The Orb are back with a new album, it has been three years since "Cydonia", What's the new album like?

The Orb – Bicycles and Tricycles (Terra Firma Records/Sanctuary Records)

August 2004’s “Chilled” album of the month

The Orb at back at it again, this is the follow up CD to “Cydonia”, which was released in 2001. The Orb started back in 1989, when Alex Patterson and Jimmy Cauty were deejaying the back room of a Paul Oakenfold club night. Since then, most of the original members have left the group, Jimmy Cauty left in 1991 to focus on his group with Bill Drummond called “The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu”, which later became the KLF. Alex Patterson has really been responsible for The Orb’s output for the last decade; his only helper was Thomas Fehlmann, who produced some of this album. The Orb have been often imitated but never duplicated and their output should have its own genre. This album was originally released in Europe in April 2004 on Terra Firma Records and a small tour followed. Finally for the North Americans like me, it is finally released on Sanctuary Records and a tour should follow, later this year.

(Note: The only difference between the UK and North American releases is that the UK release contains more one track called L.U.C.A.)

Tracklist

1.Orb Is (Shopping Version)
2.Aftermath (feat. Me soom t)
3.The land of green ginger
4.Hell’s Kitchen
5.Gee Strings
6.Prime Evil
7.Abstractions (Trance Pennine Express)
8.From A Distance (Blast Master vs. The Corpral)
9.Tower Twenty Three (Spud vs. The Kreature Mix)
10.Kompania (Grooved Ware Mix)
11.Dilun

The album starts out as most of The Orb’s CDs do, with some tripped out song that normally tells you that this album is like no other. “Orb Is” is a trumpet driven, weird chill out song that is driven by some heavy bass that comes in and out. The song is used to immediately catch your attention and that’s Alex Patterson’s goal here. The Orb is similar to the Future Sound of London because they have unique creators and the music that is made, is always so different and so beyond the scope of normal music. The drums really help the song build, add the heavy bass and the chilled out beats, you got a nice start.

Aftermath starts the dive into the unusual world of The Orb. It’s more of a trip hop based track; at least that’s what the indication from the very start. The bass line is so trip hop based, which was big in the mid 90’s. The rapping of Me soom T is really different from what you would normally hear because she tends to just quickly belt the words out and they are used in such a way that you don’t quite catch most of the lyrics. At one point, it sounds like she is going into French, but I’m not quite sure, I do know that the vocal is really different. Leave it to Alex Patterson to give you something unordinary.

The land of the green ginger tells you that Patterson’s vision is really twisted and warped but he always seems to make something unique out of the crazy ideas that must be going through his head. This song is more in the mode of Zero 7 because it uses a rambling speech about the man in the land of green ginger and how he disappeared one day. It reminds you of Alice in Wonderland for some reason. The song is certainly catchy and it makes great use of some warped sound effects. The song is fun and that’s more of the style of Zero 7 but that’s the closest parallel you can draw between this song and anything.

Hell’s Kitchen is different from the first three songs but then again, are any of The Orb's songs ever alike? I have yet to hear two that sound alike. Anyway, for you people out there wondering what Hell’s Kitchen is, simply it was a part of New York, where gangsters hung out at the turn of the century. Patterson here has the track mixed in New York and it has that type of hip hoppish feel as well. The track begins with a weird organ part, almost calming and warped at the same time. A trumpet is used to great effect here as well, the bass line gives you that hip hop feel, and the song is just different that it works well.

Gee Strings is probably the most unique of all the tracks on this album. The first part of the song is driven by some funky strings, yet they become melodic at one point, it is clearly Patterson’s vision. The sound grows on you and over the years that I’ve listened to The Orb, I’ve found that one element will be used and eventually it changes ever so slightly that you don’t notice it but you like it anyway. The track saves a surprise for the end. You think the track is over about four and half minutes in because the current track fades out but it goes into a funny speech about a guy in a doctor’s office reading a magazine and what he thinks of the ads. As I stated earlier, nothing is like The Orb and you must be prepared for fake endings and songs that goes in two different directions.

Prime Evil begins very faintly and it’s more ambient than any other genre. Here we begin another crazy journey that works very well. Prime Evil makes great use of unique sound effects that come in and out at different times; it is almost indescribable at times. The track also makes use of some unique string arrangements that contribute to the odyssey that this album has become. Near the end, you do hear a vocal rambling on about hell, coupled with some maniacal laughter at the back.

Abstractions (Trance Pennine Express) ditches the ambient feel from the previous song and goes into the tripped out down tempo world of Alex Patterson. It begins slowly and makes great use of the instruments, which makes this a great track. The track starts to go off in different directions at times because you hear strings and then some traffic sound effects are thrown in to keep you on your toes. It is certainly innovative and if you are getting bored of the same artists making the same tracks then this song will certainly be a joy to listen to. Everything in this track is done well.

From A Distance (Blast Master vs. The Corpral) is a unique remix, but I could be biased because I love the Hybrid mix that was released on promo earlier this year. Thomas Fehlmann is the remixer here and he takes a harsh techno approach to this song, at least in some respects. It’s a harsher take on “From A Distance” that still makes ample use of the vocal but not as much as the Hybrid mix. The bass line gives you a marching type of feeling here, I love this version, because it’s such a different route than one would normally take. If you are listen carefully, you do hear the bass line from their famous “A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld” at one point in the background near the end of “From A Distance”.

Tower Twenty Three (Spud vs. The Kreature Mix) is a slow and heavy track that makes great use of a harmonica. I’ve honestly never heard anything like it in my life, a rumbling bass line with a harmonica as the main part. It is uniqueness matched by very few.

Kompania (Grooved Ware Mix) shows what happens when you put two visionaries together and let them run mad in the studio. Fehlmann and Patterson run rampant with this tripped out down tempo track. They use sound effects, a majority of the time and they come in and out, it leads to you wonder, what they were doing when creating this track. The track makes great use of bells as well, it is just warped at times and attempting to describe it, does not do it total justice, just get the album and check this out, it is well worth it.

Dilun is the last track on this twisted journey. This was remixed by Thomas Fehlmann off of The Orb’s 12” called Kompassion on Kompakt Records. I’ve never heard the original mix but this is just brilliant with the strings and the symphony influence here. I love how each are used to just better each part of the track till you honestly have a great track.

Conclusion:
Nothing is like The Orb and with today’s artists making the same bland tracks with no vision, just to sell more records, it is a breath of fresh air to hear The Orb. Alex Patterson is smarter than most because his tracks don’t sound similar to each other, he crafts them in a weird way but they all come out sounding great. This CD is amazing, the journey that it takes you on, is completely mind blowing and if you are tired of the Armin and Markus influenced tracks that sound so similar, then go out and buy this. It is unlike anything that you have heard of late and you will thank Alex Patterson for saving your ears from the Mcprog influence that the music industry has gone into.