Make me like Future Sound of London.

Idk, I feel like i should like them based on my huge appreciation for the ambient techno style, but it hasn't clicked so far. I've listened to Lifeforms a couple times and there's not much going on that has me wanting to come back.

On that note, I also haven't been able to enjoy The Orb either, I liked Little Fluffy Clouds but the rest of the Ultraworld album was way too drawn out.

I like ambient, but i don't like everything ambient.

don't force it. if you feel like you can get into it, give a couple more listens. try different occasions or moods, and maybe it can work. if not, well, it is not for you then, but there is plenty of music for you to listen to, fortunately.

Try Dead Cities instead maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oarflEs9Oo4

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Earthbeat/master/110505

get this album!

Earthbeat has some of my favorite work from FSOL.

  On 8/28/2011 at 1:23 AM, ruiagnelo said:

I like ambient, but i don't like everything ambient.

 

don't force it. if you feel like you can get into it, give a couple more listens. try different occasions or moods, and maybe it can work. if not, well, it is not for you then, but there is plenty of music for you to listen to, fortunately.

This is true, however I would never know if this group had a song that would be ear candy to me without giving them a fair shot.

Lifeforms takes a bit of time, listen to it in isolation and try and let it take you away. It's my favourite album of all time by such a margin that I sort of judge FSOL in a different way to other music.

What other ambient techno do you like?

Dead Cities is fantastic too, darker and grittier. The Environments albums are also excellent, the first is sort of a 1990s sampley ambient version of Tangerine Dream, volume 2 is like Lifeforms but with a colder feel and much more compact/less sprawling, with more acoustic/classical hints, and the third is dark and sinister and lovely. And...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ8IrYgppsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc1a4t4vats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C5GdBJu07c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdL1OI51c28

I feel you... I've listened to Lifeforms maybe 5 times. So it's not like I hate it, tt's not a bad album and there are about 3 or 4 tracks I really like; but many of the stuff just sounds so cheesy? Especially that almost stereotypical fascination with technology that always shines through a bit, I associate this kind of stuff with Futurism which imo is fucking bullshit. For example many a times beautiful melodies and soundscapes are destroyed (for no apparant reason at all!) by cliché bleeps and blops that just seem to be there for the sake of it, totally out of place.

Maybe I need to listen to it more, or with more concentration,

FSOL didn't really click for me until I heard Amorphous Androgynous - Tales of Epi-whatevericantspellthisshit.

I didn't really like Dead Cities, Lifeforms is sweet but I found the EPs My Kingdom and Lifeforms EP and Cascade EP pretty cool.

FSOL is good largely because their sound is totally unique. They rely on samples and beats as well as synth experimentation which makes the music sound huge/loud and complex at the same time. I've always thought they had more in common with Meat Beat / The Orb than the ambient music genre in general.

  On 8/28/2011 at 5:53 AM, dr lopez said:

Don't know what it has to do with FSOL, but I agree! Fantastic album!

Most of it pre-Dead Cities can get really cheesy, but Lifeforms is lovely

Dead Cities is without a doubt their magnum opus...if you dont like that, I personally wouldn't bother.

And yeah, the Environments series is fucking awesome....Vol.3 is like Dead Cities Pt. II...perfect

  On 8/28/2011 at 7:38 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

Dead Cities is without a doubt their magnum opus...if you dont like that, I personally wouldn't bother.

Yeah pretty much. Dead Cities, ISDN and Life Forms are considered their essential trilogy.

Dead Cities is their most accessible too as it's got a lot of variation while the tracks on Life Forms and ISDN kinda merge into one whole (which is cool when you're in the mood for it).

ISDN is best tackled last as it's the darkest, harshest and most intense of the three.

The EPs are a better introduction to the world of FSOL, imo. The themes used in the tracks are more explicit and make it easier to hear the music instead of what might be lots of samples thrown together. Which is usually my first impression when hearing a new FSOL album. Well, it used to. Anyways, the EP's are more coherent than their album counterparts.

Either pick Cascade, Lifeforms (the EP!) or My Kingdom and you're set to go. Instant floatation tank material!

Oh yeah, the sample thing is always a good way to listen to it too - for years I assumed that only maybe the acoustic sounds were samples, but most of the synths and drum loops are too. They have such an incredible ear for spotting tiny little sounds and loops that will fit together. Who can spot the Pink Floyd sample in Expander?

This track got me into FSOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0RI8L6e7Y0

Also Tales of Ephidrina is probably my favorite album that they've done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpiJk7Eiv3U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTIjKK6yw48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyC-oxN0xNI

pretty much mirror what people are saying...

Dead Cities - if you don't like it, don't bother with FSOL.

Dead Cities imo one of the best electronic albums ever.

I didn't get into their amorphous androgynous stuff...

  On 8/28/2011 at 6:40 PM, Homestar Runner said:

I didn't get into their amorphous androgynous stuff...

you mean the most recent hippie stuff, right?

because the first record (pre-FSOL era) Tales of Ephidrina is mindblowing!

Accelerator is by far their best record

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0RI8L6e7Y0

[youtubehd]Yfb3NFF4GsU[/youtubehd]

[youtubehd]hzNzbt4s_3k[/youtubehd]

  On 8/28/2011 at 6:58 PM, LUDD said:

Accelerator is by far their best record

Acceralator is awesome.

But why force yourself to like something? I never understood that. But if you started with Lifeforms, I get why you don't like FSOL just yet. I've never been a huge fan of that record either.

I have all the EPs (Cascade and My Kingdom on CD, and Lifeforms on vinyl) and I can assure you they're all quite awesome.

maybe it sounds a bit cheesy for you? i thought that back in the day but i love it now...now. in my old age i've learnt to appreciate the stronger cheddars...it's all about lifeforms and dead cities...yum!