THE ORB’S ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ULTRAWORLD
THE ORB
A FORMER ROADIE FOR KILLING JOKE SUPPLIED WHAT TENDER PARTYGOERS MOST NEEDED BY ARTFULLY TAKING THE BEATS OUT OF TECHNO…
JOHN EARLS
The idea seems so simple in retrospect: how to keep the party going once the endorphin levels wear off. The person we need to thank is Alex Paterson, one of music’s most idiosyncratic figures and the one constant in The Orb –a name which remains as much a beacon of mischief as it ever was, with 2020’s Abolition Of The Royal Familia being typical of the outfit’s high-class mayhem.
Paterson’s list of collaborators is intricate, and anyone who has lost touch since their unlikely commercial heyday is advised to explore what’s been going on since Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld became a landmark record 30 years ago.
The Orb’s status as counterculture operators has always remained true, and since their inception Paterson has been able to tap in to ambient culture. Open about his debt to Brian Eno’s work such as Music For Airports, Paterson joined fellow travellers such as William Orbit’s trio Torch Song in exploring what beatless ambience could achieve.