Bola – Fyuti

Anybody knows anything about the sound quality of the pressing? Is it good, better, best?

"Vertiphon" was the opening track for Parks & Wilson's Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 in 2002. They played it at wrong speed, so it fit perfectly into the two-hour progressive house mix. I was stunned when I heard it 20 years later at its right speed. The track sounds right to me even at 45 RPM. I guess some songs are even made like that on purpose with all those low-pitched kick drums, hi-hats and other sounds — just to mess with the DJ, you know.

I have loved this album since it came out, but it took 20 years for me to finally find a vinyl copy in a used bin. The pressing sounds spectacular.

Like nothin I’ve heard before. Trying to compare to other albums seems useless to me as it has a sound of its own. Abstract, dark, futuristic, ambient, twisted, and truly unique. And I adore the feeling it gives me - as I always look for albums which take me on mysterious journeys is that it is not cliche either, so it’s not trying to be different for the sake of it- rather is it well produced and well imagined music melodies with an edge of metallic futurism and of floating through space that has been injected into the overall sound and production. I will certainly listen to this in various altered states and buy more of his work.

I dig it. Very mysterious futuristic metallic yet ambient sounds. A journey I have enjoyed going on. I’d o LG heard one of their tracks prior to getting the album, but it maintains the standard and feel I had hoped for. I find it hard to describe as anything which is similar, and for that I adore it’s uniqueness and abstract often dark nature. If I was to remotely attempt to describe what it reminds me of which is out there now I’d say a more chilled sound similar to that of the abstract Plaid style - but mixed with a touch of global communications otherworldly offerings.

Wonderful wonderful album! God shivers going like huge waves up and down my body.

When listening to "O Chuma" I actually started giggling like a mad clown, and I'm not kidding. It was quite a scary track.

Bola's second album, FYUTI, treads much of the same area as SOUP did, though with some distinct differences. First, the melancholy strain that ran through the first album is even more evident here, as on the opener "Vertiphon," which feels like midnight on a lonely planet. Second, there's more of a hip-hop influence, as the modulated vocals which almost take center stage of "Pae Paoe" show. These two influences oftentimes come together in fascinating ways, as on "Veronex Cypher," which is the sound of a funk machine's heartbreak. "Magnasushi" takes it one step further, with some harsher industrial edges to the sadness. (In comparison, the melody on "Soleiele" is relatively jolly.) But Bola has other tricks up his sleeve as well: "Shoob,e" has a shuddering warmth to it, while "O, Chuma" delves into its scuppering rhythm. "Horizophon" seems headed nowhere, at first, but then backs into its lovely melody quite deliberately, and the final track, "VM8," is beatless, a track that slips out into the black void of space. A mournful success for Bola.

Probably Bola's weakest offering. Coming on the heels of the landmark album Soup, this album was a major disappointment for me. Whereas Soup was high art in not only its varied moods and spectacular soundscapes, Fyuti struggles to get out from underneath its crushing depression. Now, there is a difference between "dark" and "depressing." Subsequent albums showed that Fitton could effectively do the former without the latter. But Fyuti takes the most downtrodden moments of Soup and recycles them to their logical extremes. Nowhere is this more evident than on the skip-worthy "Veronex Cypher."

Making matters worse is that there are elements introduced into some tracks that ruin them. "Vertiphon" has this awesome two-note bassline that's later wrecked by an annoying, unnecessary bleep-bloop melody. This is uncharacteristic of Fitton's work. Usually he understands that less is more; his music is great because it's usually uncluttered.

The one track here that works is "Soleiele," an absolute undeniable classic. This is darkness with no depression, and is, in fact, rather uplifting. Fitton's gift for melody shines so beautifully on this track. The percussion is just so perfect; it's an amazing robotic, mechanical structure that in hindsight represents the dying gasps of the golden age of IDM. But what an elegy!

So 'Pae Paoe' is basically just a remix of Rob Dougan's 'Clubbed to Death' (1995, many remixes/versions, years later featured on The Matrix soundtrack), but I don't see any credits for it anywhere(?)