Here's your chance to help choose the

Here's your chance to help choose the next Future Sound Of London digital single to be released at your favorite digital download provider. To listen to tracks and place your vote for the next FSOL digital single check out the Teachings From The Electronic Brain is the long awaited best-of album from The Future Sound Of London, regarded as one of the most influencial and outstanding electronic acts of the last 15 years. Teachings From The Electronic Brain collecting tracks from all of FSOL’s six albums (Accelerator, Lifeforms, ISDN, Dead Cities,The Isness and The Otherness, and the very first Astralwerks label album release, Tales Of Ephidrina, recorded under their alias Amosphous Androgynous). In addition all the key singles that that have defined their career are included: “Papua New Guinea,” “Cascade,” “Lifeforms” (featuring Cocteau Twins’ lead vocalist Liz Fraser) and “We Have Explosive. ” Years before the advent of iPods and MP3 players, FSOL were creating, delivering and releasing music digitally, even as a means of live performance, all from the confines of their small North London studio. But FSOL even broke the rules in the physical world by being the first group to release a 30 minute long single (“Cascade”) that even reached the Top 30 in the UK.

1. And while there has been endless debates in record shops as where to rack FSOL albums (they have appeared in the rock, dance, electronic, ambient and even modern classical sections) there is no question that their sound is unlike anyone else.
2. Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain met in Manchester in 1988 where they started exploring electronic music, working in clubs and alongside many well known and respected artists and DJ’s.
3. Brian’s work incorporated a project for the Stakker Graphics company where he created the top 20 hit Stakker Humanoid, accompanied by a video that Gary worked on.
4. Over the next 3 years their partnership grew and they released a number of early techno and dance records under a variety of aliases.
5. Believing that music was comprised of the elements of mystery and excitement, the duo’s goal was to create otherworldy musical landscapes while shunning any sort of popstar image, to the point of rarely being photgrpahed and conciously releasing music under different names used to reflect the differing styles and textures of their music.

1. The Future Sound Of London was the name chosen to be their main “carrier” for releasing their music to record stores, television and radio.
2. And it was music that could only be described as epic and futuristic.

In 1992 FSOL’s released their debut single, “Papua New Guinea” (on the UK independent label Jumpin’ and Pumpin’), peaking at number 22 in the UK charts. It was the ambient dub of “Papua New Guinea” that caught the ears of Virgin Records who snapped them up, earmarking Astralwerks as the band’s US label. But first the duo had to contractually complete an album for Jumpin’ & Pumpin’, titled Accelorator, which included “Papua New Guinea” alongside another standout track “Expander. ” They began their Astralwerks career with the 1993 experimental release Tales of Ephidrina, using the name Amorphous Androgynous (the track “Mountain Goat” from this album is included on this collection). It was around this time that the use of ISDN technology as means of transmitting data began to take off and they keenly took it up, broadcasting their music via ISDN in the UK to radio station Kiss Fm listeners on an almost regular basis. The single “Cascade” was released in 1993, showcasing where Tales of Ephidrina had taken them, followed by the double album Lifeforms in 1994 which went on to be hailed as one of the greatest ambient/electronica albums of the 90’s by the media (and public), whose positive coverage helped propel the album to number 6 in the UK charts, where it remained for a further 17 weeks.
A highlight of the album was the title track “Lifeforms,” featuring Liz Fraser (of The Cocteau Twins) on vocals. By 1995, the duo had undertaken numerous ISDN broadcasts redefining the concept of a live performance through a world tour and a headline slot at the Brighton Festival - all performed via ISDN lines without ever leaving their their own studio. Each live performance that was broadcast would include more new material and so in 1995 FSOL released a limited edition black album of several of these recordings entitled ISDN. This was soon followed by a reissue of this album six months later under the same name, but with a slightly altered track listing and in a white instead of black album cover. Remaining defiantly original but moving away from the completely ambient landscapes that filled Lifeforms, ISDN found the duo exploring a more industrial sound, fusing hip hop beats with jazz funk, such as “Far-Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman. ” Dead Cities saw FSOL embark on a darker journey through electronica with songs such as “Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me” offering a creepy, yet sleepy.