Everything about The Orb totally explained
The Orb are an
English electronic music group known for popularising
chill out music in the 1990s and spawning the genre of
ambient house. Founded in 1988 by
Alex Paterson and
KLF member
Jimmy Cauty, The Orb began as
ambient and
dub DJs in
London. Their early performances were inspired by ambient and electronic artists of the 1970s and 1980s, most notably
Brian Eno and
Kraftwerk. Because of their
"trippy" sound, The Orb developed a cult following among
clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. The Orb has maintained their drug-related and science fiction themes despite personnel changes including the departure of Cauty and other Orb members
Kris Weston,
Simon Phillips, and
Andy Hughes. Paterson has been the only permanent member, continuing to work as The Orb with the
Swiss-
German producer
Thomas Fehlmann.
Alex Paterson prides The Orb on manipulating obscure samples beyond recognition in their albums and concerts; however, his unauthorised use of other artists' works has led to disputes with musicians, most notably with
Rickie Lee Jones. During their live shows of the 1990s, The Orb performed using digital audio tape machines optimised for live mixing and sampling before switching to laptops and digital media. Despite changes in their performance method, The Orb have maintained their colourful light shows and psychedelic imagery in concert. These visually intensive performances prompted many critics to compare The Orb to
Pink Floyd.
The Orb's critical and commercial success in the UK peaked in the early 1990s with their albums
The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and
U.F.Orb, which reached #1 on the
UK Albums Chart in 1992. This success led to their infamous appearance on
Top of the Pops, where they showcased their quirky style by playing chess (an interest of Paterson's since his early youth) while the group's single "
Blue Room" ran in the background. The Orb's mid-1990s albums were met with mixed reactions from UK critics; however, their work received praise from American publications such as
Rolling Stone. They experimented with vocalists on their next two albums, which critics generally described as bland and uninspired. The Orb shifted to the minimalist techno style spearheaded by member Thomas Fehlmann, releasing their new material on the record label
Kompakt.
History
1988–1990: Paterson & Cauty
Alex Paterson began his music career in the early 1980s as a
roadie for the
post-punk rock band
Killing Joke, for whom his childhood friend
Martin "Youth" Glover played bass. After leaving Killing Joke in 1986, Paterson met future
KLF member
Jimmy Cauty and the duo began DJ-ing and producing music together under the name
The Orb. Paterson and Cauty's first release was a 1988
acid house anthem track, "Tripping on Sunshine", released on the German record compilation
Eternity Project One. The following year, The Orb released the
Kiss EP, a four-track
EP based on samples from
New York City's
KISS FM. Paterson and Cauty began DJ-ing in London and landed a deal for The Orb to play the
chill out room at London nightclub
Heaven. Resident DJ
Paul Oakenfold brought in the duo specifically as ambient DJs for his "The Land of Oz" event at Heaven. Though The Orb's Monday night performances had only several "hard-core" followers initially, their "Chill Out Room" act grew popular over the course of their six month stay to the point that the small room was often packed with around 100 people. The Orb's performances became most popular among weary DJs and clubbers seeking solace from the loud, rhythmic music of the dancefloor. The Orb would build up melodies using
multitrack recordings linked to multiple
record decks and a
mixer. They incorporated many CDs, cassettes, and
BBC sound effects into their act, often accompanied with pieces of popular dance tracks such as "
Sueño Latino".
Throughout 1989, The Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of
ambient house through the use of a diverse array of
samples and recordings. The culmination of their musical work came towards the end of the year when The Orb recorded a session for
John Peel on
BBC Radio 1. The track, then known as "Loving You", was largely improvisational and featured a wealth of sound effects and samples from
science fiction radio plays, nature sounds, and
Minnie Riperton's "
Lovin' You". For its release as a single on record label
Big Life, The Orb changed the title to "
A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld". Upon the single's release, Riperton's management forced Big Life to remove the unlicensed Riperton sample, ensuring that only the initial first-week release of the single contained the original vocals of Minnie Riperton; subsequent pressings used vocals from a sound-alike. Due to these issues, Cauty and Paterson split in April 1990, with Paterson keeping the name
The Orb. Also out of these sessions came
The KLF album
Chill Out, on which Paterson appeared in an uncredited role. While Reich was flattered by The Orb's use of his work, Jones pursued the issue in the legal system.
Steve Hillage, whom Patterson had met while DJ-ing in London, also joined as a contributing guitarist. Along with producer
Thomas Fehlmann and audio engineer Andy Falconer, The Orb completed several additional tracks for their first album,
The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. Retrospectively,
Adventures is considered ground-breaking for changing the way musicians view sampling and as a seminal work for the genres of ambient and dance music. To promote the release of an edited single disc version for an American release, The Orb embarked on their first tour of the United States beginning in
Phoenix, Arizona in October 1991.
