Flying Saucer Attack: Classic or Dud?

Anyhoo, FSA. The first four Flying Saucer Attack LP's were big favourites of mine back in the day and they still hold up pretty well now. Noisy rural psychedelia = great idea. The stuff they've done more recently (ie post Chorus) hasn't really grabbed me. Like they're trying to sound more like Matt Elliot but not hitting the mark.

This, at their best, was what FSA did for me. When the fuzz took over I have to admit I was often left cold. Somewhere in between the two stereotypical positions I set up, perhaps.

I lost track after the third or fourth lp, but those first few are definitely classic/transcendent.

I played the "soaring high" 45 last night (and played it loud!) and it still sounds fresh.

I dragged these records out the other day (Chorus and Further) and was very pleasantly surprised. It's probably been ten years since I listened to them.

Chorus and Further were all I listened to freshman year of college. I also really, really loved the 'noise collage' one on Bruce Russell's label. They were my absolute favorite band - all these years later, they're still in the top 100 somewhere. Classic.

This whole Bristol scene used to be quite the trend but it's fallen off my radar. Are any of these people still doing anything? I know Matt Elliot started putting out albums under his own name; what I've heard hasn't touched the first three Third Eye Foundation albums. No idea about anyone else from FSA/Movietone/etc. doing anything of note in the last five or six years though.

Was Crescent part of this scene? Did anyone hear their album from this year? I've got one of their albums from around 2000 or so that blew my mind back then. Haven't listed to it in a long time though.

I heard the Crescent album and it made little to no impression on me. I have two older albums by them and they didn't do much more, to be honest. Matt Elliott lives in France now and does live things every so often; Movietone are, I *think*, still extant but they always did stuff on the downlow anyway; not aware of either of the two FSAs up to anything. Who else is there?

heard some stuff i liked...

POX?

Whew, I could draw up a list but my brain is currently fried. But speaking as an FSA/3EF/Amp/Crescent/Light/Movietone junkie in general, there's a lot out there...

Yeah, a POX would be hard. What's David Pierce up to, anyway?

Elvis Telecom to thread...

FSA POX!
1.Standing Stone (Distance)
2.Soaring High (Distance)
3.Dreaming Hill (Rural Psych)
4.A Silent Tide (Rural Psych)
5.In the Light of Time (Further)
6.Still Point (Further)
7.Outdoor Miner (single)
8.Coming Home (single)
9.Feedback Song (Chorus)
10.Always (Chorus)

I know that D. Pearce and Jessica Bailiff had a collaboration album on Kranky as Clear Horizon.

i heard that wire cover, it's good. plus some other things, dunno what tho.

will check out, thanks

i like everything fsa did pretty much except i wasn't that big on Mirror or the collaboration with tele:funken (which was just fsa samples, so it wasn't really their fault).

Yeah I got pretty much nothing out of the Tele:funken thing tho I liked Mirror when it came out. Still think New Lands is well underrated. Forgot about Clear Horizon as well! Probably cos I never heard it

Yeah, New Lands is good. I just don't listen to it near as much as the early ones.

i haven't listened to new lands in a long time. come to think of it, i haven't listened to ANY of their albums in a long time. further might be my fave if i had to pick one.

gotta love that groovy mirror cover though:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00003XAJB.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

hey Ned, did Light release anything besides that single on Wurlitzer Jukebox? 'cause that's all I have, but I love it. And does anyone know what exactly the FSA connection was?

What in the hell! Never seen that. Is that a Savage Pencil design? My LP copy is a light brown sleeve with strange line drawings

xpost - album called 'Turning' IIRC

There was a Light full-length on Wurlitzer Jukebox that a friend of mine I had. I remember really loving it, but I heard it around the time that I was fully into this kind of thing. I would love to hear that again.
xpost-that's the US (Drag City) cover.

And yes, it is Savage Pencil.

Anyone heard Clear Horizon? I don't like Jessica Bailiff...

there were three Light full-lengths, Turning, Paperboat and the fairly recent Waterside Reverberations on Unlabel. i seem to remember at least as many 7"s.

i don't believe that there was any connection between Dave Mercer and FSA other than the special camaraderie enjoyed by the Bristol bands.

wow, thanks! I'll have to keep an eye out for those.

