Skip to content
raver.me
Dead Cities by The Future Sound of London album cover
03720th Century

Dead Cities

The Future Sound of London

1996 · Ambient/breakbeat

Virgin · CDV2814

Open this album on SpotifyOpen this album on Apple MusicOpen this album on Discogs

Why it's here

Sampled radio, dread and We Have Explosive; the 90s turning bleak

Dead Cities is the sound of the nineties turning bleak. FSOL sampled radio static and dread and built a record that feels like a broadcast from a collapsing city, with 'We Have Explosive' detonating in the middle of it. It's darker and more focused than Lifeforms, the ambition pulled tight rather than sprawled. It ranks at thirty-seven because a couple of tracks lean on atmosphere alone, but the atmosphere is genuinely unnerving.

Also ranked

Dancefloor
№ 120
Influence
№ 74
External poll
№ 22

Tracklist

  1. 1Herd Killing2:36
  2. 2Dead Cities6:36
  3. 3Her Face Forms In Summertime5:39
  4. 4We Have Explosive6:19
  5. 5Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me4:10
  6. 6My Kingdom5:46
  7. 7Max2:49
  8. 8Antique Toy5:43
  9. 9Quagmire / In A State Of Permanent Abyss6:57
  10. 10Glass5:38
  11. 11Yage7:32
  12. 12Vit Drowning / Through Your Gills I Breathe5:32
  13. 13.1First Death In The Family2:18
  14. 13.2(no audio)1:00
  15. 13.3Dead Cities Reprise1:28

More from The Future Sound of London