The Future Sound Of London – We Have Explosive 2021

My copy sounds somewhat disappointing, speaking of the sound quality. I own dozen releases from fsoldigital but this one sounds somewhat "compressed" and lacking in separation and dynamic range. Not sure if I got unlucky or the entire batch sounds like that. As to the music - not disappointed.

Yet another excellent use of Record Store Day to reissue old material with a bulk of new versions backing it up. Whereas many would have been happy to simply re-press the original 12", FSOL instead choose to re-record the track and follow it up with an album's worth of new b-sides, a CD release making the record available for those not interested in chasing limited editions. If only more bands were so generous.

We Have Explosive 2021 is by far the least ambient record put out under the FSOL name (since Accelerator, at a push). The original's harsh, buzzing big beat sound here is fractured and spread out over a lengthy exploration of breaks, drum & bass, IDM, dub and dark glitchy textures. 'Detonation' - long awaited by fans, having been previewed by the band back in 2008 - chops the original into fragments and splices them over seven minutes of chaos, while 'Exploding' adds a '90s jungle vibe, and 'Exotype' throws in the fastest tempo of any FSOL track to date. The new version of 'Herd Killing' expands on the 2009 live version and adds elements of Brian Dougans's modern Humanoid production, while 'Slide Door' strips things back to a minimally writhing synthetic sound comparable with recent Autechre pieces.

Throughout the album, the nocturnal atmosphere of the band's 1996/1997 ISDN tour and the original five part We Have Explosive EP are retained, adding a surprising amount of visceral texture and even ambience, despite the brutal beats and complexity. The record is a remarkable achievement, not only in its technical prowess, but also its tying together several strands of the band's work into one coherent, if chaotic, work. Very highly recommended.

FSOL have been on absolute fire lately with these "re-imagined" releases. Starting with My Kingdom in 2018, Yage in 2019, Cascade in 2020, and now We Have Explosive in 2021. Every single one of these is top-notch. This may be one of the harder hitting releases of this series. Detonation is a sought after burner. All these tracks use elements of the title track, except for Herd Killing, which is an update of the lead track from Dead Cities.

The vinyl is quiet and sounds very dynamic. The gain has to be increased but the noise floor is low. Search out all of these releases, you will not be disappointed.

So will this be available at a later date un-numbered as a standard (but otherwise identical) release as they did with Yage 2019 and Cascade 2020?