Customer Reviews

Environments Vol. 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this is my first review. and i'll start off to say i'm a little bit of a future sound collector at over 20 albums. close to 30 if you count amorphous androgynous stuff (which doesn't quite amaze me like the future sound). and this album is instantly one of my favorite. although a little on the short side at 57 minutes. the future sound of london may be my favorite artists completely. and this i tell you. is a very good one which i know will hit the spot for some other true future sound fans. imagine if lifeforms repopulated the dead cities, and then everything froze over. i think i even recognized some samples from both lifeforms and dead cities in the track "colour blind" yet it was a completely new and refreshing melody... i never minded the future sound's occasional recycling of samples. it usually makes something new and beautiful all the same. but samples aside i'm saying the moodscape of this album felt to me like a wonderful arctic iced over lifeforms.

and of course the sound quality is out of this world as always. this album must be heard on a good home stereo or headphones or earbuds (the best thing you have). all i'm saying is you dont quite get the full range with desktop dime speakers. if you're into future sound you know what i mean. it's like digital liquid for your ears. only in this case crystalized.

Simply wonderful; a vast, expansive journey through the farthest reaches of humanity's industrial uprising. There are sounds on here that not even "Lifeforms" could fathom. Whereas that was more of an organic affair, Environments II is the result of flora melding with cold steel. Journies through overgrown establishments and ancient outposts long-forgotten, yet still rife with faint, flowing energy and the dreams of slumbering Artificial Intelligences. It even brings about melodies and samples previously encountered through works past; "Ice Formed", in particular has a distinct, crystallized "Calcium"-esque synth providing much of the draw to the former's composition. Think of this as a fusion of their entire back-catalogue, yet re-worked and shaped into a sound never before encountered from this dynamic duo.

This is not to be missed by anyone -- even those outside the current FSOL fanbase. Kick back and let the music take you.

This album slots into the period between Tales of Ephidrina, Lifeforms and ISDN, although I suspect it's been more recently significantly played with because it is far and away better than Environments 1, not that the latter is a bad album. It just sounds like something the boys would compose now. It's easily one of the best pieces of ambient electronica in a good while. (I don't much like the label, though.) Pick a superlative. It's also sharp as a tack sound-wise, a pleasure to listen to. This is food for the ears and the mind's well-being. Lie in the middle of the loungeroom and imagine you're in field in warm spring sunshine. Don't wait a moment longer.

Much better then Environments 1 in my opinion. If I had to guess, the first Environments appeared to be old material while this album is seemingly composed of new material (The first Environments had much more of the electronica funk from their 90's music). I say that because the music is unlike any previous FSOL music. The style is much more ambient and vast then all other albums they've created. There are no true standouts to me, as this album must be listened to as a whole... Keep it coming FSOL!

Great cd something new and diferant with every track. play on repeat and kick back and enjoy.

I'll be honest, I didn't plan to ever give this release a chance. I didn't want to spend yet more money on something I suspected was going to be too much like Environments 1 (if you're curious, there's more on that in my review of that release). I took a chance on romance though, and it definitely paid off. Like Environments 1, there is use of some of the same riffs that were done in the mid-90's range of ISDN broadcasts, but not nearly as much. At least 90% of the release sounds like whole new explorations. What's great is that some of these are loosely based on recognizable samples and sample compositions from past shows but take the ideas in some great new directions.

It's the first time since (the psychedelic diversions in later Amorphous Androgynous maybe?) that I can remember this much use of classical instruments. What's surprising is the result--nothing like I would have guessed. The best way to describe it would be their mid-90's sound mixed with subtle use of classical instruments. It lightens the sound a little, and together with some more laid back compositions it achieves a great balance between deep and decently light. I really like it, it's a nice touch and a fresh combination.

What I think pushes it past decent and into "damn good" in my book though is how it nails some catchy grooves on a lot of tracks: 'Colour-Blind', 'North Arctic', Glacier 1 and 2, and a familiar transitional sample from past shows fully expanded into its own beautiful track in 'Nearly Home'. And as a bonus, I hear a great re-imagining of Accelerator's 'Calcium' in 'Ice Formed'.

All in all, this is a great work in its own right and a thankful departure from what was done on Environments 1.

Having not been impressed by the past several years of FSOL, I decided to give this a chance. I think it is great! I became a big fan of FSOL a while back, having Lifeforms as my all time favorite, with Cascades and Papua New Guinea Translations being my other favorites. Then, there was other stuff that was different and not so great like The Isness and Amorphous Androgynous, which I thought sucked. However, this 'Environments' stuff is like the good old FSOL that we all know and love!! This is possibly even better!! The only problem, which is perhaps minor, is that these tracks are not longer. They seem too short, being on average four minutes long, and it at times feels like the song is cut short... since I am used to tracks being more like 7 to 10 minutes. Overall though, any one who liked the FSOL of the 90's will for sure like this release. I am happy to see that FSOL has returned to this stuff!!!! This is the best of ambience music!

Matches their best work from the early 90s (ie - Tales of Ephidrina/Lifeforms). Incorporates similar elements, similar style, yet is substantially different, substantially all its own. This is FSOL of the past realized in the future.

I had the most frustrating time trying to get the MP3 tracks of Environments Vol. 2 over the summer time with no date when it would come out. Downloaded the MP3 songs about five months later without listening to it giving my father a complete CDr of it on Thanksgiving. When he played the CDr on the radio fo Vol. 2, I confused it with Steve Roach and my father was shocked that I didn't here vol. 2 of Environments.

Knowing the wait is over, what was even more surprising that this wasn't just noise like FSOL- Environments Vol. 1 was. There is actually some very good stuff. We're talking break beat, relax, ambient music. Unlike Environments 1, no FSOL fan or new age fan should have a right to feel shy of the powers of the mythological (no more) pure ambience.