Flying Saucer Attack: Classic or Dud?

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