Orblivion

The Orb: LX Paterson, Andy Hughes, Thomas Fehlmann.
Recorded at T.F.'s Ocean On The 5th Floor, Berlin, Germany; The Bunker and Trident 2, London, England.
Audio Mixers: Andy Hughes; The Orb.
Recording information: T.F.'s Ocean On The Fifth Floor, Berlin, Germany; The Bunker, London, England; Trident 2, London, England.
Photographer: Vincent McDonald.
Unknown Contributor Role: Thomas Fehlmann.
The Orb are the rave scene's resident gods of ambient psychedelia. ORBLIVION's beats don't so much swing with techno's hyperkinetic verve as they imply that swing through their extreme, dubbed-out feel. At times a spaced-out bassline serves as more of a grounding factor than the dissolved backbeat. Yet that lack of a solid bottom gives Dr. Alex Patterson and his cohorts the flexibility to morph into whatever fourth world musical creation they choose to become, incorporating everything from funk grooves to Third World woodwind textures on a digital floor that seems more natural than synthetic.
The Orb's fifth full-length album frames all these sonic freedoms within various vocal samples that symbolize either its curtailing (McCarthy-era Congressional hearings, a monologue on the apocalypse from Mike Leigh's NAKED) or its full blossom (a TV commercial-like chorus praising LSD). Augmented by music that is in constant weirdo flux, the members of The Orb are revolutionaries destroying borders and fences (physical, psychological, and musical) while on a downward spiral towards the millenium.