Lifeforms (Green 2LP)

Vinyl re-issue of the 1994 double album by The Future Sound of London. After having a dancefloor smash like the seminal Papua New Guinea, most producers would swiftly follow up with more of the same. Not The Future Sound of London. After their early ’90s club classic kicked open the doors of the dance music industry, they quickly shot inside, boarded them up, and began creating a new strain of electronic music a world away from the friendly grooves of their standout hit. Papua New Guinea was their Trojan horse, and it gave them all the space they needed behind enemy lines to plan their next exploration into sound. Lifeforms was, and still is, a complicated and rewarding journey into sound, with no interest in anything as obvious as a verse / chorus arrangement. Still, it rose to number six in the UK album charts on release. 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. Pressed on green vinyl.