Send "The Orb " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Some of us have been waiting years for late 1980s/early 90s rave to have its moment of nostalgia-driven resurgence. For one thing, it's just seemed inevitable, as many indie bands would at some point ditch dance-punk for neo-grunge. But also we're just plain greedy to re-own some hard-to-find tunes from the era when sampling and Roland synthesizers changed the sound of radio almost overnight.And in the last few years, newer acts, from Scandinavian indie pop bands to UK house producers, many of whom were kids at the time have begun to pay homage to early rave in earnest. Impossible Oddities collects the psychedelic pop-dance singles the Orb and their sampladelic friends released on the duo's W.A.U!. Mr Modo label as the UK's late-80s "Summer of Love" gave way to the worldwide rave boom of the early 90s. If dubstep has recently picked up on early breakbeat hardcore's manic roughness, this is stuff you can hear referenced in the trippy-but-cuddly rave recreations of the Tough Alliance axis. Elements of R&B (Johnson Dean's chintzy, cheesy, pretty great "Somebody Somewhere") and reggae (Indica All Stars' "Open Our Eyes") and prog-rock (the nature-sounds overload heard on an early demo mix of the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds") crop up throughout. But mostly these producers were working in idioms that were, for a few years anyway, totally new: Chicago acid, the sample-heavy party records of early instrumental hip-hop, Detroit techno. To these import sounds, the W.A.U!. Mr Modo artists brought a very UK neo-hippie vibe. The track titles and producer monikers alone should give you give you an idea of the angle many of these artists (especially the Orb, informing the whole project) were working: "Ashram House", "Tripping on Sunshine", Sun Electric, Indica All Stars....full text |
| Radiodeea |
| Year Zero va lansa o colectie de piese de la inceputul anilor '90, aparute la vremea respectiva cu WAU! Mr. Modo. Noul volum se va intitula "Impossible Oddities" si va aparea in luna noiembrie. Fondat in anul 1980 de Alex Paterson de la The Orb si de bassistul Martin Glover AKA Youth, de la Killing Joke, imprintul WAU! Mr. Modo a fost printre primele case de productie care a lansat piese acid house, dub si ambient. Pentru "Impossible Oddities" au fost selectate aproape 40 de piese lansate de WAU!, la care se adauga o versiune nelansata a unei productii clasice The Orb, intitulata "Little Fluffy Clouds." Noua aparitie va fi prezentata pe trei discuri, ultimul fiind mixat de The Orb....full text |
| Testpressing |
| The early 90s seem to be making a bit of a return at the moment; Primal Scream are playing Screamadelica live again (and are on the Cornflakes ad (you always had the feeling Gillespie was fake)), some of that lovely deep house from then is sounding great, loafers are back, and The Orb and Youth are releasing ‘Impossible Oddities – The Story Of WAU! Mr Modo’. Alright that doesn’t join up quite as it should (excuse – I have flu), but the point is stuff from then is starting to sound and look good again. I guess it always happens across generations. Perhaps its nostalgia, perhaps the fact that some of it was flipping great. Back then I was working for Guerilla Records. I lost a load of records one day when out and about so called Wau! Mr Modo to see if they could send me another copy of The Orb’s ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain…’ as I couldn’t find the one I’d lost. The next day a whole box of 12′s turned up via courier full of white labels and versions I’d never seen before. Tons of records. That care and ‘being kind where you can’ attitude was something that I tried to take on as it was a great thing to be on the receiving end of. Point is, I liked WAU! Mr Modo for life. So buy this album. You need it. Also on top of that, The Orb soundtracked our lives (or quite a large part of it) for sometime there. It was perfect to get stoned to and perfect for the car on the way home from the club. It was a soundtrack we could all agree on. Around the early 90s The Orb did a few all nighters at the Brixton Academy which coincided with our lot really getting into acid – a good fit. They had the sound wired all around so speeches would come from the back left, bass from the right and generally it all went down as you’d hope it would when feeling slightly out of it. In the next few years they did a benefit for the miners in Sheffield (where the label was based) with Primal Scream which we traveled to and popped in to say hello to Adam Modo (the other part of the label alongside Youth and Alex Patterson). All I remember through the haze is that he was a big bloke and the gig was great. So the music itself… They always knew what they were doing as a label. It was always pretty out there, still is I guess, and even the pop moments like Zoe’s ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’ started off being pretty cool before going off to hit the charts. Then you had the early Orb releases which are getting better and better with age – a UK take on the German cosmic scene for the acid house generation. The compilation brings various releases together with the first track on the album being the demo of ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’. It sounds more like a 90s cut and paste record in this version. There’s lots of early mid-tempo house tracks (piano riff and weird noises) that sound good and Sun Electric’s underground sleeper ‘O’Locco’ appears. Shame there isn’t more actual Orb recordings but I guess Big Life own the rights to it and something happened along the way. To round-up, as a look at the eclecticism that was around before the likes of Mo’ Wax took it jazz this is a good place to start. Space is the place and all that…...full text |
The Orb lyrics
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