- When it comes to veteran producers in the Electronic music scene, they don’t come much bigger then The Orb. The Orb have been at it since the late 1980’s, where they exploded onto the scene with a beautiful piece of electronic ambience with ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld’, a track that was much more then an exhaustingly long title. The duo, though, will probably be known best for their classic record, ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’, a time where Kris Weston joined The Orb at the age of 18. Now 14 years on from that great moment, themany members of The Orb are now set to release their latest album, Bicycles & Tricycles.
The album starts quite nicely with the very groovy Orb Is, a journey of broken beats and deep gritty baselines. Land of Green Ginger is also an early highlight in the album, again with smooth baselines chugging along nicely, combined with a fantastic array of sounds and effects. Gee Strings sees the album get a little more upbeat with nice flowing beats, combined with a cheeky vocal hook and nice warm pads. Abstractions is a very quirky production, with clattering beats, eerie sounds and a nice deep atmosphere. The beats get a little more intense in From A Distance, a track that features some strong kick drums as well as a dark subtle baseline and filtered vocals. Kompania sees the orb get back to their ambient roots, with a beat less production featuring moody squeals and strong atmosphere. Another delicate ambient piece in Dilmun closes the album off in style, as this production gets back to nature with some nice melancholic sounds and a very soothing aura.
This is a very solid album from The Orb, and it would be quite difficult to compare it with older efforts. You can tell they have really adapted well to the increase in technology, as the album features some real cutting edge moments in Electronic music. There is some good diversity too, with some more club friendly tracks, intertwined with the quirky, and towards the end, the more ambient. Perhaps not as classic as albums such as Orblivion, but still, it is very interesting to say the least.