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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The first piece of the long-awaited forgotten future psybient – electronic music concept series has been released.
forgotten future: W1 is the first installment of a 4-album concept series, the framework for a musical and ideological endeavor to take the listener through Universal themes centered around four of the “big questions”. The first release in the series, W1, is exploring the question “WHAT”. Rather than being dogmatic, ff: W1 offers an environment of alternative realism for everyone to explore their “future memories” in and find their personal answers.
forgotten future W1 album cover
Excerpt from the booklet:
“forgotten future: W1 is a story of a journey – one of multiversal scale, beyond the boundaries of time and through new dimensions. It is about the journey we all take one day. We are frightened of the unknown, yet it feels so familiar… it feels like we have been in this environment before…It’s a curious and humbling experience, a galactic travel on a forgotten road that takes us to a mysterious destination, which road seems like… we must have traveled it before. And while we feel completely lost, anxious and painfully lonely out there in the vast Universe, we are ecstatic about the journey through the unimaginable, about witnessing the answers to some of the ultimate questions, and at the end, realizing that the experience was not the first one, indeed. But, returning from our voyage, we only bring the distant memories of feelings with us… forgetting the experience – which we will re-live again in the future.”
While electronic in its nature, the psybient music envelops the listener in an organic feel manifested by warm textures and and deep, open spaces sprinkled with grains of electronic tones. The ambient yet rhythmically exciting music features lush soundscapes, unique, cutting edge sounds and complex sonic layers, often monumental electronic instrumentation, dynamic song structures and haunting melodies.
More than just musical compositions, the forgotten future series is not a fictional story, rather the expression of Julius’ personal beliefs of Universal (actually, Multiversal) concepts of our existence – feelings and ideas communicated through music and sound design. While W1 introduces the listener to the framework of a belief system, which includes splinters of diverse concepts from ancient religions and modern-day science, parts 2-4 of the series will build on this framework, exploring exciting theories and convictions. Thus, signaling its importance much beyond a work of a composer, and letting the listener focus on the message rather than the messenger, forgotten future is the first (and only) moniker of Julius Dobos.
forgotten future took Julius over five years to develop, produce, and after multiple delays, release in April, 2015. The album is downloadable in various digital formats, including a 24-bit 48Khz Studio Master, and can be ordered as a CD in a premium digipak edition, complete with a full-color 20-page booklet. The booklet features the photographs and digitally painted original work of various artists, accompanying each track with its own visual environment.
UPDATE 4.17.2015 After some unexpected delays, [forgotten future: W1] is ready for its official release on April 24th! Physical album production is under way, and the interactive ff: w1 online experience is under testing. One week until availability on digital platforms, including 24-bit “studio quality” formats!
forgotten future: W1 album artwork pre-press proofing
UPDATE 01.06.2015 [forgotten future: W1] is being mastered by Robert Rich, dark ambient pioneer in Mountain View, California. After some debates and tests about bass content, we are both happy with the outcome. The album’s extensive graphic design has been completed – ff W1 is expected to be released in a few weeks.
UPDATE 11.09.2014 [forgotten future: W1] has been mixed at Studio CS and the sonics are currently being refined by Vincent Villuis at Ultimae Studio in Lyon, France. The album is expected to be released both in physical CD and digital formats in early 2015. Check back soon for more exciting news!
UPDATE 07.12.2014 Julius’ new album is nearing the mixing phase, which will take place throughout the Summer. Today, a short video showing the production of a new track was published on YouTube. The title of the new work was also announced as forgotten future: W1.
According to Julius, the psybient / ambient-electronic work “will be the conceptually most important release so far in my career”. Be sure to check back often for updates and announcements about the new project.
PRESS RELEASE
SILICON VALLEY, CA / BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Creative Shop Music has announced a planned 2013 release of a brand new concept work by composer Julius Dobos. The large-scale work in psybient / ambient-electronic style will encompass multiple album releases.
The composition and musical sound design process started in late 2009 and has been the main focus of Dobos since. The work is expected to be a reflection of Dobos’ philosophy about the relationship of Nature, Life, the Universe and music, touching on such intriguing subjects as the existence and relativity of space and time – expressed in music and sound. The first release in the series, while electronic in nature, will build on an organic feel and warm textures. The ambient yet rhythmically exciting music will feature lush soundscapes, complex, out-of-this-world sounds, haunting melodies, powerful emotions, instrumentation form minimal to grandiose, traveling through seven unique sonic landscapes.
