Jumpin' & Pumpin'/Hypnotic: 1991/2002
The only Future Sound Of London album you need, if you listen to certain sorts of people. Let's call them 'stuck in The Haçienda' kind of people, UK ravers who never grew beyond that era's acid house scene, will only accept electronic music as it sounded then, and not a month later. Never mind that Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain ventured forth into new, fascinating realms of pure headtrip, mind-fuck album works – it's just not danceable, mate. I sense, though, such folks are forlorn at the coulda'-been, the shoulda'-been of FSOL's potential as studio hounds producing clubbing fodder. They made so many classic, genre-defining tunes at the time, the possibilities of what they might have done after had they scaled back the arty, pretentious aspirations boggles the mind. But nay, the lads from Manchester had grander visions in mind.
And I get it – oh man, do I ever get it. For as much as I've continued enjoying FSOL's work, there's an undeniable addictive simplicity about the tunes on
Accelerator that remain effective to this day.
Papua New Guinea, obviously, but I've no doubt tracks like the future-shock breaks of
Expander, acid-bleep dopeness of
Calcium, and blissed-out trancey acid house of
Pulse State would be just as effective in any contemporary setting. Hell, I heard
1 In 8 at a music festival this past summer.
1 In 8, one of the 'filler' tracks on this album! Who plays
1 In 8 in this age? A DJ at Basscoast, apparently.
Still, one cannot deny there's some rather dated material on
Accelerator too. Despite the smashing opening of
Expander (oh, you just know Sasha cribbed that title),
Stolen Documents is little more than a peppy transitional track of bleepy sounds and chirpy acid funk.
While Others Cry has a little more personality going for it with its Balearic-Jamaican vibe (yes, really), nice for a sway in a hammock or beach lounge. On the other hand though,
It's Not My Problem and
Moscow have the unenviable task of bookmarking the album centrepiece of
Papua New Guinea, and in being such abrasive, boshing tunes, neither are capable of it – you're just waiting for
Papua while
Problem is playing, and
Moscow always feels like a comedown from
New Guinea. As for hints at where FSOL would take their music,
Central Industrial slows things down and plays up the future-shock scenery full-tilt. Psygnosis Studios were definitely paying attention.
When
Accelerator was rolled out for a tenth anniversary re-issue, it included a bonus disc of
Papua New Guinea remixes. Most of them take the tune's basic structure and re-purposes them into a particular genre (Satoshi Tomiie does the prog thing, Hybrid do the prog-breaks thing, Oil do the funk-dub thing). The most interesting of the lot are the
Simian Mix, where the rock band turns
Papua into a bizarre, stoned, jazz-stomp indie hoe-down (I'm sure Gary loved it), and Andrew Weatherall's eleven-minute rub – progressive house of epic proportions, that one!