In late 1991 and early 1992, Paterson and Weston wrote their next single, "
Blue Room". Assisting with the recording was bassist
Jah Wobble, keyboardist
Miquette Giraudy, and guitarist Hillage. performance on
Top of the Pops where Patterson and Weston played a game of
chess in space suits while footage of dolphins and an edited version of "Blue Room" ran in the background. Because of this partial anonymity and The Orb's rotating membership, they're often recognised as more of a musical collective than a "band".
Over the next year and a half, Paterson and Weston continued to produce new material, but releases stalled when Paterson began to feel that Big Life was trying to dictate the direction of The Orb's music. Their first release on Island Records was the live album
Live 93, which gathered highlights from The Orb's recent performances in Europe and Asia. It featured The Orb's live crew of Paterson, Weston, producers Nick Burton and
Simon Phillips, as well as audio engineer
Andy Hughes, who had stepped in previously when Weston had decided to stop touring. Though
Pomme Fritz reached as high as #6 on the UK charts, critics panned it as "doodling". Even Island Records "hated it" and "didn't understand it at all", according to Paterson.
1995–2001: Paterson, Fehlmann & Hughes
Following Weston's departure from The Orb, Thomas Fehlmann joined as a full-time studio member, though he wouldn't always participate in live performances. Paterson, Hughes, and Fehlmann then finished producing the album
Orbus Terrarum, on which Paterson and Weston had been working.
Orbus Terrarum, released in 1995, featured more "earthbound" and "organic" sounds than their previous trippy science fiction themed music.
Orbus Terrarum suffered, as Paterson described it, "a good kicking" at the hands of the British press, who described it as "generic" and a low point for Paterson's creativity. causing the album to only reach #20 on the UK charts. American critics, however, gave it great acclaim including
Rolling Stone who made it their album of the month, citing the album's symphonic flow coupled with The Orb's "uniquely British wit".
Orblivion sold well in Europe as well as the United States, where it reached the
Billboard Top 200. The first
Orblivion single, "
Toxygene", was the highest charting single by The Orb, reaching #4 in the UK on
8 February 1997. Despite high sales,
Orblivion received a lukewarm reception from the UK press. As with
Orbus Terrarum,
Orblivion was better received by American critics, including
Rolling Stone, who praised its "contrast of chaos and euphony".
Paterson and Fehlmann, along with usual collaborators Hughes, Burton, and Phillips, wrote and produced
Cydonia for a planned 1999 release. As Island Records was in a period of restructuring due to its recent purchase by
Universal Music Group,
Cydonia wasn't released until 2001.
NME harshly described it as "a stillborn relic, flawed throughout by chronically stunted ambitions" and describing its only appropriate audience to be "old ravers" seeking nostalgia. Not only did the album receive poor reviews, but The Orb was generally regarded by the UK press as past their prime and an "ambient dinosaur" out of place in the current dance music environment.
NME described The Orb's tour as "charming" and that The Orb was "freed from the
Floydian pretensions that dogged the band throughout the mid-'90s.
The Orb, now composed of Paterson, Phillips and Fehlmannn, with guest John Roome, accepted an invitation to join the concert tour with
Moby,
Paul Oakenfold, and other alternative and electronic artists. Though The Orb was paired with more mainstream artists during the tour such as
Incubus, Paterson and Fehlmann chose to make their next releases a series of several low-key EPs for German label
Kompakt in 2002. The Orb found critical success on Kompakt; however, Badorb.com collapsed soon after releasing the compilation
Bless You. Badorb.com had released fourteen records over the course of fourteen months from artists including
Guy Pratt (Conduit),
Ayumi Hamasaki, and
Takayuki Shiraishi, as well as The Orb's three-track
Daleth of Elphame EP. Though Badorb.com was an internet-based record label, they only sold vinyl releases (with one exception, the aforementioned Orb EP), which Paterson later remarked was a poor idea because "not many people... have record players".
Bicycles & Tricycles, to mixed reviews.
The Daily Telegraph praised
Bicycles & Tricycles as being "inclusive, exploratory, and an enjoyable journey"; however, other publications dismissed it as "stoner dub" and irrelevant to current electronic music. Like
Cydonia,
Bicycles & Tricycles featured vocals, including female rapper MC Soom-T who added a hip hop twist to the album. The Orb left Island Records and released the album on
Cooking Vinyl and
Sanctuary Records. To promote the album, the band began a UK tour with dub reggae artist
Mad Professor. Though The Orb still pulled in large crowds,
The Guardian noted that they lacked the intensity found in their earlier performances.
2004–present: Paterson & Fehlmann
After two more EPs on Kompakt, The Orb (now composed of only Paterson and Fehlmann) released
Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt, which featured new material in addition to tweaked versions of their previous Kompakt output. Fehlmann's trademark hypnotic
loops and
delays made him the center of
Okie Dokie production and, according to
Pitchfork Media, made it "difficult to say where [Paterson] is in the picture". The Orb's releases with Kompakt gained The Orb back much of their musical credibility with the press and showed that The Orb could "age gracefully".
