The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated to FSOL) is a British electronic music group composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans, who met in the mid-1980s while studying electronics at university in Manchester, England. Dougans had already been making electronic music for some time, working between Glasgow and Manchester, when the pair first began working together in various local clubs.
In 1988, Dougans embarked on a project for the Stakker graphics company under the name of Humanoid. The result was Stakker Humanoid, a single that went on to reach number 17 in the UK charts, becoming the first credible UK acid house tune to cross over into the mainstream. Cobain contributed to the accompanying album. A video was also produced.
The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music. Although often associated with ambient music, Cobain and Dougans usually resist being typecast into any one particular genre. Their work covers many areas of electronic music, such as ambient techno, house music, trip hop, ambient dub, and acid techno. In addition to music composition, their interests have covered a number of areas including film and video, 2D and 3D computer.
Links to Peel
Before the Future Sound Of London, Peel played tracks from Garry Cobain's project, Humanoid on his shows, including inviting him to do a session for his programme. Peel also chose Humanoid's Stakker Humanoid as one of his favourite tracks of 1988, which he included in his Peelenium 1988.
In 1992, when the Future Sound Of London started to make records, Peel played their debut single, Papua New Guinea, which got an early airplay during that year. The track later entered at number 22 in the UK singles chart and also had an entry in the 1992 Festive Fifty.
Peel continued supporting the Future Sound Of London, including the group having three sessions for his programmes. By the time, the 21st century appeared, Peel rarely played any tracks from the group.
01 January 1993: 'Papua New Guinea (12 Inch Original)' (Jumpin' & Pumpin') FF #11(JP: 'There were of course about six zillion mixes of that, but as far as it is possible for there to be an original, I think that was the original.')
