The FSOL Message Board

Yeah, that sounds pretty great!

Today's listening:

Cool set

But Global... really ?

I pop it on every now and then to see if it's got any better.

Still don't have a vinyl version of ISDN either, I only ever seem to stumble across the bootleg version on green vinyl. Mind you, I'm only after the white edition, God knows why Virgin pressed the black one on a single disc. I can only imagine how awful it sounds.

By the way, if anybody hasn't heard the vinyl version of Dead Cities, I'd recommend trying to track it down somewhere/somehow. Unlike Lifeforms, which was blatantly pieced together with vinyl in mind (the segues between Dead Skin Cells/Lifeforms and Life Form Ends/Vit being almost nonexistent), the double LP of Dead Cities generally extends those segue sections somewhat, so you get to hear how the tracks originally faded in/out. Although it effectively only amounts to maybe a minute's extra material in total, it is a very interesting curio for those who are interested in that kind of thing (ie me)...

Ive got Lifeforms, Black ISDN and Dead cities on vinyl but I've never heard them on vinyl - they are all framed on my wall.I saw the green vinyl ISDN once - I should have bought it back then, thought I might have imagined that as I hadn't heard about it since - until now.

Strange thing Ross - I listened to Dead Cities on vinyl for the first time ever only one month ago
- we were in a group chat, so I didn't notice the things you talk about...

PS - I don't think Global will ever get better it can only get worse - and we can cut it some slack because of the year it was made (this is also a half-truth because the sessions are so much better, also Zeebox before it...)

To be honest, there's not that much on the album I can't listen to - Dream and Don't Stop being the obvious ones - but generally if I'm going to listen to 80s garage/house, there's a lot of stuff I'd take over Global (particularly stuff from the US). Stakker, Sunshine & Brick and Crystals I do like.

The Dead Cities bits - WHE ends the same way as the radio edit, the 'pig' outro is actually the intro to Everyone in the World (probably hence it being mentioned as track 5 in the credits), and there are some extended environment bits otherwise.

Listening to these records chronologically was quite interesting when it came to Dead Cities -> Translations. I know the WHE EP has hints of what was to come in part 3, but it really does seem like such a different group. I think when Translations came out I was so caught up in the excitement of the first new FSOL material in four and a half years then it didn't dawn on me fully just how different it is.

TBH, I don't listen to anything pre-Lifeforms from FSOL, they were still like a prototype back then.

Nothing worth really mentioning here, some Fluke, Goldie, Jim Morrison and then some misc dark ambient.. same old, same old.

tryptych wrote:TBH, I don't listen to anything pre-Lifeforms from FSOL, they were still like a prototype back then.

I... don't agree... at all...

Yeah, I was of the same opinion, but later when I paid more attention while listening to Accelerator I began to realize how underrated this album is and, what a great and revolutionary piece of music from FSOL that was back then.

Dont listen to electronic music these last months, dont know why, probably due to an overdose of electronica from previous years. Apart from some exceptions like yesterday Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie - Winter Garden. Now listening to Mark Lanegan - I'll Take Care Of You.

re: FSOL vinyl
I have black and white editions of ISDN, but the black one is unlistenable. Not sure if it's due to abuse by previous owner, or too much music crammed on to too little space. Probably both. White one sounds decent, I play it every now and then. Side A of my Dead Cities copy for some reason sounds quite bad while the rest is okay.

I would find it a bit strange if the guys included a minute or two of extra material only on the vinyl version because there is plenty of space left on the cd. (oh how I hate it when artists do this... "exclusively available on vinyl/for Japan/in limited edition." Piracy ftw in this case ).

For listening to FSOL my choice of preference would be digital rather than vinyl because I believe it is technically superiour in terms of sound quality, for sure in my rigs, and that outweighs the few non-essential reasons (fun, nostalgia) to spin a record.

np:
Prodigy - Narayan

... especially when FSOL is meant to be enjoyed in large doses

I mean, one would have to actually LIFT his ass off the couch/bed to flip sides..

I definitely prefer the sound of analogue to digital myself which is why I tend to go for vinyl, although I'm not a snob about it and still have a fair few CDs. I have Lifeforms and Dead Cities on CD too.
The extra material on the Dead Cities one is just stuff that was lost in the crossfades really. An interesting insight into their track construction really.

Leftfield - Rhythm & Stealth

- awsome album. - too bad the 2010-2012 reformation of this duo failed...