Yeah, I have the first two Light albums but not that third one. Must investigate. A comp of the singles would be great.

Speaking of, the three disc Amp rarities comp is killer.

xpost. That Clear Horizon album is pretty much of a piece with the Flying Saucer Attack stuff, and it's *very* good. I've mentioned it in a few other threads: seems to have gotten completely overlooked because nobody knew who it was.

"xpost-that's the US (Drag City) cover."

i never knew there were different covers! never hurts to sell the yanks a little razamataz.

Trip Maker and others on this thread...thanks! I have long been an enthusiast of some unholy trinity or quadrernity or whatever of U.S. west coast bands influenced by F.S.A. (it's not too difficult to guess the suspects), but for whatever reason, I've never properly delved into Flying Saucer Attack's catalog. Gratzi for the recommendations and erudition.

Now I need to head over to the Dr. Savannah's Buzzard blah-blah Band thread to express thanks for turning me on to that stuff.

'tis the season.

U.S. west coast bands influenced by F.S.A. (it's not too difficult to guess the suspects)

Aptly phrased.

ha, yeah. 'nuff said.

I second Clear Horizon. Very good album.

I think Movietone is still together, aren't they? I seem to recall they released an album a couple of years back. I love their s/t debut, but I didn't really get into the follow-ups.

picked this up the other week, 'tis pretty immersive:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:anfexqyhldfe

(let's try that again...)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21AMBVPGRFL._SL500_AA130_.jpg

yeah, that's not my fave. i hardly ever played it. not like their other stuff. but it does have a fab cover.

maria and i have a new three hour sound collage/musique concrete/fx/cut & paste & loop radio show on her radio station and i was creating material for it and i played some FSA at 45 RPM and it sounded great! like they become the greatest shoegaze band ever and dude's vocals become MBV girly and cool. i could even see listening to a whole album like that. i was impressed by this totally new band i was listening to.

the ones that really blow me away are Further and the 1st S/T one aka Rural Psychedelia. Chorus is good in parts but I remember it being kinda inconsistent since is is a singles comp. New Lands seemed like a failed extension of the formula and I was even less enthusiastic about Mirror or whatever that was called.

I also really like the later singles - Sally Free And Easy, Coming Home, and the Roy Montgomery collab.

Was just reading a good interview with Dave in Popwatch #9, I wish there were still magazines like that.

oh also the Corpus Hermeticum CD is a very different kind of beast but well worth tracking down (on MP3, I doubt it's in print). Kind of like Neil Young's Arc as applied to FSA.

further is my fave. fave cover too

http://detour-mag.com/assets/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/flyingsaucerattack.jpg

then new lands and then chorus probably. as far as faves. i need a copy of the first album. don't have one on vinyl.

picked this up the other week, 'tis pretty immersive:

Oh gee, I wonder who reviewed it.

Further is the greatest, of theirs. For any other band Rainstorm Blues would been a stupid title, but they pull even that one off

yeah any of rural psychedelia, distance, and further is wonderful. i love chorus too but it's not up to the other three. i've never heard mirror, also i think i'm one of the few who love savage pencil's cover art for it

no people think it's groovy. Though i'd hardly call them groovy, the Further cover is a perfect match as far as their sounds concerned

damn I forgot about Distance, looking at my copy of that and Chorus it seems they both have singles on them. I'm putting these on RIGHT NOW.

OK I'm leaning towards Chorus as being a tad better than Distance, but I should really listen to these like five more times. As I recall Distance has the earlier singles, Chorus is seeming more developed and assured to me. And "Feedback Song" is a real highlight.

so in order:

Soaring High/Standing Stone 7" (on Distance)
Wish/Oceans 7" (on Distance but w/instrumental Wish)
1st LP
Crystal Shade/Distance 7" (on Distance)
Land Beyond The Sun/Everywhere Was Everything 7" (never heard this!)
Beach Red Lullaby/Second Hour 7" (on Chorus)
Further LP
Outdoor Miner EP
Chorus LP (includes Peel session, comp track and 7" above plus more)
At Night split 7" with Jessamine (haven't heard this either)
In Search Of Spaces CD
Tele:Funken LP
Sally Free And Easy
"Since When" suite on Harmony Of The Spheres (I like this a lot)
collab w/Roy Montgomery
New Lands
Coming Home/Hope
Mirror

so Chorus is kind of a patchwork whereas Distance is more a proper singles comp. Much more discog info HERE.

