3:44] (1993) (Cellular Control, A2)
10 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Unreality Check [4:20] (1996) (Out of Sync Child, E3)
14 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Acid Drop [4:45] (1997)
- Psychedelic Air [XCD141]
03 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Eerie Query [2:46] (1996) (A Corner, E2)
07 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Polar Rise [3:41] (1994) (Journey to The Center, E2)
08 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Tinted Love [2:07] (2006) (Iseum, Hand-Made Devices)
11 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Stark Tower [4:55] (1994) (She Fell Backwards, A6)
12 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Dead Ringer [1:58] (2007)
- Dark Trance [XCD142]
01 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Sable Empire [3:26] (1991)
05 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Dearth Control [4:03] (1993) (Plasmatik, A4)
08 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Airless Whisper [4:20] (1991)
12 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Blindside Bizarro [3:50] (1991)
15 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Deja Boo [3:31] (1991)
- Chaos [XTW006]
11 - Brian Dougans -
Karakatoa [1:00] (2007)
19 - Brian Dougans -
Ecstatic Interference [1:00] (2007)
- Dirty Breaks [XCD148]
05 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Partial Law [2:16] (2005)
11 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Seven Shades [2:58] (2007) (Man Is a Virus in Shoes, Peppermint Tree)
15 - Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain -
Road 2 Ruin [3:06] (2007)
N.B.: In my recent chats with Brian, he said they released 'quite a lot' library music for different publishers. He mentioned:
Warners music library / Universal / kPM / Big Life publishing music library etc. In this case, I decided to restrain my 'OCD' and not investigate further, just because they spoil us with new releases on FSOLDigital so often and there's so much for LISTENING. But, if anyone here want to dig further - I'll be glad to hear the results. Some of these will turn out to be the already known Monsterism Day & Night compilations, and probably the
Live in The Studio, Remixed Universal project - but I'm sure there is more exclusive material we haven't heard before.
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Dougans/Cobain @ Acid Breaks (Deep-Raved Ghetto-Tech Toxication) XCD139
01 - Jaw Breaker [4:32] (1997)
- This is a different cut from Speed Ball (from Archive 4). It's a minute shorter than Speed Ball, but it's mastered louder and sounds more tense. Written circa 1997.
03 - Roid Rage [3:26] (1997)
- This sound reminds me a lot of The Prodigy, the direction they moved in (this same time period) with Invaders Must Die, only they are/were louder and more synthetic. This is also probably written circa 1997, or possibly even 2000/2001.
07 - Big Max [4:20] (1997)
- More breakbeats and some acoustic guitars. The live-ness of the drums hints again the initial 1997 Isness sessions. Looks like we have a fair amount of those sessions in this library section.
09 - Fly & Mash [4:47] (1990)
- Acid sound hinting late Humanoid or maybe Mental Cube era, but definitely pre-Accelerator.
10 - Skunk Junk [3:23] (1994)
- A different cut of 5 Months 5 Acres (from Archive 4). This is a Lifeforms sessions leftover, of Lifeforms Paths to be more precise.
12 - Touching Bass [4:07] (1996) (Yashica aka G Electro, A5)
- An almost exact cut of G Electro (from the ISDN Show promo CD) aka Yashica (from, Archive 5) which was unreleased at the time. We've talked about this one, it's a Dead Cities leftover with hints of some Smart Systems sound structure.
13 - Swelter Skelter [4:36] (1997)
- This is one of the weirdest tracks to place. Sounds cinematic, but also has wah-wah guitars and weird breaks. Doesn't sound like Dougans/Cobain. Could be some weird 1997 experiment, but also could be recorded much later, 2002-2005 maybe...
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Dougans/Cobain @ Deep Chill (Submerged Drippiest Trippiest Psytronica) XCD140
01 - Bubble & Peak [5:22] (1996)
- A different but equally beautiful cut of Lizzard Crawl (from Archive 1). Despite being the same length, this cut has different level settings on the mixer, and different effects on a few important places. The first 3 seconds on both tracks tell all the difference.
02 - Ice Stage [3:44] (1993)
- An almost 2 minutes shorter version of Cellular Control (from Archive 2). Bass, percussion, flutes, all points to early Lifeforms sessions.
10 - Unreality Check [4:20] (1996) (Out of Sync Child, E3)
- A full version of Out of Sync Child (which lasts only 2 minutes), which will be released in 2010 in Environments 3. A dark and haunting track, probably a Dead Cities, with a small chance to it being written ten years later...
