FSOL* – ISDN

I've warmed to ISDN over the years. Back in 1996 FSOL almost managed to become a mainstream pop band, during the Dead Cities period, if only because "We Have Explosive" featured prominently in WipeOut 2097. I picking up ISDN at the time because it was widely available as a budget title, but of course it's not pop at all. Musically it's dark, bass-heavy, mid-tempo breakbeat with a sample-heavy, kitchen sink production style.

Almost thirty years later it's fascinating on a technical level. I can't imagine the amount of work it took to catalogue and process all of those samples at a time when MP3 compression was still in development and you couldn't search through YouTube for old records. Especially bearing in mind that this is just an excerpt from a huge mass of live shows and DJ mixes they did back then. The sources aren't particularly obscure but the intricate production is still very clever. I always wondered how much of it was live (in the "manipulating faders in real time" sense) or whether it's sequenced and automated from start to finish.

On the downside an awful lot of it is noodling, and the first half is much more solid than the second half. The only thing resembling a conventional breakbeat tune is "Slider", which has an awesome bass solo - just a couple of notes but it sounds massive. The other highlights are "Egypt", which samples Bill Duke from Predator, and "Smokin' Japanese Babe", which was released as part of an EP that actually charted at #22. It was fun living at a time and place when FSOL was a top-forty chart act.

On the other hand even the noodling is of a high quality, and it works well as a single block of ambient noise. I often wonder what effect it had on FSOL's commercial fortunes - a lot of people just like me picked it up circa 1996 or so expecting more "We Have Explosive" only to be confounded, and then for reasons known only unto themselves the band went on hiatus.

Now, I realise this is Discogs.com, but the album was pieced together with 16-bit samples from a mass of different sources - including VHS videotape and second-generation cassette dubs - fed through digital effects and then mastered to DAT at 16-bit, 48khz, so I'm not sure how heavyweight vinyl represses are going to enhance the sound.

This wrecked-in many, many heads back in the day and probably keeps doing so. Something of an apex in the 'sample the living sh*t out of everything and process it' approach to production of the early-mid 1990s. Captures the post-Cold War early-internet head space very well; as though you are peering into a mad laboratory of EMS engineers on a LSD-drenched post-MKUltra freakout (the 2003 German documentary 'The Net' is a perfect visual companion to this) . It also sounds as cinematic, and more 'Blade Runner' than just about any other ambient-techno record you'll ever find. VERY Essential.

Just A F*ckin Idiot contain's samples from the old Disney sci-fi movie The Black Hole. Not sure of the "Stop flashing your lights" bit at the start, sounds like Stone Roses Ian Brown, can anyone confirm that???

excellent ambient house of the 90s, out there w Mixmaster Morris,The Orb,Aphex Twin & Orbital..

Other samples used are 'Everybody online-looking good!'from Aliens & some crunching sounds from Terminator I or II(when the exoskeletons crush real skeletons in the future scenes..).

<I>ISDN</I> is not just a high-speed internet connection, it’s a compilation of live recordings that the Future Sound of London did, merged seamlessly into one another. It’s futuristic in the best way possible with sounds and textures and sonic images floating in and out of cyberspace. There’s the super-futuristic jazz of “The Far Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Man” (led in by a sample from <I>Aliens</I>) and “Smokin’ Japanese Babe.” “Slider” is as dark funk as any I’ve heard, while “Eyes Pop – Skin Explodes – Everyone Dead” sounds like electronic Baroque music. “Tired” starting with a delicate guitar before going into some chugging beats, then some icy synths. That’s what’s so wonderful about this album: it’s a journey in the best sense, with new things to hear and see around every corner. “Egypt” goes for ethnic electro, while “A Study of Six Guitars” has the guitars, definitely, but also some industrial percussion too. Plug in to <I>ISDN</I> today.

the pictures provided here are only of the front and back of the inner cd sleeve--the outer sleeve is not pictured here (as of 12/2003).

the inner sleeve is itself wrapped in a folded cardboard outer sleeve (basically a tri-fold type of sleeve) which is held shut with velcro tabs. the inside of this sleeve is a panaramic of slick 3d graphics, with a glossy finish, while the outside of the sleeve is a tougher laminate type of finish to protect the cardboard. "FSOL ISDN" is embossed in large letters across the center of the front cover, with a sticker affixed along the top indicating "a limited edition of 10,000 copies".

by today's standards, this release will probably seem very cheesy and dated to many listeners. it's worth checking out if you haven't ever heard it: this was an important release for FSOL, and FSOL were very influential artists at that time (early 90's). to understand where "electronic listening music" (or ambient, or idm) is today, one needs to be familiar with the work of FSOL.