Ambient atmospheres and dub rhythms are staple elements of today's electronic music, from the downtempo grooves of Kruder and Dorfmeister to the rolling junglist breaks of LTJ Bukem. Yet the connection between club culture, Brian Eno and Lee Perry was not always so obvious, and without The Orb's first album, it might never have been made.
And without "Little Fluffy Clouds," the '90s never would have happened. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. The opener to this album still sounds like the place where pop meets the future, though, even when it's being used to pitch Volkswagens. The album's closer, "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain that Rules from the Center of the Ultraworld (Loving You)," is probably even more influential, being the monged-out moment when Alex Paterson and co-conspirator Jimmy Cauty (on loan from the KLF) decided to take the beats out of ambient house and open the door to a host of '90s soundscapists, from maverick geniuses (Richard James) to resurrected hippies (Steve Hillage).
As you may have gathered from the song titles, The Orb have a sense of humor. This post-punk sarcasm has always kept them a step ahead of their contemporaries and made even their gratuitously overlong experiments enjoyable listening. "Gaia" and "Perpetual Dawn" are this album's best examples: relaxed, funky dubplates spiked with hilarious vocal samples guaranteed to freak your stoner roommate. Recommended? More like essential.
If you like The Orb, check out:
The Orb U.F.Orb
Miles Davis Get Up With It
The Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1
Polygon Window Surfing On Sine Waves
Banco De Gaia Maya
Kruder & Dorfmeister DJ Kicks
Primal Scream Screamadelica
