OTHER: F/i back catalog reissued - finally!

Doug Pearson ceres at SIRIUS.COM
Tue Oct 3 14:52:52 EDT 2000


Hi,

Well, it's not 'Warrior' through '25 Years'/'PXR5', but just about the next
best thing (for me, anyway) ... I just received this press release.  I'll
be stocking all the reissues in Ceres Records mailorder (sorry for the
commercial content!), as they come out, for those of you in the USA who are
interested.  Hopefully I'll have the first in the series (Boy Dirt Car
split / 'Space Mantra' 2-fer) within a couple of weeks.  'Space Mantra',
especially, is a BRILLIANT album - in fact, possibly the best spacerock
album of the 1980s and the album that turned me onto F/i in the first
place.  Andy G - Lexicon Devil's (the label) contact info is below, so
you'll know who to get in touch with!

This has me as excited as the Weird Tape reissues on Voiceprint!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNOUNCING: LEXICON DEVIL RECORDS FROM AUSTRALIA IS REISSUING NEWLY
REMASTERED CD'S BY F/i - LEGENDARY MILWAUKEE SPACE ROCKERS - OF THEIR
OUT-OF-PRINT LP'S ON RRRECORDS FROM THE 80'S. PHEW!...
LEXICON DEVIL RECORDS
PO Box 125 Richmond VIC 3121 Australia
lexdev at yahoo.com.au

Milwaukee's F/i have been an operational unit since the dawn of the '80s,
having produced in their lifetime over a dozen cassettes, half a dozen LPs
and a few CDs and 7"s. Whilst their early material concentrated mainly on
purely harsh, experimental electronic sounds, influenced heavily by the
industrial/power electronics scenes of the day, by the mid '80s, taking
their cues from the likes of Blue Cheer, Hawkwind and '70s krautrock, they
made a radical change in direction and became a "rock" band. This is where
the reissuing begins...

The most highly coveted releases from the band remain their long out of
print '80s LPs on the RRR label out of Massachusetts, now fetching a pretty
dollar or two near you on the collector-geek scene. Lexicon Devil, in due
time, shall be reissuing all these titles (all up that's three LPs, two
sides of split LPs and a 3-LP box set) - as well as long out-of-print
material from F/i offshoot, Vocokesh - but first we begin with what we here
at LD consider some fine introductions to the band's work, their side to
the split LP with similar Milwaukee noiseniks Boy Dirt Car (originally
released in 1986) and their classic Space Mantra LP from 1988, now released
together on one CD. Both feature a churning brew of harsh electronic noise,
"industrial"  soundscapes and the kind of bong-rattling riffs usually only
found on vintage psych-fuzz discs fetching a $100+ price tag. In their time
of release they were an anomaly; at this point in history, we think these
classic discs will perhaps be better and more widely received.

Newly remastered by the band, featuring original artwork from the RRR LPs
and liner notes by Dave Lang (Year Zero/Moderate fanzines; Perfect Sound
Forever web-zine; Lexicon Devil owner/stooge/hack), this is a one-time,
Australia-only pressing of 700 copies.

Here's what the critics have said about F/i...

"...F/i are always compared to Hawkwind, Amon Duul 2, etc. and that makes
sense - some awesome bass riffing w/ lotsa whirling electronics overhead.
Like their mentors they're at their best when they keep a beat and don't
get lost in space. They've got a million cassette releases and I need them
all." - Jimmy Johnson, review of the F/i/BDC split LP in Forced Exposure
#11, 1987.

"...The best piece of acid soundtrackery since rubber last hit a road.
Half of this is sizzling, Brit-style drug-trance loudness, the other half
sounds like the gurgle of Ash Ra's Rosie pissing in a stream. Ungodly and
good." - Byron Coley, review for Space Mantra in Forced Exposure #15, 1989.

"From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, F/i has been around since 1981, releasing half
a dozen LPs on RRRecords. The band started out as a unit elaborating on
noise structures in the tradition of Throbbing Gristle's "Heathen Earth" or
Nurse With Wound's "Insect and Individual Silenced". F/i throbs like a stub
toe. The band sounds like "Space Ritual"-era Hawkwind, Roxy Music circa
"Music For Your Pleasure" and Spaceman 3 at their best. Applied to this
retro-art-psychedelia thing is the fine sonic landscaping of late
'70s-early '80s industrial music" - Johan Kugelberg, Details(!!) magazine.

"This is one of the most exciting US bands working today, and deserves lots
more recognition". - Option Sound Choice.

Lexicon Devil is now taking orders for the "Space Mantra/BDC split LP" CD
(lexdev001) by F/i.



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