FSOL @ 20 - ISDN
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:25 am
Let's see if this one is more popular than Environments...
Environments (1994). Wait, no, ISDN (1994)
ISDN (1995)
ISDN v3 was scrapped at the last minute when Gaz decided he wasn't yet truly in touch with his feminine side, and would have to wait another six years.
(Also Far-out Son EPs and Promo 500)
ISDN and I have a bit of a chequered history. I stole the money to buy it from my parents; they found out, I got grounded for a month. In the process, my best friend's mother found out and barred me from seeing him. The latter in particular was a lifechanging moment. Also, I was a relatively naive 12 year old at the time, so the title of the first track and the swearing and references to blow jobs in the liner notes made me a bit uneasy. And I didn't 'get' the artwork (despite my obsession with "Revolution 9", I didn't get the White Album reference at all) - where was the cover shot depicting the kind of landscape reflected in the music? It's possible that this initial response shaped my feeling towards the album and explains why it fares so poorly in my album listings in comparison to the others.
The ISDN transmissions that spawned the album shed a lot of light on why it feels very much like an album of two halves. Other than two Lifeforms outtakes - 'Dirty Shadows' and the middle section of 'Kai' - the recording sessions seem to be roughly split in two. Early '94 transmissions showcase, unsurprisingly, the more ambient end of the album - 'Just a Fuckin' Idiot', 'Appendage', the run of tracks from 'You're Creeping Me Out' through to 'Egypt'. The later '94 sessions introduce the rhythmic tracks, the jazz and hip-hop influences, the stuff Gaz spoke about in the 1994 phone interview when he was talking about getting back into beats. I suppose with the album not being a 'proper' album, this split isn't such a big deal, but it does give the record an unevenness.
This then effects the overall 'mood'. Everyone hears the albums differently. For me, Lifeforms, Dead Cities, Environments 2 and 3 have very distinct locations and, in a particularly imaginative mood, stories, with identifiable locations, matched by the artwork and field recordings. ISDN's variety makes this more vague. The use of very strange field recordings and run of surreal photos in the booklet left a very deep impression on my mind at the young age of listening to it that I still find it a harrowing album to date. Visually, the album does not exist in this world. It's alien, and it's not welcoming. I have to be in a very, very specific mood to want to listen to the album.
Which is not, of course, to say that it is bad. I am very keen to point out here that it is my own experiences and expectations that make it my least listened to record. On a track-by-track basis, I think it's good and often brilliant. 'Slider' is an absolute monster of a track, that squelchy synth that comes in around the 5 minute mark is a career highlight; 'Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead' is wonderful; 'Dirty Shadows' is definitely in my top 5 FSOL tracks; 'Smokin' Japanese Babe', dodgy title aside, is brilliant; 'Egypt' should have been on Lifeforms; 'Kai' has a groove that I never want to end; and while I'll never forgive them for cutting 'It's My Mind That Works' down to three minutes, at least we have the full length version on the New York show.
White vs. Black? Much as I usually side with initial impressions on these kinds of matters, and much as I love 'Kai' (and am not a particular fan of 'Are They Fightin' Us'), 'An End of Sorts' is just light years ahead of 'Snake Hips', so the black edition is a winner for me - despite skipping to track 4 being nowhere near as satisfying as on the white edition.
Despite my reservations, ISDN is still a high quality record. What astounds me the most is that this came out THE SAME YEAR AS LIFEFORMS. Just in case everybody forgets that it's possible for a band to have such high quality output in such a short space of time.
This era didn't feature too many EP tracks. Part 1 of 'Snake Hips' is nice, but I prefer it as the Far-out Son of Lung track 'Cow'. 'Live in New York' I'm not too fond of (nor its semi-remix 'A Diversionary Tactic'), and the Promo 500 'Herd Killing' is very, very strange.
Environments (1994). Wait, no, ISDN (1994)
ISDN (1995)
ISDN v3 was scrapped at the last minute when Gaz decided he wasn't yet truly in touch with his feminine side, and would have to wait another six years.
(Also Far-out Son EPs and Promo 500)
ISDN and I have a bit of a chequered history. I stole the money to buy it from my parents; they found out, I got grounded for a month. In the process, my best friend's mother found out and barred me from seeing him. The latter in particular was a lifechanging moment. Also, I was a relatively naive 12 year old at the time, so the title of the first track and the swearing and references to blow jobs in the liner notes made me a bit uneasy. And I didn't 'get' the artwork (despite my obsession with "Revolution 9", I didn't get the White Album reference at all) - where was the cover shot depicting the kind of landscape reflected in the music? It's possible that this initial response shaped my feeling towards the album and explains why it fares so poorly in my album listings in comparison to the others.
The ISDN transmissions that spawned the album shed a lot of light on why it feels very much like an album of two halves. Other than two Lifeforms outtakes - 'Dirty Shadows' and the middle section of 'Kai' - the recording sessions seem to be roughly split in two. Early '94 transmissions showcase, unsurprisingly, the more ambient end of the album - 'Just a Fuckin' Idiot', 'Appendage', the run of tracks from 'You're Creeping Me Out' through to 'Egypt'. The later '94 sessions introduce the rhythmic tracks, the jazz and hip-hop influences, the stuff Gaz spoke about in the 1994 phone interview when he was talking about getting back into beats. I suppose with the album not being a 'proper' album, this split isn't such a big deal, but it does give the record an unevenness.
This then effects the overall 'mood'. Everyone hears the albums differently. For me, Lifeforms, Dead Cities, Environments 2 and 3 have very distinct locations and, in a particularly imaginative mood, stories, with identifiable locations, matched by the artwork and field recordings. ISDN's variety makes this more vague. The use of very strange field recordings and run of surreal photos in the booklet left a very deep impression on my mind at the young age of listening to it that I still find it a harrowing album to date. Visually, the album does not exist in this world. It's alien, and it's not welcoming. I have to be in a very, very specific mood to want to listen to the album.
Which is not, of course, to say that it is bad. I am very keen to point out here that it is my own experiences and expectations that make it my least listened to record. On a track-by-track basis, I think it's good and often brilliant. 'Slider' is an absolute monster of a track, that squelchy synth that comes in around the 5 minute mark is a career highlight; 'Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead' is wonderful; 'Dirty Shadows' is definitely in my top 5 FSOL tracks; 'Smokin' Japanese Babe', dodgy title aside, is brilliant; 'Egypt' should have been on Lifeforms; 'Kai' has a groove that I never want to end; and while I'll never forgive them for cutting 'It's My Mind That Works' down to three minutes, at least we have the full length version on the New York show.
White vs. Black? Much as I usually side with initial impressions on these kinds of matters, and much as I love 'Kai' (and am not a particular fan of 'Are They Fightin' Us'), 'An End of Sorts' is just light years ahead of 'Snake Hips', so the black edition is a winner for me - despite skipping to track 4 being nowhere near as satisfying as on the white edition.
Despite my reservations, ISDN is still a high quality record. What astounds me the most is that this came out THE SAME YEAR AS LIFEFORMS. Just in case everybody forgets that it's possible for a band to have such high quality output in such a short space of time.
This era didn't feature too many EP tracks. Part 1 of 'Snake Hips' is nice, but I prefer it as the Far-out Son of Lung track 'Cow'. 'Live in New York' I'm not too fond of (nor its semi-remix 'A Diversionary Tactic'), and the Promo 500 'Herd Killing' is very, very strange.