FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions.
Garry + Brian
What
are all FSOL's alias'?
How
old are Garry and Brian
How
long have FSOL been making records together?
What
is FSOL's style?
Where is FSOL's studio located?
What
have FSOL been doing during last seven years?
Do future
sound of London have a record label to speak of?
What is
EBV?
Who?
Who
is/are Yage?
Who/what
is Vit?
Who
is Buggy G Riphead
Who is
Sheuneen Ta?
Songs/albums
When
is the next album out?
What
is the correct tracklist for 'Dead Cities'?
What
is 'The Mello Hippo Disco Show'?
What
does 'Papua New Guinea' mean?
What
is 'ISDN'
What
FSOL tracks are 'internet fakes'?
Was
'Environments' by Amorphous Androgynous ever released?
What
does 'Among Myselves' mean?
What
is 'Spineless Jelly'?
What
is a 'Vertical Pig'?
What
is the difference, if any, between the vinyl and CD versions of
'Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix)?
What
happened to Environments and was tracks were on it?
What is
the "hidden" track on "Dead Cities" CD? How
can I find it?
On the
track "Domain" from "Lifeforms" I hear some
classical melody. What is it?
Why was
"The Isness" released as both Amorphous Androgynous and
Future Sound Of London?
What are
FSOL's best tracks that you could recommend to a new listener?
Have any
FSOL records been scrapped before release?
FSOL Live
Do FSOL ever perform live?
How many live transmissions have their been?
What are all FSOL's alias'?
In no order other than
alphabetical:
Aircut, Amorphous Androgynous, Art Science Technology, Candese,
Deep Field, Dope Module, Heads Of Agreement, Homeboy, Humanoid,
Indo Tribe, Intelligent Communication, Mental Cube, Metropolis,
Part-Sub-Merged, Polemical, Q, Semtex, Semi Real, Smart Systems,
The Far-out Son Of Lung, Yage, Yunie, Zeebox
How old
are Garry and Brian
Garry was born in 1966 and
Brian was born in 1968 (as far as I am aware) which makes them 42
and 40 respectively at the time of writing
How long
have FSOL been making records together?
FSOL started working
together around 1987/1988 when Brian had the Humanoid project
underway, and Garry helped out with production and vocals
What is
FSOL's style?
Describing FSOL's style is
like asking "how long is a piece of string?". Each
person views genres differently, and with a back catalogue as
wide as FSOL's, it becomes even harder. I think if I was to
catagorise it, it would be something along the lines of Modern
classical-ambient-techno-trip hop-drum'n'bass-house-rave-prog
rock-acid jazz-dub techno
Where
is FSOL's studio located?
FSOL's 90s work was mostly
recorded in the Earthbeat studio, in Dollis Hill, London. For
their psychedelic era, they recorded in a studio called The
Galaxial Pharmaceutical, elsewhere in London, although they have
now relocated to France and Somerset (Gaz and Brian
respectively). Whether either of the original studios still
exists is currently unknown.
Do
Future Sound Of London have a record label to speak of?
Submitted by R Clements
Future Sound Of London and Amorphous Androgynous are the only
current artists on Future Sound Of London Recordings, their own
label. FSOL Recs. is a sub-label of distribution company
Artful/FullFill. They also release music on Jumpin' &
Pumpin', their own online label FSOLDigital, and occasionally on
EMI (and its sublabel Harvest).
What is
EBV?
Submitted by Jerome Davidson
EBV supposedly stands for Electronic Brain Violence, and is
FSOL's own record label. The first EBV record was Amorphous
Androgynous' "Tales Of Ephidrina" which was released
through Quigley/EBV and distributed via Virgin. A lot of live
unreleased FSOL material has been listed as being under the
record label EBV. In 1997, two further records were released via
EBV, both 12" EPs, by Oil and Headstone Lane.
Who
is/are Yage?
Yage is the name of a
halucogenic drug which FSOL have taken a likeness to. Yage is
just the name of FSOL, the name they have used to record some
early minimal techno tracks, and also the one they use for their
imaginary "engineer". However, "Yage" is
often referred to when they are talking about some of their past
experiences. Most evidence points towards it being Gaz who is
Yage, and yet during the first broadcasts "hosted by Yage
and Cyberface", Yage seemed to be Brian. There is much
confusion over this matter
Who/what is
Vit?