cover of "outdoor miner" may be better than wire original. ain't easy to pull that off

Land Beyond The Sun/Everywhere Was Everything 7" (never heard this!)

you should def hear this, it's among their best IMO. the track on the jessamine split is good but quite FSA-by-numbers at the time it came out

there's also a track on an Enraptured 4-band ep that's again good but not among their best tracks

there's also an earworm demos 45 of land beyond the sun (under the name of jon + dave) which is an interesting take on the track..

i'm wondering what people might think of fsa in comparison to sun dial. it seems at times they were both going for the same thing, albeit fsa more ethereally and sun dial more garagey. and while i'm mumbling tangentials, i might as well rep for the first self-titled album by movietone, rachel brook's band after she split from fsa. for my money, that debut album is as good as anything fsa ever did

ah, you see my opinion of movietone is very much less positive than that. and then some.

youshallknowourdiscography had all of the singles ripped and available at his site some time back. probably still available. i love Movietone but I think that their first record is the weakest one.

ah, my opinion of movietone is not all that positive, except for that first album. that one haunts me, the way they establish that woozy groove in the first song and then keeping working it until the last track dissolves into mist and fog. sublime. but after that one, i have no use for them

I hardly ever listen to Movietone but I find it very rewarding when I do

Oh gee, I wonder who reviewed it.

Surprise surprise. Nice review, Ned.

i'm wondering what people might think of fsa in comparison to sun dial.

If memory serves, both bands sort of became careers by accident. I think FSA was just going to release some singles and then kinda got carried away by the momentum. Sun Dial though is clearly looking towards the late-80s era of acid rock with Bevis Frond, High Rise, and fellow travelers who had the Fun With Mushrooms comp and some issues of Ptolemaic Terrascope.

I always thought of FSA as an out-of-time post-punk band - very much a pop band (or at least with pop sensibilities) but inverted and deconstructed all to hell. Pearce could have just as easily been working in 1981 or 1994.

Maybe FSA and Gary Ramon's Quad albums?

I think the first Movietone record is actually the best, mostly because of the first side. "Chance is Her Opera" is pretty much one of my favorite songs ever. Their other albums are good, but feel a bit formulaic to me in the sense that they hit the Movietone sound and stuck with it. Maybe I should give them another listen though.

The thing that I appreciate most about FSA is how it was so prescient of what happened in music ten years later. Not that I believe that there is this eschatological notion of progress in music by any means, but the approach they took with home recording and the psych-folk sound were not that popular then. There was the whole krautrock revival thing going on, but most people were lifting from Neu! and Can, not Popol Vuh and Amon Duul. I feel like they don't get enough credit as being a major influence on the psych-folk revival of the 00s.

Definitely agreed on the last point, they had to have been a gateway drug for a lot of folks.

i'm just hearing fsa for the first time
"at night" is amazing!!

@Scott Seward

What album did you play on 45? I'm very curious about this!

For me the best FSA's are Further and New Lands (I feel the latter is being ignored way too much!).

New Lands is my favourite FSA album. But I didn't much care for Further.

(hell, I suddenly seem to remember it was actually Elvis Telecom (Chr1ss right?) who got me into FSA in the first place, via recommendation on the DroneOn mailing list, ages ago!)

(hell, I suddenly seem to remember it was actually Elvis Telecom (Chr1ss right?)

Yup!

There's not one particular stand out FSA album that I reach for more than the others. I have a vague nostalgia trip for the first self-titled LP. I first heard it in '93 at a friend's place in SF - typical winter fog outside and side 2 just made the whole setting work out. The week after that, I found the LP at Noise Noise Noise with the description "Hot New Something" on the shrink-wrap (still kept that part of the shrink-wrap intact because of the description)

