The Orb - "Bicycles & Tricycles"
(Sanctuary Records 2004, 06076-84704-2)
The Orb - "Bicycles & Tricycles"
(Sanctuary Records 2004, 06076-84704-2)
From Aural Innovations #29 (October 2004)
I have not heard a new ORB CD in some years. I enjoyed their early stuff quite a lot. I am open to new experiences. The CD opens slowly with some samples and spacey panning trumpet and piano before the drums and bass kick in and the track gets weird! There is an amazing sound on this CD as the sounds move all over the speakers. Orb is (Shopping version) and is some sort of space hip hop thing with a female rapper. The Land of Green Ginger is a more minimalist drums and bass space thing. Hell’s Kitchen has this melodic lead synth line but the way the beats are mixed in is so deep and dirty... cool. Gee Strings is probably the radio song as it is sort of reggae inspired and has a happy poppy glow to it. Cool string sound as well. Abstaelions is a very mellow spaced out journey that evolves and evolves with strange sounds and beats. From a Distance is a super cool track with vocals by Corpial. I could see Eat Static do something like this. Tower Twenty Three features a highly effect harmonica to start things off and is a dub song, basically. The CD closes with Dilman, a happy space adventure to close things out. A lot of variety and cool stuff on this CD. While the overall spacey feel of some of the music is very much like the old ORB, the production sound is supersonic and the way the beats and bass is used is really different. Quite an excellent late night music CD!
For more information you can visit The Orb web site at: http://www.theorb.com
Reviewed by Scott Heller