Amorphous Androgynous - Tales Of Ephidrina

Truly intelligent dance music. This album will simply all the colors of the rainbow into your mind, and mix them together in ways you won't believe - and then some. Every track has a different mood, although the majority is strange/dark. "Swab" is perhaps my favorite track; how did they make SO many layers come together SO well!? Shining proof that the early 90's was perhaps the best time for electronic music - simply fantastic.

Often considered to be a sister album to their Lifeforms 2xCD album (under their Future Sound of London alias) but honestly Tales of Ephridrina is a completely different experience when you listen to it. The first thing you'll notice as soon as you push play is that this album is much darker then Lifeforms. The samples from Predator in track 1 start off the darker sound. Another thing you'll notice in difference is the fact that most of these tracks are more dance driven then any of Lifeforms tracks.

However there are a lot of moments on here that are similar to Lifeforms. Lots of ambient moments and similar sound effects are used (the running water sample). When forced to pick a favorite between Lifeforms and Ephidrina... I think i'd have to get with Lifeforms simply because of its longer length. But odds are if you enjoy Lifeforms you'll want this one as well.

Probably the best thing FSOL ever did. It beats "Lifeforms" hands down, mostly because it isn't an effect-driven, structureless show-off. Quality (and very varied) beats, unsettling ambience, and some great fun to be had sample-spotting.

'Tales Of Ephidrina' is without any doubt one of the highest examples of aesthetic ambient-techno work in history. Brian Dougans & Garry Cobain proved themselves to be amazingly vanguardist with this masterpiece that combinates ambient, techno, dub and experimental elements.

Amorphous Androgynous (which everyone knows better as the Future Sound of London) released their album Tales of Ephidrina right before Lifeforms. It was claimed at the time that this was a collection of outtakes from Lifeforms -- if this is true, then it’s because these tracks are at such a different level. Personally, this is one of my favorite electronic albums of all time. It’s not just ambient, it’s ambient that wants to house you. The opening track “Liquid Insects” sounds the way Jurassic Park should have been. My favorite track, “Auto Pimp,” begins with an eerie sample with helicopter rotors thrumming in, then builds to a harpsichord-like melody over a driving beat and didgeridoo -- instantly catchy and unique. The beatless tracks, such as “Mountain Goat,” unfold layer after layer of beauty. Samples are scattered throughout the album, but they’re integrated in such a way as to make them seem wholly organic to the compositions. It’s an astonishing album and one that will stand the test of time.

I first heard this being played while I waited for New Order to take the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in '93. A couple of weeks later I found this CD used and bought it because I thought the packaing was unique and was blown away to discover this was the same music being played at the New Order concert. I feel that this is the best thing that FSOL put out. Flawless, from start to finish. Still holds up for the year Y2K4!

At the time I first heard this, I was heavily into stuff like The Cure and Guns 'n Roses. It totally blew me away. Featuring spoken samples from films like 'Predator' and musical samples from Peter Gabriel's Passion, this cd is one of the few musical works that paints a strange landscape of textures and colours within the mind's eye.