My main FSA memory goes like this: It was 2am. I'm driving somewhere NW of Lakehurst, New Jersey because I wanted to see where the Hindenburg crashed and I'm trying to find the I-95 turnpike. There's a major rain/sleet storm going on (worst I've ever tried to drive through) and I'm the only car on a road filled with trucks (all of whom see nothing wrong with driving full-speed through a Major Fuck Off Storm Of Doom). I needed something to keep me going and the first thing I grabbed was a live FSA tape from some early 1993 gig in Bristol. Hadn't listened to it yet so I didn't know what I was getting into. No songs but one long drone out that begins similarly to one of the "Popul Vuh" instrumentals that winds out into a mammoth space/time/metal-tearing Something both terrifying and awe-inspiring - sorta like viewing a slow-motion asteroid impact that takes a hour to complete. I did eventually make it to Connecticut where I finally passed out in a hotel room, but I was convinced that I was going to be killed by a truck, killed by the road spray thrown up by a truck, or would suffer the worst case of missing time ever and eventually wake up at the city limits of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Heavy stuff. I can understand why people were so pissed by Jim O'Rourke's clown joke at Terrastock I.

Oh god, the clown joke. The legend.

For a long time, my favourite FSA album was "Further" ... I found their poppier stuff to be hit-and-miss (although when they "hit", they *really* hit, e.g. "Outdoor Miner" or "My Dreaming Hill") but "Further" is the most focused of their drone-y records, if that makes any sense (the jams are consistently reigned into 5-6 minute run times and therefore they cut out before they have a chance to overstay their welcome).

But over the past couple of years, I've re-evaluated "New Lands". This was a rare case in which I really liked an album (it was in my year-end top ten list for 1999), didn't listen to it for a while (a few years), and came back to it to find a *completely* different album than what I remembered. My initial reaction was "I liked THIS in 1999??" because it was way out of step with what I had been listening to at the time. I could barely recall exactly what I liked about it in 1999, but I knew that they weren't the same things I was hearing and newly appreciating from c.2005-now. It was like hearing a great album for the first time ... all over again!

So "New Lands" is my favourite now. Nothing seems to happen on this album -- there aren't any memorable melodies that stick with you once it finishes playing, and all the tracks blend together as if thrown into a noisy, hissing melting pot -- but more than any other FSA album, it's more about the mood than the melody, like being huddled indoors, waiting out a storm that's blowing past your house, and being somewhat relieved when it finally passes by.

What's the clown joke?

FSA's Dave Pearce came to Terrastock for his first U.S. performance, but none of his usual collaborators made the trip. Instead, he was backed by Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke, who overpowered Pearce's gentle picking with his white-noise guitar, and ruined the vibe by telling a dumb and seemingly endless joke midway through the set.

http://articles.citypages.com/1997-05-14/music/psychedelic-revival/

Is there a clown joke transcript someplace?

Here's one version:

Where I come from (West Linn, OR) the Clown Joke is told slightly differently. It is about a man named Bob who is a bum. Bob the bum has always wanted to go to the circus, but he, being a bum in a long line of bums, has never been able to afford it. Finally one night a group of Bob's friends (other bums) see that the circus is in town and pool their collected change in order buy a circus ticket and out of crude asshole humor decide to go without Bob who is passed out in an alley. (Hey, they're bums what do you expect.) So then they come back laughing like middle school girls and when Bob asks what's up, they let him know what they did and told him how great the circus was. Bob, seeing one of his own precious life dreams being ridiculed by those he once thought his only friends and family, gets extremely angry and being unable to cope with his anger drinks himself into oblivious and passes out in an alley (Hey, he's a bum.)

Well the next day Bob has to come to terms with his life and the cruel world he lives in. He decides the only way he can live with himself is to show everyone who has doubted him and achieve his dream - going to the circus. So Bob cleans himself up and 20 minutes of narrative later, Bob has purchased a ticket to next years circus and is inside.

So Bob watches the circus and it is fabulous! He loves every minute of it. And finally the final act everyone has been waiting for - The Clown! The crowd goes silent as The Clown steps into the ring and asks for a volunteer. The spotlight zooms over the crowd and finally lands on one man, Bob. Bob stands up, in a slight haze of joy.
The Clown then asks him,"Sir, are you a horse's hoof?"
Bob (smile on face): No.
Clown: "Sir, are you a horse's head?"
Bob (Pause): No.
Clown: "Then you sir - must be --, --, a Horses ASS!!" (Now teller of joke has to immediately move on so audience doesn't think this is the punchline.)

So the crowd bursts out laughing. Parents, kids, circus freaks, everyone is standing and laughing at Bob. Needless to say - Bob is pissed! He finally achieved something and actually worked for it (Important since he is from a family of bums) and now it is thrown back in his face. More story is narrated, and once again Bob passes out in an alley. (He's a bum, remember?)

