The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (Again)
Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2003 I penned the following for that bible of all things production focused and dance oriented, REMIX:
"Few artists have created such visionary electronic music as Alex Paterson and The Orb. The Orb's blissed-out music, which helped define the emerging ambient-techno and -house genres, comprised nature sounds, spoken-word samples, dub bass lines and constantly shifting beats. Collage effects had been used before in avant-garde and dub music but never in UK dance clubs and its '90s outgrowth, rave culture.
"Paterson founded The Orb in the late '80s while leading a double life. Working by day as the A&R rep for the progressive EG Records label, by night, he was spinning in London house clubs with selections from his increasingly eclectic recording collection. Shaping influences from Brian Eno, Kraftwerk and reggae master Joe Gibbs, Paterson dropped BBC samples, NASA broadcasts and dizzy special effects over elastic beats and homegrown loops initially created with cassette decks and turntables. Whereas most DJs simply played stock vinyl or elongated their mixes with multiple turntables, Paterson broadened the DJ's vocabulary by adding fresh elements to the mix. An Orb track was instantly recognizable for its sense of humor, rolling beats and exhilarating samples, which could be anything from a famous pop singer and a dead politician to galloping horses and a giggly vocal chorus praising LSD.
"But The Orb's music is much more than a mixer's grab bag. Paterson (with a revolving cast of contributors, including Kris Weston, Jimmy Cauty, Andrew Hughes and Thomas Fehlmann) has the remarkable ability to permeate his samples and atmospheres with a feeling of wonder and exoticism. 'It's an amazing labyrinth of sounds in the Orb; we created something brilliant,' Paterson says. 'We were the first house band to put reggae bass lines on a track. And as for that quirkiness that will twist your head, that is all me. I took advice from those old-school guitarists-turned-computer-techs [such as Steve Hillage, an early Orb collaborator]. They said, "Alex, don't lose what you have got, 'cause that is unique, boy."'
"The Orb's 1989 debut single, "Loving You/A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre Of The Ultraworld," was a 22-minute epic that incorporated Minnie Riperton's hyperextended soprano over trippy sonics. The track was created on an Oberheim OB-8 synth, guitar pedals and an Akai sampler. Running horses, church bells, rain, wind and lifted KLF snippets rounded out the single, which scaled the UK pop charts."
The Orb, or more correctly, Alex Patterson, returns with the Vuja De EP. It includes the title track with remixes by Subsonar, Gaudi, Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw (today's MP3), and Living City.
Unlike the bliss-inducing, shape-shifting atmospherics of such classic Orb efforts as The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, U.F.Orb, Orbus Terrarum and Orblivion, Vuja De recalls the four-on-the-floor sound of late '80s rave culture--not the ambient architecture The Orb would come to be known for. Remember M/A/R/R/S' "Pump Up The Volume"? Similar elements are used in the Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw mix, including overheated Teutonic synth lines, clipped handclaps, and jangly percussion plus an oily bass line, and spoken word silliness: "Attention, attention all personnel" and "What the Hell was that?" Most interesting is the track's female vocals and Bollywood strings. Like Kylie Minoque singing over a Bollywood production of dancing girls and the occasional acid rock guitar, the track retains the Orb's production aesthetic if not his typical source material. Disjointed sounds float in and out of the mix, connected by nothing more than Paterson's sense that everything is fodder for his magic sample finger.
The Orb, Pathaan
"Vuja De" (mp3)
from "Vuja De"
(Liquid Sound)
More On This Album
Yacht: I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real.: For a taste of electronica in the post-Four Tet (and post-Orb) world, check out the surreal jumble of sounds that is Yacht. Created on a simple laptop rather than banks of old school synths and hardware samplers I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real. is today's now sound!
YACHT "So Post All 'Em" (mp3)
from "I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real."
(ERR) More On This Album
YACHT "See A Penny (Pick It Up)" (mp3)
from "I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real."
(ERR)
Buy at iTunes Music Store More On This Album
