The Orb: Cosmic Romp by Aidin Vaziri Mean Street Magazine, Dec. 1992, p. 6 A celestial orgasm. That's what the Orb's music is all about. It's a fervent mix of deep house fundamentals, hip hop kinetics and ambient reverberations thrown in with a cascade of other-worldly components. Last year, Alex Patterson and Thrash (they who are the Orb) quietly slipped us a tizzer with Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and its splendid hit singles, "Perpetual Dawn" and "Little Fluffy Clouds". Then they took some time out and cultivated their mates in Primal Scream to produce the coolest song ever, "Higher Than The Sun", and life on earth was never the same. This year sees the landing of U.F. Orb, an entirely new kettle of piranha. The album is brilliant and all that, but before we expounded any further with a torrent of gorgeous adjectives, we figured we'd make contact with the source of all this glorious noise himself, Alex Patterson. 10-4, Roger, Over... MS: Hello, Alex. What's shakin'? AP: I've been talking to people all day. I'll probably have a very hoarse voice by Sunday. In fact, I probably won't be talking to anybody by Sunday night. I'll go home and put a strap across my mouth saying, "Don't Talk To Me". MS: Your new LP, U.F. Orb, seems to be missing the obvious pop hits its predecessor possessed. How do you think thatt's going to affect its success? AP: With all due respect, I think it's going to help it. This time we got "Towers of Dub" in the reggae style. It's taking the reggae much more seriously in the dub style, as opposed to "Perpetual Dawn", which was more like a reggae track with a vocalist on it. To me, my roots in reggae are dub, none of this namby famby vocals. There's probably things like "Little Fluffy Clouds" missing from the album: the housey, poppy type of track, but it's not every day you can find a sample of a girl talking about little fluffy clouds. MS: Do you think Americans will understand what the Orb is all about? AP: They got as much chance of understanding as us in Britain. I don't think anybody in Britain understands, they just like it. But they don't go out to understand it, they just go out to enjoy. Escape. It's just pure escapism music. Which is the main thing about the U.F. Orb album, is that it's something that comes from another space and you escape into it. And by the end of the album you have "Sticky End", so it kind of wakes you up again. MS: What do you listen to to escape? AP: Dub. I like classical music, Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi. I dig house music a lot. I like original Detroit techno stuff. Original Chicago, Larry Heard style. The original stuff he was doing was fucking outrageous. Quote me on that one. It was fucking outrageous! Things like "Stars" and "Beyond the Clouds". I like punk. I can't stand heavy metal. I still like Led Zeppelin a lot. MS: Really? That's an odd choice for you. AP: One day, I'd love to make a cover compilation of all my favorite Led Zeppelin tracks. "When The Levee Breaks" is my favorite. I used to play that when I was deejaying with Primal Scream, and the whole fucking place would go absolutely mad. All these 18, 19 year old kidsd would come running up, "Ay mate, ay mate! What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?" I'd go, "Oh, that's Led Zeppelin". And they'd go, "Naaaah, you 'ave me on mate. That break's not Led Zeppelin. Na, na, na, na. You need a bit of an education." Because they were liistening to something like Beastie Boys and a few house beats that used the same drum sounds. They couldn't connect the two things together. But they liked it. MS: Who'd be your dream artist to work with? AP: I don't know. It's getting a bit much when people like Bryan Ferry phone you up and ask you to do stuff. He's a golden oldie, isn't he? MS: What goes through your mind when you're creating this music? What's the drive? AP: Individuality. For both me and Thrash, we are both very individual people. We come together when we do the Orb and that's what happens. We got our friends that we write with, and we bring out the best in them, which they've mentioned as well. When Bobby Gillespe did "Higher Than The Sun", it took him ten minutes to do vocals and then he was out. MS: Is this talent something that you learned in math class? AP: Math? I never used to go near math lessons. I'll tell you what I did learn to do in math: I learned to keep one eye still, and roll the other one round and round. That's the only good thing that I've learned in math. MS: So that's what makes you tick? AP: That's the secret. Don't tell anyone. MS: What's the most obvious sample on this album that no one will be able to figure out? AP: The Russian cosmonaut muffling on, on "U.F. Orb". I haven't got a clue as to what he's saying, have you? MS: No. Are you happy the KLF broke up? AP: That's a good one. No, not really. We've got to wave the banner alone, in a sense. We were very compatible, mostly because Jimmy used to be in the Orb anyway. There was an obvious connection between us. MS: How was the Glastonbury festival? AP: Well, we came on a sunset, and the light show really did it for us. Most kids understand that you don't have to be on stage holding a guitar and singing your vocals to get your point across. They're used to it now, because deejays have been doing it for the last five years. People don't go to gigs and talk about bands now, they go to clubs and talk about deejays and who's cutting the best tunes. It's simple. MS: Are you optimistic about the future? AP: No, but who is? It's all going to go very, very, horribly, horribly, wrong innit? But the future of the Orb is something I'm very optimistic about. We're in a very healthy situation, it can only get better. MS: Are you planning some shows here soon? AP: Probably in the beginning of March, we've got some West Coast dates planned. Come see us. MS: I'll be the one throwing things at you. AP: Throw seafood if you can. I really like seafood.