So then next morning Bob wakes up and decides the only way to live with himself is to get even with that clown - to redeem himself by enacting the ultimate form of revenge upon the clown which hurt him so. To further this end Bob gets more jobs, enrolls in martial arts and once a master of the physical realm enrolls in insult school where he learns all different forms of insults in every culture and for every occasion - including the very special art of Comebackery.

Narration continues for a minimum of 20 minutes describing all the steps Bob takes and how Bob begins to formulate a plan for ultimate revenge on the clown. During this time Bob has worked himself off the streets and his hatred burning within him has driven him to success in other areas. Finally it is time for the circus again. Bob has the first ticket and is first in the tent. He now meditates, going over his plan for ultimate revenge in careful detail in his head - over and over. The circus acts go by in a flash for meditating Bob and finally The Clown steps out. The crowd is excited - full of energy. Here is The Clown. The Clown asks for a volunteer. Once again the spotlight goes over the crowd, and lands on Bob. Bob stands up (completely buff now, a true badass). The clown repeats the lines of his joke, ending of course with "You sir, are a horse's Ass". Except this time...

The crowd is about to laugh except their laughter is stifled by the anger and hatred emanating from Bob. The tent is dead silent. Bob raises his right arm and points at The Clown. In an entirely calm cool state he looks The Clown directly in the eye, ready for this moment of self redemption he has worked so hard toward - prepared to unleash the ultimate insult upon this clown. He takes a small breath and says ....

Fuck you, Clown.

So, imagine all this being told to the crowd given the situation and anticipation that Elvis T has described.

At Terrastock 5, when Sonic Youth played, there were several catcalls re: the clown joke. Which Jim noticed. He tried to laugh them off. To cover up the fear.

That's a better joke than i expected it to be.

Youtube version, WOW: The Long Clown Joke

the archetypal shaggy dog story

cover of "outdoor miner" may be better than wire original. ain't easy to pull that off

-- kamerad, Friday, 6 June 2008 05:34 (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

Was just coming here to say this!

'strue.

One of those bands where the first thing you heard might always be your favorite. For me that is Distance. Great band all the way around though.

Anyone at that 1997 Terrastock? In its own small way, for a couple of different corners of the 90s indie landscape, that seems like an important event.

Surely not so small. Well, in my head. ;-) Elvis Telecom was there at least.

Further is just about the perfect record for that point where the night starts giving way to the dawn. I've listened to that album quite a few times at that time.

Further is my favorite as well.

further is so good. so feeling it right now.

I FEEL U

in the light of time

FSA = infinite classic. i was jammin further a lot the week before xmas.

it's the kind of album you surrender to and let it wash over you. i'm serious here.

http://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/2007/09/flying-saucer-attack-further-melody.html

I owned several FSA albums, and I think it was at that point that I stopped embracing everything my shoegaze guru suggested. To me, it was the musical equivalent of finger painting.

bought the Telefunken collaboration from amazon.co.uk for very little money (both 25m+ tracks were 79p meaning it was 1.58 in total) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Station/dp/B002EJTQ3M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1252069711&sr=8-3

BUT the middle of Part 1 is very crackly (only the middle, not the quieter starts and ends, and none of part 2). is this a problem with the cd or is it a feature of amazon's ripping and encoding?

http://theperfumedgarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/flying-saucer-attack-peel-session-5th.html

thought i'd post this as well. i don't think much of this ever made it onto records but i remember Resolution Island as being lovely.

It's been a LOONG time since I listened to DISTANT STATION. I don't remember it being "crackly" though. It is cold, alien, and distant as fuck, tho.
Thanks for the link! Never heard this stuff before, been a big FSA fan for years.

I don't remember the crackling, will try to listen to the CD when I get home though.

