Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Cascade
2. Ill Flower
3. Flak
4. Bird Wings
5. Dead Skin Cells
6. Lifeforms
7. Eggshell
8. Among Myselves

Disc 2:

1. Domain
2. Spineless Jelly
3. Interstat
4. Vertical Pig
5. Cerebral
6. Life Form Ends
7. Vit
8. Omnipresence
9. Room 208
10. Elaborate Burn
11. Little Brother

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5971 in Music
• Released on: 1994-05-23
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Dead Skin Cells", "Cerebral", "Spineless Jelly": the song titles on the second full-length from U.K. duo Future Sound of London (a.k.a. Gary Cobain and Brian Dougans) almost read like chapter subheadings from a Biology textbook. And not without reason. Evolving beyond the florid environmental techno of their previous Accelerator and the hit single "Papua New Guinea", Lifeforms concentrates on Future Sound of London's painstaking construction of tiny, crystalline arrangements of organic sound. Guest stars include Curve's Toni Halliday, percussionist Talvin Singh and guitar pioneer Robert Fripp, but you'll be as hard pressed to identify their individual contributions once they've been diced and folded into the mix. Too animated to be tagged "ambient", yet not as propulsive as earlier Future Sound of London offerings, the intricate charms of Lifeforms proliferate with repeated listenings. --Kurt B. Reighley

Customer Reviews

high quality ambience
Sometimes an album is made and it captures the very essence of magic. Lifeforms is one of the best examples of such a piece of music. This is electronic music, but not dance orientated. It's the kind of cd you put on when you want to explore the confines of your own head. Darkly introspective and challenging, it wont be the prefered choice of Ibiza leaning clubbers. It's far too intelligent for that. After a decade, it still stands out as one of the leading examples of mood altering electronica. Listen to it and take a journey into outerspace.

Beautiful
This is music to lose yourself in. As with all FSOL music it's very freeform with a huge amount going on - little noises and voices which you only notice after a few listens are everywhere. The way to listen to it is to lie back with the lights off and allow the music to transport you into its world, and for the most part its world is beautiful. However, even now, after hundreds of listens, there's a moment in 'Among Myselves' (towards the end of the first CD) which goes right through me - a voice says (sampled from somewhere, I've forgotten where) 'I can hear myself, I think I'm a bit afraid. They were drowning me', followed by the most horrible, violating noise. Truly this is more frightening and shocking than anything off FSOL's 'Dead Cities', despite that album's much harsher sound. And though 'Lifeforms' would be great without it, I would argue that this one moment elevates it above any accusations of 'throbbing on the spot', as I heard one reviewer put it. Otherwise it's gorgeousness all the way. Similar in tone to '76.14' by Global Communication but much more loose and unpredictable, it's a work of genius that stands up against any electronic music of the time and is one of my favourite albums. This is a must if you're into this sort of thing. And if you're not, then this might be the album to convert you.

Mysterious, addictive, varied and lovely!!
A fantastic follow up to Accelerator, but very different. Having proved that they are capable of producing one of the best dance albums ever, FSOL prove they can produce one the best recordings of ambient music ever too. This double album is perfect in every respect, from the artwork on the sleeve to the enigmatic sounds and beats on every track. The first disc is pleasantly ambient, with subtle melodies and gentle beats and host of effective vocal samples. The second disc is darker and not as immediate, but it soon hits home. It's always good to hear Robert Fripp (King Crimson) working with artists like this. His acoustic contribution add's a new dimension to the second disc. High points are 'Dead skin cells' and 'Lifeforms' This is about eight years old now, but hasn't dated one bit.