Vit is a chinese man who
is friends with Gaz and Brian, and owned a restaurant near the
Earthbeat studios. His face appears on the "Far-out Son Of
Lung" cover, and he appears in the "Teachings From The
Electronic Brain II" and "My Kingdom" videos
Who is
Buggy G Riphead
Buggy G Riphead is Mark
McClean, a graphic artist, originally part of the Stakker project
who worked with FSOL from 1991-1996 on almost all of their
artwork. Since then he has left the country to work elsewhere,
and has no known professional contact with FSOL any more. The
artwork to the Archive and FSOLDigital series is most likely
sourced from archived artwork, hence the credit of Buggy on the
sleeve.
Who is
Shauneen Ta?
Shauneen Ta is the
"Witch Girl" who features in the artwork to Lifeforms,
Lifeforms Paths, ISDN White and Dead Cities. Last thing heard
about her, she had been picked for Arsenal under 21 women's
football team in London. You can read more about her at Arsenal here. (thanks to Drone for this link).
When
is the next album out?
2008 should see a large
number of releases from the band, included old and new Amorphous,
FSOL and alias material. See the forthcoming releases page for more information.
What is
the correct tracklist for 'Dead Cities'?
'Dead Cities' has a very
compliacated tracklist. There is always a little argument over
what the precise list looks like, but this is the most widely
believed version:
1.Herd Killing
2.Dead Cities
3.Her Face Forms In Summertime
4.We Have Explosive
5.Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me/
6.My Kingdom+
7.Max
8.Antique Toy
9.i.Quagmire (0.00-5.13)
ii.In A State Of Permenant Abyss (5.13-6.57)
10.Glass
11.Yage
12.i.Vit Drowning (0.00-4.48)
ii.Through Your Gills I Breathe (4.48-5.32)
13.First Death In The Family
**Hidden Track: Headstone Lane - "Dead Cities
Reprise"**
What is
'The Mello Hippo Disco Show'?
The Mello Hippo Disco Show
is a concept FSOL have been working on since 1997. It is a
multimedia concept, with the emphasis on the MULTI. DJ sets (on
what has been labelled by some fans as the Mello Hippo Disco
Roadshow), DJ mixes on websites and such like, a flash-based
animation website (mellohippo.com) and hopefully in the future
also a TV programme, all based around psychedelic music, and two
cartoon characters: the Mello Hippo (a little red hippopotamus
with headphones) and the One Man Band Of Cosmos (a strange hippy
bloke with a moustache). The project seems to have died somewhere
in the ether during the first decade of the 00s.
What
does 'Papua New Guinea' mean?
Papua New Guinea is a
country just to the north of Australia. It is on the Island of
New Guinea, the western half is called "Irian Jaya" and
is part of Indonesia. The eastern half is the country known as
"Papua New Guinea". You can find a lot of information
about the island here.
thanks for Michael
McComb for the information.
What is
'ISDN'?
ISDN is a digital phone
communications link system, which allows high-speed data to be
passed over long distances. It is commonly used now for internet
access. FSOL have used it in the past to transfer not just live
music but also live video and images to different venues all over
the world. 'The Kitchen' internet cafe in New York is a good
example of a place suited to recieve both of these, as it has on
occasions in the past
What FSOL
tracks are 'internet fakes'?
There are many tracks
available through the internet credited as being by FSOL, but are
not actually real FSOL releases. Here I will try and keep a list
of all the fakes that are around. If you find a track not listed
here and think it may be a fake email me here and
I will either add it to the list, or give you details of the
release if it is FSOL
FSOL - Canada: This is a track of the same name by Cold Storage
FSOL - The Lighter: This is a track by DJ SS (probably Micky
Finn), a drum'n'bass remix of the theme from "Love
Story"
FSOL - Jack London Yall: Another drum'n'bass track, It's
"Y'all (AK1200 Mix)" by Jack London.
Amorphous Androgynous - Sidestepper: this is infact by Amorphous,
not Amorphous Androgynous
FSOL - Whistle In London: Although this is not on a FSOL release,
apparently it features on a live broadcast. Whether this is a
true FSOL recording, or just another artist featured on the show,
is not yet known. However the track is not guaranteed to be
truely FSOL
Future Sonic Orchestra Limited - Untitled: This is not FSOL, just
named after their string section.
