The Orb's latest album came out last Friday, their eighteenth since 1991's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. Alex Paterson has been rejuvenated in recent years, working with a new partner Michael Rendall in The Orb as well as Andy Falconer as Sedibus and with Fil in OSS. The new album, Buddhist Hipsters (I know, the title sets my teeth on edge a bit too) has split opinion among the fanbase. Some are saying its the worst Orb album since [insert personal worst Orb album here], some saying there are four or five tracks to cherry pick and some saying it's got lots of what makes The Orb The Orb. I had it a month ago and listened to it a lot for a week on my new (much shorter) commute to work.
Buddhist Hipsters has a slew of guests and collaborators including Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, Youth, Killing Joke's Paul Ferguson, Roger Eno and Andy Falconer. It recalls earlier 'classic' Orb in places, with voices sampled from TV and radio, long sci fi synth chords, deep bass, ambient house rhythms and chopped up sounds and on track two, P~1 noise and sound collage. Opener Spontaneously Combust is ten minutes of early 90s Orb. Sacred Choice brings the reggae. The Oort Cloud (Too Night) revisits early 90s progressive house. To these ears though the album's best moments come with the final pair of tracks, the first, Under The Bed, written and recorded with Andy Falconer sounds like it should have been on last year's Sedibus album, seti, one of 2024's highlights. Under The Bed has the same widescreen ambience, a wash of synths and piano, voices coming through the mix, swirls of space dust and static and orchestral drones. Ten minutes long and utterly magical.
It's followed by Kharon, which is twelve minutes long, and sets off with a plummy BBC voice commenting on Sputnik and satellite deep space exploration. The FX and drones swirl around, bleeps dart about and Roger Eno is on hand to add piano to the gathering solar storm. A wall of ghostly voices. Dripping water/ piano notes. After four minutes a ripple of synth arpeggios. Ad then at the end, static and a halt and someone saying, 'goodbye goodbye goodbye'.
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