The Future Sound of London

Poster children for the "intelligent techno" subgenre that eschewed primal hardcore beats for mind-bending electronic textures and ever-slipperier rhythms, The Future Sound of London were conceived by Manchester electronics students Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans in 1988. After introducing mainstream audiences to acid house in the late '80s, the duo took a radical pivot with the blissed-out ambience and breakbeats of 1992's classic "Papua New Guinea" (featuring sampled Dead Can Dance vocalist Lisa Gerrard) and the full-length Lifeforms (1994). While spelunking ever deeper into untapped regions of techno ambience over the next decade as the indie-minded yet commercially successful FSOL, the duo also indulged a mushrooming psych-folk passion as the progressively more rocking and rococo The Amorphous Androgynous (think Pink Floyd with sitars). In 1993, Tales of Ephidrina marked the first of several increasingly esoteric albums under that alias. Beginning in 2007, FSOL began uncorking vintage From the Archives studio material alongside the Environments series, with 2022's melodically fractured Rituals E7.001 offering some of their headiest variations to date.