W2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed forgotten future: W1 album has been in the works for years. According to many, it’s been too long of a wait for a major new forgotten future release, but according to its creator, “good work takes time” – referring to the concept of W2: Time itself. On October 22nd, forgotten future gave an hour-long electronic music concert at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the invitation of Monsoon Festival. The track list included some fan favorites from the W1 and Realignment albums, as well as some W1 tracks not previously performed in forgotten future shows. But the surprise was the world premier of two brand new tracks,Circular Time and Bending Time, from the upcoming W2 album.
forgotten future electronic music performance. Concert footage courtesy of Thanh Viet Production.
“Traveling to Hanoi felt like a time travel to an alternate past on its own, so it was a fitting event to premier the first bits of an album that’s all about the interpretations of Time. The Imperial Citadel is rich in history, the area is full of cultural and textural layers, lots of details… which also characterize the music, so it felt like the right pairing.” – said Julius Dobos, composer of forgotten future. “I also wanted to create some continuity between the previous albums and the new one, and playing tracks from the old and the new in the same concert was a natural way to connect them.”
The closing piece, Bending Time, featured Trang Pham, one of Hanoi’s top Dan Bau performers. (The Dan Bau is Vietnam’s original, traditional one-stringed instrument, which allows the player to intricately bend notes). The music presented an interplay between cutting-edge electronics and traditional Eastern colors, a duet between new and old musical expressions.
Track list from the Hanoi show:
(forgotten future pre-show ambience)
1. Circular Time (from W2)
2. This Time Back to the Lucky Blue (from Realignment)
3. Witnessing the Forces (from W1)
4. Energy Assembly (from W1)
5. Breakthrough Chroma Mix (from Live in California)
6. Parallel Realities Epic Monk Mix (from Realignment)
7. Return to a New Ending (from W1)
8. Bending Time (from W2)
Footage from this one-off electronic music concert is expected to be published in early 2024 – check back for updates here!
The story of Julius’ journey from ’70s electronic music through film work to forgotten future. Hear about the ideas behind the concept in this interview with the leading US electronic music program.
“You might feel like you need a doctorate in philosophy and physics to understand Dobos’ forgotten future. Many of the concepts find him questioning culture, religion and science, including Darwinism.” – John Diliberto
Read about the philosophical and spiritual story that resulted in the birth of forgotten future
“My views don’t contradict these [various] religions: they rather focus on the larger picture than on the well-known stories and characters. I don’t really disagree with science either, I simply expand on (okay, also break) its rules in the name of progression – and in knowing that we actually know very, very little. In my idea of a Multiverse, Nature does have a central role, but it isn’t exclusively governed by the tiny percentage of laws that we have so far established based on documented experiences (i.e. science). But again, all of this doesn’t matter: the goal of forgotten future is to put its listeners in a sonic environment full of emotional details, which trigger personal memories and inspire the listeners to “wake up” and find their own answers to these questions.” – Julius Dobos
forgotten future: realignment [EP] – release coming in late March, 2016
While fans are discovering more and more of the many hidden details on their forgotten future: W1 physical album copies and in their digital booklets, only a few have realized that the edge of the disc lists more than just the 15 tracks found on the W1 album – look close and you will find four additional titles named!
Unreleased or hidden tracks? Not anymore.
We are planning the Spring, 2016 release of a brand new EP titled forgotten future: realignment, featuring these four original tracks, which were previously listed, but intentionally omitted from the album. In addition, remixes of three original ff:W1 tracks by electronic music artist-DJs forgotten future, Cubricon and BrokenSine will be featured on the EP.
The 7-track realignment will take its place between the W1 and W2 albums of the concept series, completing the journey of W1 with the cutting-edge and spacey psybient / ambient organic electronic music that fans have come to expect from forgotten future. While the EP is nearing completion, the full-length W2 is currently in the pre-production phase.
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