(I love Distant Station - kinda weird that a remix from a sometimes-frenetic IDM-rave dude would be 40 minutes of SOTL-esque ambience perfectly on the cusp between creepy and blissful, but there we go. Tele:funken posted on the John Peel quotes thread, meant to get his email off it before ILX went no-emails-on-posts and ask if he was still making music, but never did)

i've just had a look at the file in audacity and you can see it clipping left, right and centre. that whole chunk is just a solid mass of blue. 8(

tele:funken's discogs entry stops at 2004...

sounds crackly on mine, which is either a vinyl or cd rip

ok, thanks. it does look like a classic case of digital clipping based on the waveform and that's likely to be true with the physical cd too. a pity.

perfect for this weather in the northeast right now

hey, yeah. wait, NE USA or NE UK? i guess it doesn't matter. i finally got "chorus" a few weeks back and i'm stoked.

i was listening to new lands just this minute and was gonna revive this thread!!! weird. must be in the air.

chorus is so great.

all my flying saucer attack records are in new york. i will get to listen to them tomorrow.

Have been listening to the first album quite a lot recently. It might be wrong, but I fucking love the Suede cover.

i was listening to new lands just this minute and was gonna revive this thread!!! weird. must be in the air.

i love when that happens

I owned several FSA albums, and I think it was at that point that I stopped embracing everything my shoegaze guru suggested. To me, it was the musical equivalent of finger painting.

― derelict, Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:12 PM

LOL is that nutrition nazi derelict?

new lands is awesome btw

further iirc.

its all good

new lands gets into skullflower territory almost

http://.imageshack.us/img367/6234/ustrees1972thechristtreefrontcoverxt6.jpg

i am gonna rock the fuck out of Further and Chorus today in honor of this revive.

chorus

+1

Man, how did I forget how great their s/t album is.

Weird, I was just listening to "Crystal Shade" this morning after having it pop into my head for no reason.

listening to the s/t album now. amazing how spacious these songs sound. they always seem to strike just the right balance of discordant and sublime.

revive:

Flying Saucer Attack - Heartbeat / Complete
Weltraumdiscs
03-LP - EUR 14.99

Compilation of rare songs of this
experimental, shoegazing, DIY, space rock band from Bristol. So far these
songs have been available on 7"s, compilations, etc. only. Compiled by Odd
Nosdam (Anticon) this selection also includes coverversions of "The Kursaal
Flyers" and "The Prisoners". limited edition of 500 copies, silkscreened
cover.

As long as there are no remixes by Anticon people I would buy this.

Also, no digital/CD release?

"cds destroy music"

Sweet, thanks for the heads up on this.

Out There: Flying Saucer Attack's Debut LP, 20 Years On

nice piece. i'm sure he made a list of his influences for some site that i remember reading ten or so years ago but haven't been able to find since, just remember he name checks alan stivell (who also did a great droney version of sally free & easy)

the one i remember from a peel session was Jeff Mills...

anyway, listening now.

> "unprecedentedly noisy debut"

er, jesus and mary chain anyone?

haha yeah as a Merzbow fan I would not describe the debut in those terms

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrzFl17OLkg/UCBLmIhASRI/AAAAAAAABWY/OwNd36RpAgU/s1600/fsa_new-lands.jpg

last week i happened to chance upon a 3cd set of AMP material in the archive.
dont believe i have ever given any of it a listen.
may have to revise that situation this weekend ..
however, there does seem to be a difference of opinion on this thread re that particular offshoot.

New Lands is a great record for winter!

when new lands and the second movietone album came out around the same time, i was conflicted. i thought domino/drag city was trying to break my heart

Heads up:

http://jessicabailiff.tumblr.com/post/116568842761/new-flying-saucer-attack-album

FSA always sounds best on vinyl, Dave’s intended method of delivery.

Ha, it's ironic then that it was a FSA record that first made me aware of vinyl mastering challenges:

Sally Free and Easy 12" EP, Drag City (DC109), late 1996.
``Previously issued in late 1996 only on CD, Sally Free and Easy
has now been brought to vinyl in the mono format, the only way
possible to keep the needle in the grooves. The stereo mix found on
the CD version is out of phase and could not be pressed into vinyl
without causing havoc on the turntable.'' Side one is ``Sally, Free
and Easy,'' rectified for vinyl by Jim O'Rourke, while side two's
``Three Seas'' is in stereo. Limited pressing.

Her tumblr post was deleted.

And the cat is fully out of the bag -- Instrumentals 2015, due July 17th

http://fsa.space/

ooooooh. very excited.

Love the new track. I haven't listened to FSA in a long time.

cool

Pastoral feedback is always welcome. Love this shit.

