PRESENT : IMPOSSIBLE ODDITIES

Description

The Orb is a British electronic music group recognized as a pioneer of the ambient house genre. They are heavily influenced by dub music and Steve Reich’s minimalist music. Most of their recordings are in fact classified as electronic dub rather than ambient house. Formed in the late 1980s by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty, the group only really takes off after meeting DJ Paul Oakenfold, then resident at Heaven, who connects them directly with the “chill-out” room of the London club with the delightfully trippy name Land of Oz. Paterson and Cauty tinker at their mixing desk with sounds from space (more precisely from NASA, after approval from the space agency) alongside classic disco and garage tracks. In 1989, they drop into the room a rather original composition, “A Huge Ever-Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre of The Ultraworld,” with a remix of Minnie Riperton’s famous “loving you” (a sublime track you’ll find on the singer’s album Perfect Angel, released on Epic in 1974). As if most of the Heaven clientele were already glued there, they no longer come down. Or maybe the opposite: they’ve flown so high they’re already in the ultraworld. The track blows up the UK charts and acid house becomes a little less acidic, suddenly recalling the first sonic experiments of Pink Floyd (The Orb having a great deal in common with Ummagumma and The Wall). Jimmy Cauty leaves The Orb aboard a tiny rescue capsule, leaving Paterson in command of the ship. Now the sole master on board, he welcomes Kris Weston, who was in transit between Neptune and Uranus, and comes up with the excellent founding track “Little Fluffy Clouds” for the re-entry of Challenger shuttles (with samples of dogs barking and a bassline in the style of heavy dub). You’ll find this track on the first album, The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, released in 1991 at the height of the rave party era. Most of the tracks last 15 minutes and hypnotize the ears, taking us into the stratosphere. With the second album, U.F.Orb (1992), the duo goes even further with a track lasting 39 minutes and 59 seconds titled “Blue Room.” After that, the group joins forces with flagship captain Chris Blackwell (the man from Island Records) and releases Live 93, a TV-style mix of several sets performed between Tokyo and Copenhagen via Glastonbury. In June 1994, it’s Pomme Fritz’s turn to be released on the celestial turntables. After that, there are a few albums, but the essential part of their career unfolds through remixes, including the tribute to Serge Gainsbourg released in 2001, ElectronicaGainsbourg, where they do their version of Requiem pour un Con. The Orb has just announced the release of its new album. It will be a special album because they will have a certain David Gilmour with them. In fact, the album Metallic Spheres will be released under the name The Orb featuring David Gilmour. In addition to David Gilmour on guitar, there will be Martin Glover on bass and keyboards. The record will be available as a CD, but also as a deluxe double CD edition, a double vinyl, or via download. Note also that some tracks were recorded in 3D60, meaning with three-dimensional sound for a new listening experience.