The Isness | ||||
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Studio album by Amorphous Androgynous | ||||
Released | 10 June 2002 (UK) | |||
Recorded | Earthbeat Studios, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 63:30 | |||
Producer | The Future Sound of London | |||
The Future Sound of London chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() Cover for the two disc expanded version The Isness and the Otherness. |
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 62/100 [1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork Media | (8.0/10) [3] |
The Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Almostcool.org | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Isness is a 2002 album by experimental electronica group The Future Sound of London,released under the alias Amorphous Androgynous (except in the US,where it was released as FSOL for commercial reasons). An expanded version was released called The Isness and the Otherness,a two disc special edition containing The Isness on disc one and The Otherness,featuring additional tracks and recordings,on disc two. [7]
The album is the first by FSOL (as Amorphous Androgynous) to delve into psychedelic rock territory,although there are a few solid electronica tracks the majority is more progressive rock than electronica. This has come to mixed reviews with the majority being positive. Some say they had over extended their reach and others seemed to understand what they were doing. [8] [9]
Several versions of the album exist,partially due to several last-minute changes to the track listing. Original promotional versions,mastered at Abbey Road studios,were set for release in May 2002. However,the album was put on hold,according to Gaz Cobain,due to an excess of "masculine energy". A second promotional version was released,with a track list similar to the final version,but in the same sleeve as the initial version,leading to a number of misleading reviews with incorrect track titles. The final released version of the album matched this second promo,with the addition to the album's short instrumental title track (and a slightly edited version of "The Mello Hippo Disco Show").
Upon the album's release in August 2002,more confusion occurred when the band's American label,Hypnotic,distributed 2,500 copies of the original mix of the album. The album was recalled,but many copies had been bought and still exist as rarities. The mix is significantly different from the final mix:"The Mello Hippo Disco Show" is an entirely different version,"The Galaxial Pharmaceutical" exists as a full track rather than being cut in two,"Guru Song" features lyrics sung by a female vocalist,"Elysian Feels" contains a significantly different breakbeat and is in a higher key,and both "Divinity" and "Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead" feature in slightly longer forms. "Yes My Brother" and "Goodbye Sky" are not present,replaced by "The Lovers" and "The Isness". To confuse matters more,the vinyl version of the album contained an exclusive track entitled "Chawawah",only previously heard on the band's website in 2001.
2004's double-disc UK compilation "The Isness &The Otherness" (with "The Otherness" released as its own disc in the US) compiled most of the tracks,plus selected remixes and some exclusive pieces,only missing the Abbey Road mix of "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical",plus "Yes My Brother",which featured in an extended version as "The Prophet" on 2005 album Alice in Ultraland .
Dougans and Cobain enlisted a large group of friends,famous and not,to help them with the music arrangement and performances;the list reads thus:
"Divinity" was released as a promo-single in 2003. "The Band Mix" version is an edit of the version on The Otherness. The "Spector Mix" is a new version,with drums throughout,giving it a very radio-friendly feel. [10]
The Future Sound of London is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. Described as a "boundary-pushing" electronic act,covering techno,ambient,house music,trip hop,psychedelia,and dub.
Dead Cities is a 1996 album by electronic music group The Future Sound of London.
Teachings from the Electronic Brain is a compilation of songs from throughout the career of British band The Future Sound of London,and was released in 2006. The diversity of their wide range of work is even more apparent on a compilation such as this.
"We Have Explosive" is a song by The Future Sound of London,released in 1997. It was the band's most successful single,getting to number 12 in the UK Singles Chart in 1997. It features prominent sampling of the Run-DMC album Tougher Than Leather. Part three also samples "Rockchester" by Fats Comet.
Garry Cobain is a British electronic musician,and one half of the Future Sound of London.
Alice in Ultraland is a 2005 album by experimental electronica group Amorphous Androgynous,which is a side project of The Future Sound of London.
"Q" is a single released in 1990/1991 by Mental Cube. It is a widely respected dance classic among DJs and has a distinctive bleeping,electronica feel reminiscent of work by Orbital.
"Stakker Humanoid" is an 1988 track by Humanoid released in 1988 on the London-based label Westside Records. It is described by The Guardian as "the first truly credible UK acid techno record to break into the mainstream."
Environments is the first part in a series of planned releases by The Future Sound of London over 2007/2008 via digital download and then CD.
4 Forests is another experimental album by Brian Dougans under the alias Part-Sub-Merged from 2007 which was released on The Future Sound of London's digital download website. It is the soundtrack to a short film made by the duo called "Part-Sub-Merged" to be released on FSOLdigital.com at some point in the near future. The music is darker than his "Polemical " work with analogue techno beats and synth ambience.
The Peppermint Tree &the Seeds of Superconsciousness is a 2008 album by the Amorphous Androgynous,it was released on the webpage of The Future Sound of London (FSOL) to buy as a digital download and was released on CD in June 2008.
So This Is Love is a soulful house track by FSOL under the moniker Mental Cube. Recorded in 1991,it was also featured on the Earthbeat compilation album of the following year.
You Took My Love is a house track released by FSOL under the alias Candese in 1991,it features a female vocalist singing very spiritedly over a funky acid house beat.
The Pulse EP is an EP released by The Future Sound of London partly under the alias Indo Tribe,two tracks under that name,and the other two are FSOL tracks. One FSOL track is from their first album Accelerator and one of the Indo Tribe tracks is from the 1992 compilation album Earthbeat.
Pulse 2 EP is an EP released by The Future Sound of London partly under the alias' Indo Tribe,Smart Systems and FSOL. The FSOL tracks "Stolen Documents" and "In 8" would later be put on the Accelerator album with "In 8" becoming "1 in 8".
Environments II is the second release in The Future Sound of London's Environments series. It was released on 29 August 2008,and a CD version of the album was released on 5 January 2009.
The Mello Hippo Disco Show is an EP released by Amorphous Androgynous,a pseudonym of The Future Sound of London. Among the tracks are Life's A Flow,which was originally released on the Abbey Road mix of The Isness and the long-awaited Trying To Make Impermanent Things Permanent,originally premiered in 1997
A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding in Your Mind:Volume 2 is a 2009 compilation album with selections by the Amorphous Androgynous;it was released on CD in September 2009. It is an extensive compilation mix album featuring a wide variety of artists,selected and mixed by the duo. Pagan Love Vibrations is the second in the series,following on from the successful first volume Cosmic Space Music and focusses on the band's psychedelic side,featuring everything from 1960s pop to film scores and modern psychedelia.
Environments 3 is the third in The Future Sound of London's "Environments" series of albums,released on 7 June 2010. Unlike previous FSOLDigital releases,the album was not made available as a download several months before the CD release. Because of this,the record was heard several weeks in advance due to early shipping from the website Juno. The record sleeve announced a fourth album in the series.
This is the discography page for ambient electronic group The Future Sound of London. All works released as The Future Sound of London unless otherwise noted.