Future Sonic Orchestra Limited - Yantra Song: This is not FSOL,
just named after their string section.
Future Sonic Orchestra Limited - Love In Summer: This
instrumental rock track is actually "Love In Summer" by
Archive.
FSOL - Is It A Dream: this is a track by Future Sound Of
Melbourne.
Thank to Keep Roberts and Pete Godfrey for info on some of
these.
Was
'Environments' by Amorphous Androgynous ever released?
Yes, Environments was
released on FSOLDigital under the FSOL guise in 2007, with a CD
release expected to follow in 2008.
What
does 'Among Myselves' mean?
A phrase used by one of the
guys, meant as a secret..."I'll keep it among myselves"
What is
'Spineless Jelly'?
A term FSOL used for a weak
willed person
What is a
'Vertical Pig'?
A person with a heart
transplant taken from a pig...the subject of a book by Philip Pin
What is
the difference, if any, between the vinyl and CD versions of
'Papua New Guinea (Andrew Weatherall Mix)?
The vinyl version is just
under two minutes longer, containing a longer ending, which,
rather than fading out, builds down to a single synth line
What
is the "hidden" track on "Dead Cities" CD?
How can I find it?
Submitted by Alex
The hidden track on Dead Cities is 'Dead Cities Reprise' by
Headstone Lane - after 'First Death In The Family' (track 13) has
finished, there is a minute of silence, and then a short noisey
song with guitars comes in - this is the hidden track.
On the
track "Domain" from "Lifeforms" I hear some
classical melody. What is it?
Submitted by Alex
Domain is based on 'Canon in D' by Pachabel
Why was "The Isness" released as both
Amorphous Androgynous and Future Sound Of London?
Submitted by Brett Lloyd
"The Isness" is an Amorphous Androgynous album.
However, their US record label thought releasing it as 'AA' would
decrease sales, and so released it as The Future Sound Of London.
Have any FSOL
records been scrapped before release?
Submitted by James
Yes, there are four that we know of (but most likely there are
many more). The Amorphous Androgynous album, Environments, was
finally released in 2007, leaving four EPs: Firstly, the Eggshell
EP (VSCDT 1520/ASW6140) was due for release on Virgin and
Astralwerks in late 1994 but never saw the light of day.
Secondly, a second single from ISDN (VSCDT1650) was planned but
scrapped. Third up, an EP of then new material was planned around
1999 and contained alternative mixes and tracks from the
Isness/Ultraland sessions. Read more here. Fourthly, Divinity was planned as an EP, then a
single for commercial appeal, but finally ended up as a
promo-only release, although it was available for sale for a
limited period at the Artful Records shop. There are also other
bits and bobs which have appeared in interviews (whether the
'psychedelia mixed in a weird way' CD became The Otherness or
not, we'll never know, and there are various versions of the
Humanoid/Zeebox releases which never came out).
What are
FSOL's best tracks that you could recommend to a new listener?
Submitted by Tarek
It's hard to list any recommendations to people, as FSOL are such
a varied band. Instead, if you don't mind, I shall list my
favourite two or three songs from each album, and thus, if you
wish to continue following their music, you know where to start
first, perhaps.
Accelerator: 'Expander (Remix)', 'It's Not My Problem'
Amorphous Androgynous - Tales of Ephidrina: 'Liquid Insects',
'Mountain
Goat'
Lifeforms: 'Dead Skin Cells', 'Omnipresence'
ISDN: 'Slider', 'Smokin' Japanese Babe'
Dead Cities: 'Her Face Forms in Summertime', 'Glass'
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness: 'Mello Hippo Disco Show',
'High Tide on
the Sea of Flesh', 'The Galaxial Pharmaceutical' (15 minute
version).
The Amorphous Androgynous - Alice In Ultraland: 'The Prophet',
'The World Is Full Of Plankton'
Do FSOL ever perform live?
FSOL occasionally do live DJ
sets, but most of their 'live' shows have been via ISDN to radio
stations, internet cafes and alike. However, as The Amorphous
Androgynous, the band have begun touring their psychedelic rock
show.
How
many live transmissions have their been?
There have been many many
live broadcasts, a list is available, but there are probably many
more unknown ones. The total is between 50 and 100, possibly more
Something FSOL-related you're unsure of? E-mail me and I will submit the question and answer in the FAQ