14 - Acid Drop [4:45] (1997)
- Cinematic shady mood, guitars, effects... another hard-to-place track. Could be from those weird 1995 sessions, could be 1997, or even newer... Maybe some other fan can shed more light. (EDIT: Ross reminded us that there are samples from MORE by Pink Floyd here, placing this track at 1997 becasue there were a lot these samples in the first MPB mix from 1997)
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Dougans/Cobain @ Psychedelic Air (Heretical Kaleidoscopic Sci-Fidelic Soundfields) XCD141
03 - Eerie Query [2:46] (1996)
- A shorter version of A Corner (from Environments 2), still unreleased at the time. I thought this was a Lifeforms leftover, but the effect that appears throughout the track is the same one that appears in the 16th second of Herd Killing, and the same one that Dead Can Dance used in the opening of Nierika (both tracks from 1996). Later it turned out that sample was part of some sample bank that was selling back in 1996. So this track is a Dead Cities leftover, which means Environments 2 managed to join tracks from at least 4 diferent eras into one awesome journey... fucking brilliant - can't wait to arrive at reviewing this album.
07 - Polar Rise [3:41] (1994)
- Another Environments 2 track, named Journey to The Center. Different cut though, of course. Beatless, modern classical piece that is hard to believe it was written by FSOL in 1994. It appeared on the ISDN Transmission 2 New York, The Kitchen (11.05.1994). It reminds me of Vangelis a little, the Blade Runner period.
08 - Tinted Love [2:07] (2006)
- This is a Polemical track named Iseum on the Hand-Made Devices album. Wonderful piano piece made with circuit bending.
11 - Stark Tower [4:55] (1994)
- Awesome full version (two minutes longer) of She Fell Backwards (from Archives 6), which will be eventually released in 2010. A dark and ominous piece, almost impossible to imagine it was written in 1994, since it appeared on the Kiss '94 transmission.
12 - Dead Ringer [1:58] (2007)
- A short orchestral dramatic piece. I really can't imagine this one being written in the 90s. Maybe it was some movie-ordered piece... Well, I'll leave it as a 2007 piece, until someone gives a sound theory about some other year...
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Dougans/Cobain @ Dark Trance (Sinister Electro-Slithered Guerrilla Scorefare) XCD142
01 - Sable Empire [3:26] (1991)
- Definitely a leftover from the Intelligent Communication project. The sub-bass is almost the same one as on Drive. Also, it was probably re-polished a little, production wise.
05 - Dearth Control [4:03] (1993)
- Appeared as Plasmatik on Archives 4. A punishing 4/4 beat that reveals elements from both Lifeforms and ISDN.
08 - Airless Whisper [4:20] (1991)
- A techno track that's got to be from the Accelerator era.
12 - Blindside Bizarro [3:50] (1991)
- Another Accelerator era piece merging breaks with trance elements.
15 - Deja Boo [3:31] - (1991)
- A weird amalgam of looped acoustic guitar sections with breaks and trance. Another pre-Accelerator era, maybe re-polished from the old (1990-1991) aliases like Yunie or Candese. Probably all these 1991 pieces were re-polished for this library section.
EDIT: This one also features the same UFOrb samples as Metropolis, so it might even be from the mid-1992, bizarrely.
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Dougans @ Chaos XTW006
11 - Brian Dougans - Karakatoa [1:00] (2007)
- Insanely awesome crazy acid/breaks track. I absolutely love it and used it in lots of mixes. Too bad it's only 60 seconds... Maybe there is a longer version of this one? Hmm, I'll ask...
19 - Brian Dougans - Ecstatic Interference [1:00] (2007)
- A more experimental piece with effects and bleeps, developing into another crazy acid/break towards the end. Both of these tracks are Dougans solo tracks, and probably newly recorded too.
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Dougans/Cobain @ Dirty Breaks XCD148
05 - Partial Law [2:16] (2005)
- Guitar cuts, drum cuts, looks like a psychedelic rock track cut into a breaks tracks. Probably a leftover that didn't fit the soon-to-be-released Peppermint Tree album by Amorphous Androgynous, a release that hangs somewhere between an actual album and archived Amorphous tracks - so this one could be written anywhere from 2001 to 2007. If I had to guess I'd say 2005 or later.
11 - Seven Shades [2:58] (2007)
- Appeared in a slightly shorter version as Man Is a Virus in Shoes on the Peppermint Tree album in 2008. A cool groovy tune with improvisations all over the place.
15 - Road 2 Ruin [3:06] (2007)
- A dark-ride tune that has the breaks but still linger on the rock side. Really can't place this one anywhere and it's probably a new piece. A really head-grabbing tune, too bad it wasn't released for a wide audience.
-- This last compilation was released later, in early 2008 actually, which means we finally arrived at reviewing 2008!!!