3 out of 5

Label: WéMè Records

Produced by: The Future Sound Of London

I am not great at early 90s electronica. There are artists riffing on the house and acid from that era I adore, and there are absolutely some acts from the time I’ve come to appreciate, but there’s nonetheless a huge, foundational chunk of the genre that tends to… bore me. I don’t hear what those who grew up hearing this in clubs or on the radio heard; I can’t really understand what made some of these (to nowawaday) rudimentary beats so seemingly revolutionary.

Future Sound of London are an act that fall wholly into this category for me. Their work (before the FSOL name, even) has a long, frequently-referenced footprint, and they’ve had associations with artists I love. But regardless of whichever era of their sound, for me, it tends to fit that generic early 90s template: kinda funky; some vocal samples; lots of looping; a fuzzy analog sound… It’s definitely music for sweating on a dancefloor to, which would further underline it as “not my thing.”

This compilation of rare / unreleased 90s tunes under various FSOL pseudonyms is from their “jumpin’ and pumpin'” era: a label name that accurately describes the vibe.

I tried to piece together some patterns based on which pseudonym was used – there are five in effect here besides FSOL – but I’m either not smart enough to find the nuance, or it doesn’t exist; there are lots of different variations on a theme here – funk, groove, downtempo, acid house, ambient electro – but I’m still a jerk with uneducated ears who hears most of this as pretty similar in pace and vibe: good beats, looped.

I’m good with some of the comparatively chill atmospheric tracks, and the back half of the album – whether it’s chronological order or not – gets closer to Rephlex-y acid I can get down with. I also admittedly have developed an appreciation for the rawness of older synths / production, though I can’t tell you the difference from one synth to another. In short: these are good beats, and surely successful at getting one bobbing and movin’ in a club. There’s skill at crafting the occasional denseness of the sounds on By Any Other Name into totally slick dance tracks, and more experienced FSOL listeners (or fans of the style) could weigh in on the quality overall.  But if your ears are like mine – where a lot of this stuff might as well be something pretty linear and accessible, like Moby (with no offense intended to Moby or FSOL!) – I can’t say anything on this comp much changes that impression.