In August 2006, the founders of The Orb - Paterson and Cauty - released
Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God, their debut album as the
Transit Kings with
Guy Pratt and Pratt's associate, Dom Beken. The album featured appearances from
The Smiths guitarist
Johnny Marr and comedian
Simon Day. Beken described
Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God as "self-consciously musically written and less sample-based" compared to the members' previous work.
Living had been in production since 2001, but due to members' other obligations, it was delayed for several years. while other publications, such as
The Times, called it "Orb-lite" and proclaimed it to be "
Deep Forest-style sludge". Soon after the album's release, Cauty left the Transit Kings on "extended leave", leaving the project in indefinite limbo. The Orb's central figure, Alex Paterson, had early musical tastes and influences which included
King Tubby,
Alice Cooper,
Prince,
Kraftwerk, and
T.Rex. Among these, Paterson cites Kraftwerk as one of the most important, claiming they created the foundation from which all modern dance music has been built. though according to Paterson, Eno resents Paterson's use of his music as an influence. however, Paterson has stated that The Orb's music is more influenced by experimental electronic music more so than progressive rock of the 1970s. however, Paterson has strongly rejected the tag, claiming that even as a youth, he was "one of those punks who hated hippies".
During production of
Cydonia and
Bicycles & Tricycles, Paterson's biggest influences were
drum and bass and
trip hop music, as seen on the tracks "Ghostdancing", "Thursday's Keeper", and "Aftermath". The Orb's more recent influences consist largely of German techno producers, such as
Triola, who themselves were inspired by The Orb's earlier work..
Kate Bush is reported to be the inspiration for the
2007 album
The Dream.
Drug use
As chill out DJs in the late 1980s, The Orb often played to the needs of "the chemical generation" (
ravers of the 1980s and 1990s), making music "to come down from drugs to".
Imagery
Imagery has always been an important part of The Orb's persona. This is most prominent during live performances, where The Orb often projects surreal images against onstage screens. Common images include morphing faces, futuristic cityscapes, and ubiquitous alien references. They have long associated their act with absurd symbology with images such as floating pigs. For their next album, The Orb poked fun at their Pink Floyd comparisons with the cover of
Live 93 featuring a floating stuffed sheep over the
Battersea Power Station, which had appeared on the cover of Pink Floyd's
Animals. The artwork found in Badorb.com releases was similar to The Orb's odd artwork of the mid-1990s, as it was stylistically similar and contained little writing.
Science fiction and space
Some of the more prominent motifs in The Orb's work are outer space and science fiction, including alien visitations,
space flight, and
mind control. These have included The Orb's use of samples from serious sources such as
NASA transmissions to comedic clips from films like
Woody Allen's
Sleeper.
U.F.Orb especially expressed a fascination with alien life with its bizarre sound samples and in the album's title itself. Andy Hughes took Weston's place at live performances after the 1993 tour, though Weston did reappear for The Orb's concert at the rainy
Woodstock '94. Though The Orb's performances use much onstage equipment and many props, Paterson prefers to present The Orb as "a non-centralised figure of amusement on stage". They hooked synthesisers, such as the
ARP 2600, to
MIDI interfaces to recreate specific sounds that appeared on their albums. However, The Orb "obliterated it" and reassembled only a few fragments for their remix, much to the chagrin of Jarre, who reportedly refused to release it;
Other artists have gotten agitated with The Orb sampling their work, though Paterson jokingly suggests that "[t]hey don't know the half of it."
The Orb has been a prolific remixing team, having completed over 80 commissioned remixes since 1989. Though Paterson maintains that much of The Orb's remix work is done to support other artists, he admits some of their remixes for major artists were performed so that The Orb could "pay the bills".
Remixes
1989: The KLF - "3 a.m. Eternal"
1989: David A. Stewart - "Lily Was Here"
1990: Depeche Mode - "Happiest Girl"
1991: System 7 - "Miracle"
1991: Primal Scream - "Higher Than the Sun"
1992: Mike Oldfield - "Sentinel"
1992: Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Tong Poo"
1994: Suzuki K1 >> 7.5cc - "Satellite Serenade"
1996: Prong - "Rude Awakening"
1997: Tubeway Army - "Jo the Waiter"
1997: Meat Beat Manifesto - "Radio Babylon"
1997: Nine Inch Nails - "The Perfect Drug"
1998: Semisonic - "Secret Smile"
2001: Ayumi Hamasaki - "End of the World"
2002: Indochine - "Mao Boy"
2003: Mika Nakashima - "Find the Way"
2004: Hybrid - "Higher Than a Skyscraper"
Collaborations
1996: "Cocksville U.S.A." on The Mysteries of Creation, album by Axiom Dub, collaborative project run by Bill Laswell, with the Orb, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit and DJ SpookyFurther Information
Get more info on 'The Orb'.
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