Hooray!

Given his stance on CDs I can't wait for his comments on digital downloads

pre-ordered on iTunes!

oh yeah, here it is in the latest Drag City News (prose relatively muted, maybe in awe?)

FRESH SIGHTING! THE RETURN OF FLYING SAUCER ATTACK

Open youself to the idea of abduction! Flying Saucer Attack return to release Instrumentals 2015, their first album in 15 years on Friday the 17th of July 2015. Comprised of 15 fresh David Pearce solo guitar performances recorded in characteristically lo-fi manner at home, on tape and CD-R, Instrumentals 2015 is an album that will appeal both to FSA diehards and those wholly unfamiliar with the outfit's recorded output.

The 15 tracks on Instrumentals 2015 present an impressionistic narrative which transports the listener through the excoriating dronescapes and rueful introspection of the album's early pieces to the more redemptive cadences of its closing half. Given its sense of momentum, maintained through Pearce's thoughtful sequencing, this is an album that should be experienced in its entirety, the better to appreciate its deliberate emotional arc.

In celebration, director Peter Strickland has shot his first ever music video for "Instrumental 7," after meeting Dave and using the FSA song 'Seven Seas' in his recently released film, The Duke Of Burgundy.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "INSTRUMENTAL 7" (gotta go to xpost http://fsa.space/ for that, at the moment, anyway)

"My first ever music video for a band that I'm very glad to see the return of. Within the Great Plains of Hungary, one can almost hear this music resonating far away in the endless expanse. Three of us in the flatfield for three days with Flying Saucer Attack on our headphones and trying to remember how to use light meters whilst observing a world that mankind is gradually departing from. " - Peter Strickland

Instrumentals 2015 features an etching by erstwhile Flying Saucer Attack member Rachel Coe (of Movietone). With cover artwork by David's sisters Erin and Tamsin, Instrumentals 2015 arrives July 17th

Another of the new tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFE-Re1ZVwI

I'd prefer some new Movietone.

Annnnd a stream is live

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/08/420824395/first-listen-flying-saucer-attack-instrumentals-2015

Yes!

tbh i have never heard flying saucer attack to my knowledge
after reading this, i feel like i should
i read the review because of my popol vuh google alert and now i'm curious.

http://thequietus.com/articles/18318-flying-saucer-attack-instrumentals-2015-review

like is this the band i have been looking for? i had no idea. guess i'll have to find out.

Big article in the new Wire as well (on the whole Bristol scene, not just FSA).

you just never know which popol vuh people are referring to, that's the main problem i guess

result : instrumental 4 developed in an interesting way but not as fun to listen to as i had hoped, more pillowy/snoozy
is most of their/his stuff suuper slow like that?

their other stuff has a bit more of a pulse LL. i think the main reason people bring up popol vuh is cos they had tracks called 'popol vuh 1' and 'popol vuh 2'

enjoyed that bristol piece in the wire btw. sent me back to movietone and crescent and i liked both of them a lot more this time around

xp -
ok thx! are those tracks recommended?
sometimes it's easier to just ask than to look it up
that's what ilm is good for :)

they're quite ramshackle iirc, both on their debut album. next two albums were better imo - 'further' and 'new lands'

Movietone is way, way, way underrated, even by people who generally dig this sorta thing. Those records feel like they're waiting to be rediscovered by anyone wishing there was a shoegaze band somehow more influenced by Bill Evans than Spacemen 3.

Further is my longtime favorite FSA, La Lechera. It seems to touch on everything they do well (though their truly 'pop' side isn't very well represented--maybe pair with the excellent "Outdoor Miner" single). If you like Further, I'd investigate, err, further. Generally speaking, I agree with the pfork review about "phase one" (aka the "Rachel era") being the band's peak, but alm0st everything to emerge from this scene is at least worth hearing. Follow yr bliss!

the 3 FSA "Popol Vuh" tracks are all on youtube if you do a quick search, two from the first lp, one from Distance.

the only FSA albums i didn't really listen to much were Mirror and the Tele:Funken collab. Further and New Lands are probably my faves.

i was late to the Clear Horizon album. i like that a lot. didn't even know it existed until a year or two ago:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/147841-Clear-Horizon

thanks, ppl!

the Chorus comp too. I love that.