The planned 2012 release date of the new work, which was first announced last year, has been delayed due to the relocation of Julius’ studio, however the production is now at full steam at Studio CS. No further details or samples have been released, and the title of the work has not been made public either.
Be sure to check back often for announcements, or subscribe to the newsletter for the latest news.
UPDATE 4.17.2015 After some unexpected delays, [forgotten future: W1] is ready for its official release on April 24th! Physical album production is under way, and the interactive ff: w1 online experience is under testing. One week until availability on digital platforms, including 24-bit “studio quality” formats!
forgotten future: W1 album artwork pre-press proofing
UPDATE 01.06.2015 [forgotten future: W1] is being mastered by Robert Rich, dark ambient pioneer in Mountain View, California. After some debates and tests about bass content, we are both happy with the outcome. The album’s extensive graphic design has been completed – ff W1 is expected to be released in a few weeks.
UPDATE 11.09.2014 [forgotten future: W1] has been mixed at Studio CS and the sonics are currently being refined by Vincent Villuis at Ultimae Studio in Lyon, France. The album is expected to be released both in physical CD and digital formats in early 2015. Check back soon for more exciting news!
UPDATE 07.12.2014 Julius’ new album is nearing the mixing phase, which will take place throughout the Summer. Today, a short video showing the production of a new track was published on YouTube. The title of the new work was also announced as forgotten future: W1.
According to Julius, the psybient / ambient-electronic work “will be the conceptually most important release so far in my career”. Be sure to check back often for updates and announcements about the new project.
ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE
SILICON VALLEY, CA / BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Creative Shop Music has announced a planned 2013 release of a brand new concept work by composer Julius Dobos. The large-scale work in psybient / ambient-electronic style will encompass multiple album releases.
The composition and musical sound design process started in late 2009 and has been the main focus of Dobos since. The work is expected to be a reflection of Dobos’ philosophy about the relationship of Nature, Life, the Universe and music, touching on such intriguing subjects as the existence and relativity of space and time – expressed in music and sound. The first release in the series, while electronic in nature, will build on an organic feel and warm textures. The ambient yet rhythmically exciting music will feature lush soundscapes, complex, out-of-this-world sounds, haunting melodies, powerful emotions, instrumentation form minimal to grandiose, traveling through seven unique sonic landscapes.
The planned 2012 release date of the new work, which was first announced last year, has been delayed due to the relocation of Julius’ studio, however the production is now at full steam at Studio CS. No further details or samples have been released, and the title of the work has not been made public either.
Be sure to check back often for announcements, or subscribe to the newsletter for the latest news.
I am ready to make a few unusual and some expected commitments for the year 2014. Although these are coming from personal realizations, opinions and circumstances, I’ve decided to share three of them with my audience (with some explanation included), hoping that some of you might find them inspirational (or thought provoking) and applicable for your own life or work. Plus, putting them out for listeners from all over the Planet to read will force me to actually stick to them…
Resolution #1: I will not purchase new software or hardware
This is actually harder than it sounds. Trying to leave my “gearhead” past behind, it might not be possible to simply ignore new developments and cool products. But, even though I won’t unsubscribe from the 20+ music technology related e-newsletters I am receiving on a weekly basis, the real challenge will be making the decision notto purchase the latest and greatest equipment or plugin. Why? I could simply say “I have more than enough gear in Studio CS” (and this would be the truth), but then you would say (if you’re a gearhead): “You can’t ever have too much gear!”. As I used to think the same, it might need some explanation why I think otherwise these days.
The less gear you have, the more you have to try: try to come up with unconventional solutions, try to get more out of what you have, try new and unusual combinations and end up with new and unique outcomes. Less convenience makes you think and work harder. Faster processing and more memory, more software, bigger algorhythm do not mean better music.
There are so many examples to put this in a wider perspective. For instance, think about the computers NASA used in the ’60s and ’70s. Their most complex program was 6 MB and Apollo 11 was guided to the Moon and back to Earth by a computer with 64 KiloBytes of memory and a processor running at 0.05 MHz – about the speed of a pocket calculator. Yet it was enough to assist a mission that changed history. Or, think about the Synclavier or the Fairlight CMI sampler of the early ’80s, with their processor running at around 1 MHz, both were responsible for amazingly realistic sounds in the works of many composers of the day.
