Biosphere - Substrata (Alternative Versions)

Substrata was the third studio album by the Norwegian electronic artist Biosphere, released 25 years ago by All Saints Records in London.
In 2016, Pitchfork ranked it at number 38 on its list of the 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time.
Here are ten alternative versions picked from the Substrata recordings sessions that took place between 1995 and 1996.

https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/substrata-alternative-versions

Very curious to hear these. Classic, essential album up to all the hype it gets.

Instabuy. Substrata’s one of my all time favourites.

Ranked 38?

Yeah, I'm buying this instantly.  

It doesn't seem clear whether these alt versions were from the original sessions or made more recently. Curious regardless.

  On 8/14/2022 at 7:04 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

It doesn't seem clear whether these alt versions were from the original sessions or made more recently. Curious regardless.

"Here are ten alternative versions picked from the Substrata recordings sessions that took place between 1995 and 1996."

Looks like it's from the era it was actually recorded.

  On 8/13/2022 at 11:57 AM, brisk said:

Pitchfork ranked it at number 38 on its list of the 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time.
 

https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/substrata-alternative-version

Is that the same list with the disintegration loops at number 3?

Curious to see how this turns out. Original's definitely a classic. 

Kobresia is a top 10 track for me.

At worst, this will be an interesting curio. At best it'll be a real insight and an enjoyable alternate version. Either way, Gier always gets my £££ so definitely buying it.

That said, where is Autour de la Lune reissue? He skipped from Shenzhou to Dropsonde. I want my 2CD Autour. I've been putting off re-buying the CD for years because I know one is coming at some point. I'll take a 2CD N-Plants while you're at it, Gier.

Definitely my favourite Biosphere album (and the first thing I heard by him with Sphere of No Form being on a Future Music CD back in the day) so very much intrigued as to exactly *what* this release entails given the same track names as the original

  On 8/29/2022 at 3:36 PM, purlieu said:

That said, where is Autour de la Lune reissue? He skipped from Shenzhou to Dropsonde. I want my 2CD Autour.

Would love to get a re-release of that too - My CD rip was done at 160kbps over 15 years ago, and the super-sub-bass frequencies really are not an mp3 codec's friend !

always liked this one

Now available - https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/substrata-alternative-versions

Admittedly only skimmed through the previews, they very much seem to be [very] slight variations of the original - Like someone pressed a '5% random' button on the original project settings  

Kinda reminds me of the mod Doom But Something's Not Right:

This is pretty interesting, but yeah, I'd say it's for diehards of Substrata only.  Some of the tracks get a bit of jazzy hi-hats, but these are just different mixes of the same tracks.  

Some of them are definitely just slightly more stripped down mixes, but others are quite different, especially those with drum loops. I think there's enough for an EP of notable versions, although I don't blame him for filling it out to do the whole album. I'd struggle to justify paying for a 2LP edition, but it'll definitely get some listens from me.

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:54 PM, purlieu said:

Some of them are definitely just slightly more stripped down mixes, but others are quite different, especially those with drum loops. I think there's enough for an EP of notable versions, although I don't blame him for filling it out to do the whole album. I'd struggle to justify paying for a 2LP edition, but it'll definitely get some listens from me.

Aye definitely gonna buy it all the same (a digital copy anyway) - Substrata my favourite of his releases and one of my favourite albums in general

  On 8/29/2022 at 3:36 PM, purlieu said:

At worst, this will be an interesting curio. At best it'll be a real insight and an enjoyable alternate version. Either way, Gier always gets my £££ so definitely buying it.

That said, where is Autour de la Lune reissue? He skipped from Shenzhou to Dropsonde. I want my 2CD Autour. I've been putting off re-buying the CD for years because I know one is coming at some point. I'll take a 2CD N-Plants while you're at it, Gier.

Geir

I'll keep on misspelling him until he does those reissues. You hear that, Gier?

These are alternative takes from the studio sessions. From Bandcamp

  Quote

Here are ten alternative versions picked from the Substrata recordings sessions that took place between 1995 and 1996.

So, how I figure out is that Geir played a series of live controlled takes in the studio and then some were picked for the album, and these alternative versions are just alternative takes on the same tracks from the same studio sessions. I think this was a pretty common strategy back in the 90s before sequencing the whole track in a DAW became the norm? Like The KLF's Chill Out in which case the whole album was recorded multiple times live and then the best version was picked.

Anyway, for a person like me who has heard the original Substrata about a million times, this is a pretty interesting release. I like some of these versions better than the original release and some original versions better.

I'm happy this exists as well - to see what else could've been. But the original album is still pure perfection and untouchable imo.

After a few listens, I'm actually really enjoying this. The main change is that it seems less obviously 'ambient' in the sense of droney synth pads. There are more overt melodies on some tracks, but the biggest change is the much heavier use of the jazz loops. It feels a much closer cousin to Cirque and Dropsonde as a result. I was worried that it would be really subtle differences (this synth is a bit louder, this field recording is a bit quieter), and that's true for three or four of the tracks, but some of these have a really different feel to them. Lovely stuff.

  On 8/29/2022 at 3:36 PM, purlieu said:

That said, where is Autour de la Lune reissue? He skipped from Shenzhou to Dropsonde. I want my 2CD Autour. 

Yay for a 2x CD re-release:

https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/autour-de-la-lune-reissue

I like these a lot.

Me too!