(which edition of the Wire are you talking about? what's on the cover?)

oh, http://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/ #378

y'know i went to whsmiths on monday night and looked then to see if the new one was out. nothing...

i would totally pay real american money for a good CD box. i have a lot of stuff on vinyl, but i would love a handy box-set with albums and singles/unreleased/comp tracks. even that heartbeat/complete comp was just vinyl only, i think. and i never saw it anywhere.

just a singles/comp tracks/EP box would be cool.

i think it's safe to say that if you listen to an FSA album and like it you'll probably like most of the other stuff too.

you just never know which popol vuh people are referring to, that's the main problem i guess

― La Lechera, Wednesday, July 15, 2015 10:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Another musical Popol Vuh to def hear sometime is the crazy orchestral piece by that title by Alberto Ginastera. It sounds nothing whatsoever like danny and florian but it's a ton of fun

sorry for boring classical derail

(new issue of The Wire is out today according to the woman in whsmiths this morning. unfortunately it was in a box that she hadn't unpacked yet so i'll have to go back (for the 4th time))

I never quite forgave FSA for beating me to covering Sally Free and Easy. My dad used to play it on his guitar all the time when I was a kid, and I wanted to cover it. So I downloaded lots of versions from Limewire or Oink or whatever it was then, and found their version sounded exactly like what I wanted to do with it. That was my intro, actually, and I do love them.

Really enjoyed that Wire piece though I'm sure reading it in the garden with a bottle of red and some Quorn Chorizo helped.

Strangely, I was bemused to find that I don't seem to own any Flying Saucer Attack albums (lost them? sold them?)

Happy to be prompted to play Movietone.

Remarkable how many people I've mentioned the Wire piece to have gone "Aren't Movietone fucking incredible? They're sounding better with time" or similar.

I don't know why I didn't pay more attention to them the first time round tbh, they fit nicely alongside hood and dean roberts and all the other post-talk talk stuff I was listening to back then. saw them play once but it was at a festival thing where the whole intimacy of their sound was lost on a fairly large and noisy crowd

Movietone that is

I could see why they would have been missed at the time. I definitely like them more *now* than *then*.

I was going to move this conversation over to a Movietone thread ... but there isn't one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066325j

(partial) repeat of the '96 peel session

Heartbeat (Radio 1 Session, 1 Mar 1996)
Guitar Blues (Radio 1 Session, 1 Mar 1996)
Resolution Island (Radio 1 Session, 1 Mar 1996)

(missing Jeff Mills Blues and I Can Take You To The Sun)

Dave's new FACT mix is an extremely pleasant listen but lol at the tracklisting http://www.factmag.com/2015/08/17/fact-mix-509-flying-saucer-attack/

haha, five disc CD changer on random style

haven't listened to amc for 25 years, might give it a whirl

Holy heck, an actual interview!

http://thequietus.com/articles/18662-dave-pearce-flying-saucer-attack-interview

Cool!

Having a hard time getting into the new one despite my best efforts. It sounds cool and all, but I guess I'm waiting for it to reveal itself beyond that.

good interview

Hey, I like it -- expanded reissue of In Search of Spaces on vinyl...

https://www.vhfrecords.com/catalog/flying-saucer-attack-in-search-of-spaces-2xlp

But also streaming for free on Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/vhfrecords/sets/flying-saucer-attack-in-search-of-spaces-vhf145-2xlp

Also available on Bandcamp if you don't want the dead dinosaur version
https://flyingsaucerattack.bandcamp.com/album/in-search-of-spaces

Movietone 'Peel Sessions' (x3) release coming in the spring, according to their FB page.

Nice!

"apology: unfortunately due to the 'blurred' stereo sound on these tracks, it's proved impossible to cut them successfully onto vinyl"

(they did eventually release a 12" with a mono version)

which FSA was that?

the Sally Free And Easy 12"/CD

He's back! Kinda. Simon Scott's new Three Quarter Skies project has a new song out, and he mixed it with Dave:

https://threequarterskies.bandcamp.com/track/crows

Never listened to them until today.
Wow.

The correct reaction!

Love it when folks discover these records. Wow indeed!

My new work at home soundtrack :)

Is it weird that there's not a Movietone thread? In lieu of one, here seems the next best place for this nice thing: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/movietone-the-blossom-filled-streets/