This one was a long time in coming. First revealed in November 2014 with ‘Posthuman’, the last minute replacement track on Touched Two, an official announcement on Youtube followed a few weeks later. The following few years would find Humanoid on remix duties and supplying compilation tracks on a fairly regular basis, eventually culminating in a new EP and radio mix in November 2018. Still, the long-awaited new album was eagerly anticipated.
The first solid news came in April 2019, with the reveal that the album was complete and due for a summer release. A tracklist appeared on Red Eye Records in late May, with an official FSOLDigital pre-order following a few days later. The album was released through the site on 24th June, with a general release on other stores coming on 7th July. In typical style, a four track bonus download EP was given away with FSOLDigital purchases. As ever, short YouTube videos was uploaded to promote the album, showing off a new graphic style. The album was given a little more promotion than normal, with Brian appearing in Electronic Sound Magazine for a rare full-length interview; the unedited version was supplied to me to share on the FSOLBoard.
Regarding the sound of the album, Brian told Electronic Sound “[in] 2016 I started recording a whole bunch of 303 stuff which sounded very cool – kind of like the original Humanoid type sound – I sat on it for a while because I really wanted to try other ideas and push the sound further – so I scrapped it, although some of it can be heard on the Quantel EP that comes free when the album is downloaded from our shop, bits have also appeared on various compilations.” (This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only time the EP is officially referred to as Quantel, with even the mp3 tags listing it as Built by Humanoid Bonus EP). This distinction is very clear from listening to the tracks: the Solid Steel guest mix from the previous year was focused around the old acid style – surprising most of us – while the album is completely different, with a hyper-programmed IDM sound. Generally the FSOL fanbase response was incredibly positive, but some people, expecting something closer to ‘Stakker Humanoid’, were disappointed. “This album is about digging into the Humanoid sound further – not standing motionless – rather seeing what can be pushed, ripped and re-pieced, which is always a philosophy we adopt as FSOL,” as Brian told Electronic Sound.
In many ways, Built by Humanoid feels like a logical extension of the sound FSOL were developing at the time, taking the frenetic IDM beats and synth-forward melodies and pushing them to their extremes, resulting in an album of complex sound design, mangled rhythms and twisted melodies. The sound is incredibly crisp, clear and detailed, and yet features the usual cavernous reverbs one would expect from an FSOL production. There are nods to other artists in there – both Aphex and Autechre make their influence known on occasion at points – but on the whole it sounds new and original. An overdue and very welcome return from the project. The bonus EP is largely more in the way of traditional acid, with some ’80s sounding tracks present. At 43 minutes, the album is surprisingly short, especially given its gestation period, but with the amount going on, it never feels lacking. Nevertheless, it’s the shortest conventional album in the broader FSOL catalogue. Tracks are linked by environments, or at least the Humanoid equivalent of them, with the only silence being between ‘Traktion’ and ‘Fu*k It’, at the point the vinyl edition is flipped.
With all remixes from this period named ‘Rebuilt by Humanoid’, the album’s title was pretty much a given. The art comes from out of house, unusually, created by Steve Hyland aka Geometric Love, a designer who has worked with many labels linked with FSOLDigital era compilation tracks and remixes, who has more recently been branching out into work with larger projects. The cover design is reminiscent of the more retro aesthetic of many FSOLDigital, with the artist name blurred into constituent colours, while the rest of the art is based around ASCII-style imagery, monospace text creating geometric blocks and the artist name. It’s a bold, striking design, and one incredibly different to the usual FSOL style. Hyland also worked on the two YouTube preview videos, animating the album’s art, as well as creating a full length video for ‘Fu*k It’ to promote the track’s appearance on the Future Massive: Volume 1 compilation; the video blends hectic modern digital imagery with Brian’s own footage from his time in Manchester.
The credits are revealing, with nobody listed as composers, but FSOL credited for production. Additional production is handled by Radium Audio – a Bristol-based sound design company who provide audio for films – and Leon Mar, on his first appearance on an FSOL-related release in over two decades. Despite being manufactured by Passion Music, the album features an FSOLDigital catalogue number rather than a Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ one. There’s probably a logic to the FSOLD catalogue numbers, but working it out is beyond me.
Built by Humanoid is not an album anyone would have expected a few years before. As the first ‘proper’ Humanoid album, it’s a remarkable debut, and as an extension of the project’s past, it’s a wonderfully creative new direction.
Release date: 24th June 2019.
Tracklists
CD (FSOLD010) / Digital download
1. Orfan Atmosphere
2. Polymath
3. Blokd
4. Traktion
5. Fu*k It
6. To Function Autonomously
7. Post Humans
8. A.P.E
9. N-Droid
CD (FSOLD LP10)
A1. Orfan Atmosphere
A2. Polymath
A3. Blokd
A4. Traktion
B1. Fu*k It
B2. To Function Autonomously
B3. Post Humans
B4. A.P.E
B5. N-Droid
Digital bonus tracks
1. Spore
2. Quantel
3. Co-Pilot
4. Hull
Credits
All tracks built by Humanoid.
Produced by FSOL.
Engineered by Yage.
Recorded and mixed at 9L West Studios.
Additional production by Radium Audio / Leon Mar.
HALis synthesis and Digitana electronics have been used in this recording.
Design by Geometric Love.
Published by Futuresong Publishing 2019.
Fractional Difference 