the river sounds on: FSOL

This is the Future Sound of London


Electronic music project, created on a probably foggy day, in Manchester, UK, around mid eighties, by a couple of friends: Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain.

Along the history of the band, the duo has maintained a really discrete and mysterious way of handling the media and their audience.

Although they’re usually labeled as ambient, their music has denied every attempt on inserting them into a specific genre. They surf from unique ambient manifestations through tribal rhythms, spiritual atmospheres, ludic evolution and psychedelic sonoric expansion. Along their carrier Dougans and Cobain have shown different lines of deep exploration, resulting in a colorful cocktail of sounds and moods. Their search has included different areas, including 2D and 3D computer animations, experimental radio broadcast, video and film.

Famous for their finesse in remixing and samplings, this duo has remixed works of Robert Fripp, Curve and David Sylvian.

Amorphous Androgynous, Art Science Technology, Humanoid, Intelligent Communication, Mental Cube, Q, Semi real, Yupie and Yage, are only some of their aliases.

“People are gradually realizing, ‘Actually I’ll make less money, take more risks, have more faith, sell my house, move out of London, work for different people, find different people, then discover ‘My God, life’s a trip, My God, life’s exciting, My God how did I ever accept the prison walls.’ That’s what it’s all about. I don’t need massive amounts of money, to be honest; I live very simply. At those points when people threaten my freedom of expression, I just say goodbye and go with people that love what I do. Personal truth will not harm me in the long run.”

In the last years, this bright couple of sonic explorers has shown a deep attraction towards Psychedelia, a stronger presence of organic and ethnic elements characterizes their latest work.

"Psychedelia is about escaping from our adult cells and getting back to a childlike perspective on life, possibility, joy, fun...celebration, really. I think there was a period when electronic music was really a way out, it was [about] breaking lots of rules, and then it's just became a set of rules..."



These are some of FSOL’s most significant works:

Stakker '92 (as Humanoid) (1992)
Accelerator (1992)
Earthbeat (early releases using several aliases) (1992)
Tales of Ephidrina (as Amorphous Androgynous) (1993)
Cascade (1993)
The Far-Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman (1994)
Lifeforms (feat. Elizabeth Fraser) (1994)
Dead Cities (1996)
Papua New Guinea (2001)
The Isness (as Amorphous Androgynous) (2002)
Alice In Ultraland (as Amorphous Androgynous) (2005)



“Life and every aspect of it is even more amazing, the more aware you are; to breathe and fuck, whatever you want consciously becomes the most amazing thing.”


Because of their “one step ahead” musical philosophy and their sensitive codification sampling, pointed towards the creation of mystical sonic paths, the river sounds on the Future Sound of London.

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the river sounds on: Terry Riley

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Born in Colfax, California, 1935.

This revolutionary composer proposed new ways of exploring the artificial labyrinth of sonoric patterns. Electric mantras cyclically weaved in search of transcending the usual dimensions of recorded sound. He is considered as one of the most significant contributors to the creation and development of minimalist music, which was based in a mixture-distortion of serialism, indeterminacy and, over all, (a)tonality.

During the 60´s and 70´s, Terry Riley became famous for his “all night flights” which included sonoric improvisations of Riley’s organ harmonium and tape-delayed saxophone playing non-stop sessions that lasted from eight to twelve hours.

Influenced by Karl Heinz Stockhausen, Riley has worked, among many others, with La Monte Young, Steve Reich, Rova Saxophone Quartet and John Cale. Big league musicians like Philip Glass, Toru Takemitsu, Kronos Quartet and Scratch Orchestra, have performed his compositions.

Pandit Pran Nath, probably the most respected Raga vocalist, is considered his most influential teacher.

He has composed around nine quartets for the Kronos Quartet.

In UC Berkley he was a classmate of L. M. Young and David Del Tredici in a composition class.

He masters different acoustic instruments like violin, piano and saxophone.

His second album, In C, written in San Francisco, is considered a masterpiece in the musical stage of the twentieth century. This work was an interlocking of 53 different serial patterns that Riley had previously composed for this purpose. In his own words: ”In C, it’s a psychedelic cosmic opera. It should be heard as a very expansive experience”.


These are some of Riley’s most important works:

In C (1964)
Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band (1968)
A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969)
Church of Anthrax (1971)
Shri Camel (1980)
The Descending Moonshine Dervishes / The Ten Voices of the
Two Prophets Celestial Harmonies (1983)
The Harp of New Albion (1986)
Salome Dances for Peace (1989)
Chanting the Light of Foresight, (1994)
Sun Rings (2003)

“I feel that music is a way to separate our selves from the material world. Listening to music is a kind of prayer and it’s all you really need. It connects you with the spirit of creativity… In India it’s hard to separate them because music is still deeply rooted in religion, in devotion, and music is considered a religious path… There’s all kinds of music and all kinds of ways to listen to it, but essentially, music is something of the spirit.”



River on Riley’s sounds:

Because of his deep-sonoric mandalas and his geometric electromantras, the river sounds on Mr. Terry.


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