Future Sound of London, "Dead Cities"

This would be the eighth in a series of albums that I haven't heard in over twenty years, since the start of this blog in January 2020.  Except that's not exactly true in this case, because I don't think I ever heard "Dead Cities" in its entirely.  I was a fan of FSOL from "Papua New Guinea" onward, had "Lifeforms" and the Amorphous Androgynous albums in heavy rotation, but by 1996 I felt that they were following trends rather than leading them, and the trends they were following weren't the trends I was the least bit interested in.  Since I'd rather not repeat artists in this series, and seeing as I never heard the album to begin with, I'm reluctant to count this one.  On the other hand, it is a fairly notable album by a legendary act, and I just bought the beautiful limited edition that comes with a book and some amazing artwork ...

A few thoughts on this album:

"Herd Killing" utilizes the same sonic palate as "Lifeforms", clearly it's the same band that recorded that dreamy ambient/modern classical (two of the adjectives applied to "Lifeforms" at the time) album, except that the dreaded 1996 big beat sounds are seeping in.

"Her Fact Forms in Summertime".  This is more like it, a proto-Burial epic in miniature, featuring rainy nights stepping through flooded gutters in an urban hellscape crossed with chopped up b-boy street music.

"We Have Explosives".  The single owes an obvious debt to what the Chemical Brothers were doing at the time, but also shows glimpses of the rhythmic noise that would become popular in completely different circles in a few years time.  

"Everyone in the World Is Doing Something Without Me" radiates a starry eyed ambience with ethereal layered voices, but also carries the overwhelmingly horrifying feeling that everything is falling apart.  That's a combination of sounds and emotions that you almost never hear, but somehow they pulled it off.    

"Quagmire" is true to its name, a chaotic, messy soup of skittering beats, jazz samples, and futuristic noises, jazz samples.  That track bleeds into "In a State of Permanent Abyss" (the best title on the album IMO), which is an early 70's Kraftwerk-ian throwback of twinkling, bubbling synths.  This kicks off the more abstract second half of the album.    

"Yage" shines through as a centerpiece track, with a long ambient intro and outro bookending a kitchen sink collage of quaking bass, warped sitar-like drone, wall of sound dub effects, and face-smashing beats.   

Overall, "Dead Cities" sounds a lot better now than it probably did when it was first released.  Far removed from the fleeting trends that firmly date this album to the late 90's, there's an adventurous mixture of sounds to sink one's teeth into.  There are also a few forward thinking moments, showing that FSOL still had innovative trump cards up their sleeves.