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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
it took them seven years to make this? nice..., 18 Jul 2002
Lets face it, if youre in love with electronica/ambient/IDM/etc music, then as far as these things go a new fsol album is a pretty exciting event, especially when dead cities came out in... (sound of piles of cds being flicked through) 1996! yerk!
So was it worth the wait? well, that all depends on what you want from a new fsol album (and lets not forget this is amorphous androgynous, so brian+garry have go a free get out clause anyway)
if your expecting Dead cities2, then you might be scowling, and if your wanting fsol to have gone ultra, ultra high-tech then you might as well buy a lovely monolake album, cos this album is a psychout,resolutley freak-out slab of magical PROGTASTIC'TRONICA cake. Yow!
What the hell am i talking about? well, if you take the basic components of the fsol sound, add lots of 'magical mystery tour/ tommorow never knows' vibes, much pretty sitar, mellotrons, flutes and a kind of late 70s bbc 'life on earth' fairlight synth sound, and mix them all together with some of the finest production ive ever heard on a record, you might get some idea of this albums special quality.
the biggest change is the incorporation of (gasp) vocals into the fsol soundscape. What sounds like gary cobain doing his best psychedelic crooning jolts you a bit when you first hear it, and on first impressions he sounds a bit like err...brett anderson? but it complements the feel of this record very, very well.
The biggest praise i can give it is would be to say that if youve ever looked through a book of very obscure album covers of the 60s and wanted an aural accompanyment, then this is the album to go for.
Tracks like 'the mello hippo disco show' and 'galaxical pharmaceutical' are stunning in their use of instrumentation, and also suprise in their use of humour (something previously missing from fsol, unless you count the comedy cover artwork of dead cities) with 'Galaxical' containing throughout its 15 minuet length some of those elusive & special goosepimpley vibes that i havent had from an electronia album since Geogaddi dropped in march.
Other worthy tracks are 'yes my brother', which is 52 seconds of awesome, isdn-funk, 'guru song' with what must be liz fraser yelping over a lurching, swampy sitar groove, and 'meadows' which has a reworking of dialouge from the film 'silent running' intoducing a pastoral, multi-instrumental swooning track of the higest order.
To sum up: if you like sitar, have a sense of humour, are feeling all mellow and want to float away on the best retro-futurist comfy chair out so far in '02, then this is pretty much essential.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
something different for sure, 28 Feb 2003
fsol will always be miles ahead of everyone else, as in this album, if you are looking for electronica look away, they took it a step further made some space stuff, male vocals by "cobain" acoustic guitars, trumphets etc. beautiful samples, exellent programming etc. however ive bought both "the isness" and "the mello hippo disco show". but there are atleast two tracks that ive heard on the radio, that are NOT included on any of these, one is a magnificent version of "goodbye sky" (use p2p)the other i dont know the name of, a bit dissapointing that these tracks werent on these albums. however both these albums are worth buying. if you like these albums and want to check out some more fsol stuff, ill suggest the ep "my kingdom"
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What the f**k?, 9 Sep 2002
Where did FSOL go? Sorry, but last time I listened to FSOL it was weird electronica trance type stuff. When I think of FSOL, I think Lifeforms, Dead Cities and ISDN. The only vocals are samples of distorted birdsong, kids playing (Dead Cities title track - how spooky?) and Aliens quotes (ISDN). Which is why I got a little scared with this cd when it arrived. Ok, it kicks off with 'The Lovers' which I'd already heard on Papua New Guinea - Translations, and so I wasn't particularly surprised to hear it. After that, however, it goes down the biggest hippy trip since Timothy Leary's last tea party. There's very little in the way of electronica (and those samples that are included are generally so subtle you don't notice them first time round). Think Chemical Brothers played at half speed with a few samples and stuff. Needless to say, I wasn't best chuffed at first. However, it grows on you, and the sitar-driven drum&bass beat of 'Elysian Feels' really took my breath away. In short, FSOL have entered another genre. I will miss the dark electronic magic that they could weave with a sampler and a synth, but then again, I welcome what their undoubtable musical genius is capable of when given a sitar, a drum kit and a microphone. It's not FSOL as we know it Jim, but it is a very good album, totally original and unlike anything else ...
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