I look at software similarly. Typically, what you will find in the newest versions, latest upgrades, is convenience. New features and functions might be marketed as “new capabilities”, but in fact, I have not come across any “new capabilities” for several years now, any features that wouldn’t have been possible to achieve before – usually in more complex but also more flexible ways. Whether we’re talking about new variations of formant synthesis, sequenceable effects processing, automation matrix or other “this will triple your creativity” gimmicks, it’s been all out there for those who choose to go beyond clicking on preset buttons – and it’s been around for a long time. This makes me think of the good old times that I was spending in front of the early version of Cubase (the whole program fit on four 3.5″ floppy discs), being more productive than ever.
I believe that we have passed the point where the advantage of the accelerated technical progress was practically measurable in most fields (the medical profession might be one of the exceptions). While more or less following Moore’s law, technological advancement is accelerating exponentially, in my opinion the benefits are only advancing logarithmically (the pace of change of the effect is decelerating). This brings the latest 64-channel theater surround sound systems to mind – as impressive as it sounds, I wonder how many listeners will perceive and actually enjoy its benefits over today’s 9.2 systems (knowing that most people can’t even distinguish a 5.1 from a 7.1 experience).
So, do we really need GigaByte-sized operating systems and TeraBytes of samples to create amazing sounds and music? (And let’s not even open up the analog can of worms here.) Taking this a step farther in light of the Apollo example: does the world need faster and faster technology to make history? Do we need to run fast to get farther and see less, or rather slow down and enjoy the journey? As for me… using technology as an occasional aid, it’s time to enjoy a healthy mix of the easy-to-miss wonders of yesterday and the creative challenges of tomorrow.
Resolution #2: I will use my smartphone less
I do like the “everything at one place” aspect of smartphones. I appreciate the practicality of the minimalistic algorhythm and small application size that runs on them. But I hate that they are leading the way in letting technology drive and schedule our lives, instead of inspiring us to free up time we spend with daily routines, and replace it with real productivity. Everyone knows by now how companies love to provide cellphones to their employees (to effectively extend their work hours without pay). But people are equally at fault. How many times do you check your phone a day? Some statistics say the average user does it 23 times, some research mentions numbers over one-hundred… either way, it’s too often. What’s the point of checking your emails, social networking status, weather, etc. constantly? How come no one felt being left out of the loop 15 years ago when launching your email once in the morning and once in the evening was enough? People still networked, and actually kept relationships more personal and reliable.
I do not want to waste any more time than I must with these routine tasks and I do not want to let technology become the purpose, rather than the tool. If I save only 3 minutes on average by turning on my phone only 10 times less a day, that’s already half an hour a day (over a full week per year!) that I can use my time for more useful activities. Let’s be the smarter one of our phones and ourselves.
Resolution #3: The New Album…. I will finally finish it and it shall be released.
My original plan was that first time in my life, I can spend all the time I want to compose music and sounds for my 8th studio album – one that is especially close to my heart. I even proudly shared my “no deadline” approach with some of my friends and students: “if it takes many years, then it takes many years… I won’t release it until I feel it’s near perfect”. The process started in 2009, and had no planned release date. After I delayed the release date several times, I have come to realize: what sounded good in theory, wouldn’t work in practice, for at least three reasons:
1. I’m never 100% satisfied with the mix of my own works, so technically the album will never be 100% finished. I just have to accept 98%. And due to the nature of music production, it takes about the same amount of time to get form zero to 98% as much it takes to get from 98% to 100% – there is always something to improve. Often I’m not even sure if I’m really improving on a detail or just moving over horizontally to explore another option. So those last 2% just aren’t worth the time.
2. Having been receiving your questions about the release date from all over the Planet at an increasing rate made me finally realize, that I owe it to my listeners to put out the new materials in a reasonable time. Working on my music by myself for too long is not only exponentially less productive (see above) but also exponentially more selfish.
3. Not wrapping up the first album (of my new concept album series of 4 albums) will prevent me from moving on, shifting my thoughts to the second topic and start working on the 2nd album.
I take this opportunity to thank everyone who inquired about the new albums and ensured me of their support. I’ll be proud to have you as a VIP passenger on this musical journey in 2014.
